The pioneer Vice-Chancellor, Professor Abdul Rasheed Na'Allah, who until his appointment, was Chair of the African American Studies Department of the Western Illinois University, Macomb, United States of America, assumed office on 28 July 2009.

The current Chief of Staff to the President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari who was before his appointment a seasoned scholar and international diplomat, Professor Ibrahim Agboola Gambari is the pioneer chancellor of the school, Johnson Adewunmi[9] the current chancellor was appointed on Monday, 25 May 2020 by Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq.

The Osi Campus in Ekiti Local Government Area of the state, when completed, is to accommodate the proposed Faculty of Environmental Sciences.

The Ilesha Baruba Campus in the Baruteen Local Government Area will permanently host the Faculty of Agriculture, when completed.

In July 2019, the university in honour of its outgoing Vice-Chancellor, Professor Abdulrasheed Na'Allah commissioned what was adjudged the best Library in the whole of West Africa at that time.

The Muhammadu Buhari Library boasts of modern infrastructure to reflect the world class nature of the university.

[citation needed] The Centre for Entrepreneurship, the first of its kind in Nigeria,[15] is aimed at preparing its graduates to identify and recognize opportunities through an orientation towards job creation.

[19] Its teaching staff consists of scholars such as Prof. Leo Daniels, MLK Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, (MIT) as Provost at the College of Engineering and Technology, Prof. Abiola Irele from Harvard University as Provost at the College of Humanities, Management and Social Sciences; and Prof. Winston Wole Soboyejo from Princeton University among others.