5 things to know about youngest UniAbuja Acting VC

Professor Aisha Maikudi was on Thursday announced as the acting vice chancellor of the University of Abuja following a decision by the senate of the university.

Professor Maikudi took over in acting capacity from Professor Abdulrasheed Na’allah, the institution’s sixth vice chancellor whose tenure ends on June 30.

The senate approved her appointment pending when a substantive vice chancellor would be appointed by the university governing council.

Before clinching this new responsibility, Maikudi, a professor of international law, was the deputy vice chancellor academics of the university.

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EARLY LIFE

Aisha Maikudi, a native of Katsina State, was born in the Zaria Local Government area of Kaduna State on January 31, 1983.

FAMILY BACKGROUND

According to Maikudi, growing up in the family of academicians where reading books was always the norm influenced her choice of career.

Her father is an avid reader and her mother a teacher.

SCHOOL LIFE

Professor Maikudi began prep school at the age of one. At 10, she had finished primary school, where she proceeded to Queens College, Yaba, Lagos, where she sat for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) in 1999.

Maikudi, at 16, immediately after her WASSCE, proceeded to Cambridge for her A level for two years before graduating with an LLB degree from the University of Reading, United Kingdom.

After attending Law School in Abuja she went to the London School of Economics for her LLM. Afterwards, she obtained her PhD from the University of Abuja.

ACADEMIC CAREER

In 2008, the acting vice chancellor boarded the academic train with the University of Abuja.

This was immediately after her one-year compulsory National Youth Service Scheme with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Headquarters in Abuja in 2007.

Since then, she has honed her academic skills in international, company and United Nations laws.

RECORDS

The legal luminary broke the jinx by becoming the first and youngest female head of department at the Faculty of Law in 2014.

By 2018, she had upgraded to the position of Deputy Dean at the faculty, maintaining the record as first and youngest in the university.

She then rose to the rank of professor in 2021.

The acting vice chancellor has maintained her record as the youngest professor in UniAbuja and the first female professor of International Law in the institution and the North-West region.

The governing council of the institution, during its 96th regular meeting in 2023, approved her appointment as the Deputy Vice Chancellor Academic —a feat only she, as a female academic, has enjoyed so far.

Professor Aisha Maikudi is married with children.