Former UNN VC Umaru Shehu dies at 97

A former vice-chancellor of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) Professor Umaru Shehu has died at the age of 97.

Secretary of Borno Elders Forum Bulama Gubio announced Shehu’s demise in a statement on Monday.

Shehu was northern Nigeria’s first professor of community health and co-founder of Borno Elders Forum.

Born on December 8, 1930, in Maiduguri, he was professor emeritus of community health at the University of Maiduguri and former president of the Nigerian Academy of Science.

The academic attended Elementary School, Maiduguri 1935-1940; Middle School, Maiduguri 1941-1943; Kaduna College, Kaduna 1944-1947; University College Ibadan 1948-1953; and was at the University of Liverpool between 1953-1956, and 1966-1967.

Professor Shehu received a bachelor of medicine degree from the University of London. He also received a fellowship from the Institute of Cancer Research. He was the editor-in-chief of the British Medical Journal.