Universities no longer judged by what they publish but by what they apply – ABU VC
The Vice-Chancellor, Ahmadu Bello University, Prof Adamu Ahmed, has asserted that universities across the world are no longer judged by only what they publish but also by what they apply, commercialise, and translate into impact.
Prof Ahmed made the assertion on Tuesday, 6th January, 2026 when he inaugurated a committee set up by the university to develop a blueprint for research commercialization and knowledge transfer.
“Our research must begin to generate income for our researchers, for the university, and for the wider society”, he said.
The Vice-Chancellor, who urged the committee to approach the assignment with clarity, urgency, and imagination, said commercialization was not a distraction from scholarship but a higher expression of it.
He said ABU had for decades successfully fulfilled its initial mandate of training generations of skilled manpower for Nigeria and beyond.
Ahmed, who described the committee inauguration as an “important turning point” in the life of ABU, stressed that that responsibility was discharged with distinction.
The Vice-Chancellor explained that the legacy of the ABU founder demanded that the university should convert knowledge into impact.
He said Sardauna’s vision was that the university should go beyond training manpower to become a direct engine of development, innovation, and economic transformation for society.
Ahmed said the committee he inaugurated was central to that transition as its mandate was to develop a clear and practical framework for the commercialization of the university’s research patents and outputs.
This was to ensure that the ideas did not remain on the shelves or in journals but move into the marketplace and into the service of society.
Prof Ahmed also said the committee was raised to help the university cross what he described as the ‘valley of death’ – the difficult space between invention and adoption.
The Vice-Chancellor commended the Directorate of Research and Innovation for laying a strong foundation by encouraging innovative and problem-driven research across the university.
Responding, the Chairman of the Committee, Prof Mohammed Faguji Ishiyaku, thanked the Vice-Chancellor for having confidence in him and other members.
Prof Ishiyaku, former Executive Director of the Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR), said they were committed to giving their best in actualizing the mandate of the committee.
According to him, serving on the committee was a call to service and that posterity would judge them for good in contributing their own quota towards the development of the university.
Those present at the committee inauguration were the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Academic, Prof Raymond B Bako; the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Advancement, Research and Innovation, Prof Sanusi Aliyu Rafindadi; and the Registrar, Rabiu Samaila.
Others were Ag. University Librarian, Dr Abubakar Abdullahi Mohammed and Special Assistant to the Vice-Chancellor, Dr Ibrahim Sani Kaita.
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Public Affairs Directorate,
Office of the Vice-Chancellor,
Ahmadu Bello University,
Zaria (NEWS/AHW)
Wednesday, 8th January, 2026
