The Chancellor

Alhaji (Dr.) Muhammadu Indimi, OFR – Born of a humble background on 12th August 1947, in Maiduguri (present day Borno State), As a young man, he was not opportune to have Western education, but his parents sent him to ’Islamiyya School’, what in Northern Nigeria is commonly referred to as “Makarantar Allo”, where he learnt Arabic.

Nonetheless, a golden fish has no hiding place. This has been proven right with Alhaji (Dr.) Muhammadu Indimi who, through sheer dint of hard work, has transformed himself into a distinguished man of knowledge, a smart business tycoon, an astute philanthropist and a transformer of lives.

Alhaji (Dr.) Indimi is a polyglot, naturally endowed with the gift of languages. As he grew up and began to have connections in business, he self-instructed and became fluent in Hausa, Fulfulde, Arabic, English, and French.

Muhammadu Indimi was introduced by his father to commercial transactions at the tender age of 10 (ten) years, he had by 1963, at the young age of 16 years mastered and mustered sufficient business acumen that he launched his first business venture by establishing a bicycle rental outfit. To tell you how futuristic Dr. Indimi is wired, the Bicycle rental business which he started in Maiduguri in 1963 only commenced in the European city of Amsterdam in 1965 – a full two years after he had mastered the business of bicycle rentals.

Dr. Indimi has developed and distinguished himself as a highly successful and astute businessman. He has dug deep and continues to dig deep as he expends his energy in building an ever expanding business conglomerate spanning oil and gas; manufacturing, banking, finance, aviation and construction engineering. Today he seats on the board of many blue chip companies including, but not limited to being:

1. Sole Founder and Executive Chairman of Oriental Energy Resources Limited – a company with over 22 years’ experience in the Nigerian upstream Oil and Gas sector (interestingly most of our matriculating students are less than 22 years).
2. Founder and Chairman, M & W Pump Nigeria Ltd.
3. Board member Arab Contractors (OAO) Nigeria Ltd.
4. Board member of Jaiz Bank PLC.

Dr. Indimi’s humble upbringing has left an indelible legacy of love for fellow human beings in him. Indeed, being caring and compassionate for fellow human beings is the centre point of his philosophy in life. To fulfil this philosophy, Dr. Indimi set up the Mohammadu Indimi Foundation, which is the outreach arm of his philanthropy. Through the foundation, he has:

1. provided special interventions towards the improvement and development of educational institutions including construction of a Centre for Distance Learning at the University of Maiduguri;
2. Contributed as the lead benefactor of the $14 million Mohammed Indimi International Business Center, housed within the Lynn University College of Business and Management Studies at Boca Raton, Florida, USA;
3. Constructed an Auditorium at the University of Maiduguri with a combined sitting capacity of 1800;
4. Developed the University of Port Harcourt Digital Library;
5. Re-habilitated the University of Uyo Petroleum Institute;
6. Provided scholarships for students in various Universities and communities to pursue higher education in Nigeria and abroad;
7. Sponsored many individuals who needed specialist medical treatment within and outside Nigeria;
8. Provided palliatives to internally displaced persons (IDPs) affected by the insurgency in North-eastern Nigeria;
9. And constructed estates consisting of 100 housing units for IDPs and the needy.

In recognition of his meritorious achievement in business and human development, in 2012, the Federal Republic of Nigeria conferred the national honour of Officer of the Federal Republic – OFR – on Dr. Indimi. Also in 2022, President Mohamed Bazoum of Niger Republic conferred on him the national honour of Commandeur dans L’Ordre du Merite du Niger.
His commitment to educational development has also seen Dr. Indimi receive awards and recognitions from various top-rated universities in Nigeria and abroad.
At the last count, his cap of honourary doctorate degrees was already fitted with 14 high value Doctorate Degrees. In the past four years alone, he has received 9 honourary degrees. Amongst these are:

1. Honorary Doctor of Letters Degree, D.Litt. (Honoris Causa), by theAbubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, Nigeria, 1997.
2. Honorary Doctor of Law Degree (Honoris Causa) by the Irish American College, Dublin, Ireland, 2011.
3. Honorary Doctorate of Lynn University, Boca Raton, Florida, United States of America, 2012;
4. Honorary Doctor in Business Administration Degree by the University of Uyo, Nigeria, 2017;
5. Honorary Degree of Doctor of Business Administration by the International University of Africa, Khartoum, Sudan, 2018;
6. Honorary Doctor of Management Science by the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna, Nigeria, 2018.
7. Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) (Honoris Causa) by the University of Lagos, 2021.
8. Honorary Doctorate (Honoris Causa) of Business Administration by theUniversity of Nigeria Nsukka, 2021.
9. Honorary Degree of Doctor of Technology by the Kwara State University, 2021.
10. Honorary Doctorate (Honoris Causa) in Entrepreneurship by the Kaduna State University, 2021;
11. Honorary Doctorate of Letters Degree (Honoris Causa) by the University of Maiduguri, 2022.
12. Honorary Doctorate of Management (Honoris Causa) by the Modibbo Adama University, Yola, 2023.
13. Honorary Doctorate (Honoris Causa) by the Nile University of Nigeria, Abuja, 2023.
14. Honorary Degree of Business Administration by the Federal University Birnin Kebbi, 2024.