On 5 February 2025 the Governing Council of Ahmadu Bello University appointed Prof. Adamu Ahmed as the new Vice Chancellor.

Facilities on the main Samaru campus were inadequate, and integration of physically separate, pre-existing institutions was difficult.

[10] Nevertheless, under the vice chancellorship of New Zealander Norman Alexander, academic and administrative staff were recruited, new departments and programmes were created, major building projects were undertaken, and student enrollment grew rapidly.

[13] Despite opposition to the School of Basic Studies, it provided a stream of candidates for degree courses and the university expanded rapidly.

[14][7]: 267–282 Kongo campus, close to Zaria old city taught public administration and provided in-service training for local government throughout the north of Nigeria.

At Kano campus, renamed Abdullahi Bayero College, Hausa, Arabic and Islamic studies courses were taught.

[15][7]: 280, 281 Professorial staffing to serve the burgeoning student enrollments and course offerings was a potential limitation during this period.

In the early 1970s relatively abundant funding made it possible to send some senior academic staff to overseas institutions to complete advanced degrees.

Vice chancellor Audu endeavored to balance the goals of Nigerianization and northernization of ABU's professors with the commitment to maintaining all programmes at an international level of academic quality.

In 1975, ABU turned toward a much heavier emphasis on internal staff development as it adopted the Graduate Assistantship programme.

Competition for students, staff and funding with other national institutions in what had been a rapidly expanding university system increased.

[6] During a peaceful May 1986 university rally against implementation of the Structural Adjustment Programme, security forces killed 20 demonstrators and bystanders.

The very fact of ABU's strikingly "national character"[17] (in drawing students and staff from an unusually broad range of Nigeria's regional, ethnic and religious communities) might be the reason the institution is inclined to internal instability.

The total student enrollment in the university's degree and sub-degree programme is about 35,000, drawn from every state of Nigeria, Africa, and the rest of world.

Some 30 tertiary institutions made up of colleges of education, polytechnics and schools of basic or preliminary studies are affiliated to it.

As a result of that, many new students are stranded on the campus especially at the beginning of the session, and others that are lucky get squatting spaces with friends and family that have already gotten hostels.

Ahmadu Bello University has a chancellor as its ceremonial head, while the vice-chancellor is chief executive and academic officer.

[27][28] The Ahmadu Bello University is notable for producing prominent people and Nigerian leaders, including many former and current state governors and ministers.