President Bola Tinubu has officially approved the renaming of the University of Maiduguri to Muhammadu Buhari University, Maiduguri, in honour of the late former President.

The President announced this on Thursday during an expanded FEC meeting at the Presidential Villa in Abuja in honour of the former Nigerian leader who passed away on July 13 in London after a prolonged illness.

“Before we take the prayers in honour of his memory, with this special session of the Federal Executive Council (expanded) can we adopt the naming of the University of Maiduguri with a new name Muhammadu Buhari University, Maiduguri,” President Tinubu declared, drawing applause from attendees, including ministers who served under Buhari and his son, Yusuf Buhari.

Paying glowing tributes to the late statesman, Tinubu praised Buhari as a man of integrity whose private and public life were marked by humility, discipline, and unwavering dedication to service.

“Yet it was in the quiet and unadorned settings of his private life that his true greatness was revealed: pious without show, just without cruelty, humane without sentimentality, temperate without coldness, and sincere without guile,” the President said.

“His life was a rebuke to vice and a refuge for virtue. The purity of his private character gave radiance to the discipline and integrity of his public service.”

The former Nigerian leader was laid to rest on Tuesday in a ceremony attended by dignitaries from within and outside the country.

Muhammadu Buhari served as Nigeria’s military Head of State from 1983 to 1985, and later as a democratically elected President from 2015 to 2023. He was Nigeria’s second-longest-serving leader.