After he received doctorate degree (Ph.D.) in Pharmacology from King's College London in 1987, he returned to Nigeria to join the services of Ahmadu Bello University, where he was appointed a senior lecturer in 1991.
He served in that capacity for five years and in 2004, he was appointed as visiting professor, Department of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacy, ABU Zaria.
[11] In 2013, he was elected as fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Science, the same year he was appointed as visiting professor at the Department of Pathology, University of Virginia.
[15] On 12 February 2016, at the university's Genome Damage and Stability Centre, he presented a lecture, titled "Exploitation of medicinal plant compounds in the search for novel cancer therapeutic agents".
In attendance was Michael Farthing, the vice-chancellor of the University of Sussex and the Nigerian acting high commissioner in London, Adah Simon Ogah.