Prof Ayub Gitau: The new VC hoping to fix a decade of University of Nairobi turmoil

Come the following morning from 8am, underneath white tents being set up in the university’s grounds, he will be installed officially as the ninth vice-chancellor of the institution.

Among the numbers bothering him is one from recent university rankings that placed UoN at position 17 in Africa.

“That’s not where we belong,” he says. “We belong to the top five and, in the worst case scenario, the top 10 universities in Africa.”

He is also not proud when he reveals that the past decade has been somehow “lost” at UoN due to squabbles of different shapes.

“From 2015, we have been up and down, and we have been there for about 10 years,” he says. “I would like a situation whereby, first of all, we make the University of Nairobi great again.”

But there are other numbers he is happy to mention, like a recent Sh530 million grant from the World Bank. He also takes pride in the fact that the UoN has more than 300,00 alumni, including President William Ruto, as he lays out plans to involve them more in the institution’s turnaround.

As far as dates are concerned, Prof Gitau got his Bachelor’s degree in agricultural engineering in 1990 from Egerton University. By the end of 1994, he had his Master’s from the UoN, while his PhD came in 2004. It wasn’t until 2023 that he became a full professor.

Dressed in a brown suit and carrying a down-to-earth aura, Prof Gitau is the type that scribbles down your question on his notebook as his mind calculates a response in real-time.

Congratulations on your installation. Did you ever dream of being here?

It has been a journey. I’ve been in management for over 15 years. I started in 2010 as the chairman of the Department of Environmental and Biosystems Engineering.

Then I became the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering for another five and a half years, from 2019. And for close to two years, I’ve been 

acting as the Deputy Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. So, the journey tells you I was moving and hoping that one day, I would be the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Nairobi. It could have happened earlier, or later, but that dream has been there.

Which people, family or others would you not want to miss in your installation?

I have my wife, Veronica, our two daughters and my siblings. I also have a good number of friends. Some are businesspersons and others are in the corporate world. Ultimately, I would like the professors of the university to be there and all the staff of the university.

For how long have you been married to Veronica?

For many years. We are talking about over 35 years. My lastborn is turning 28 in a month.

Some have said that being in academia is a sacrifice. Have you ever lived a situation where you see your peers rising through the ranks while you feel like you are stagnated?

[Laughs]. We call it [academia] CSR. Even in this office, there is an element of sacrifice to it. If you were to monetise it, nobody can pay you. It’s a sacrifice. It’s just like religion; it is corporate social responsibility as it were. And specifically once you go to the management, it is a service. I normally say: service to mankind. And it has worked well.

You serve mankind, automatically you also get your reward from God. I’ve seen it happen. But as you have put it, I remember after undergraduate, most of our [peers] were getting very good jobs. You hear somebody is getting a Sh20,000 job.

Those days, the government salary was Sh3,000. Then after that, we went to the postgraduate studies. The [peers] were just marrying. So, you won’t marry because you have got another level. By the time you are done with your PhD, you are over 40 years yet those guys are growing in the corporate world.

But I’ve realised it is a matter of patience. Once you get what is yours, rightfully yours, you overtake them and within two years you are doing better by far.

You turn 60 on October 20. Is this lined up to be your best birthday yet?

It should be one of my most exciting birthdays. The beauty behind it is it always happens on a holiday [Mashujaa Day].

But it’s more exciting now when you’re in this role…

True, true, you’re right.

What are your immediate plans for UoN?

From 2015, we have been up and down, and we have been there for about 10 years. It shows there is a lot of reflection and teamwork that is required. Currently, the University of Nairobi is heavily divided. That’s a fact. So, the first thing is to bring the staff together, noting that we have the best faculty in the region: highly experienced, highly trained.

And if you think about our mandate of teaching and learning, research, innovation and enterprise, consultancy, community outreach, across the board, the faculty is well-endowed.

You’ll realise even our non-teaching staff are involved in most of these activities, be it community service outreach, even consultancy, and some also in research. So, the whole idea is to bring the team together, and then after that we can look at the various facilities.

Our dream is to have students whose well-being is taken care of, staff who are enabled and who are also motivated. Then we have to think about our alumni. We are very rich in our alumni; over 300,000. They include the President and the who-is-who in the country. That is another area that we can tap.

What would you want to be remembered for in your role as VC?

I would like a situation whereby, first, we could make the University of Nairobi great again; where we are not comparing ourselves with other universities. I want us to form a brand, our original brand where we come up with futuristic leaders, innovators and entrepreneurs so that the CEOs, the VCs, the presidents of the future are well mentored and brought up at the University of Nairobi.

I know within one year, we shall have brought all the staff together and at that point, when the staff are motivated, they give their best.

Then the productivity will be seen. I’m very sure even within this year, our ranking nationally, not just for Kenya, will start [rising]. I foresee a futuristic university, nurturing talent, bringing in innovation and entrepreneurship.

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