The conference cum general meeting which was held between 8th and 12th October 2019 at the University d'Abomey Calavi (UAC) Benin Republic saw Professor Bala Abdullahi, the Vice Chancellor of Federal University of Minna (FUTMINNA) elected as the Chairman of the association. Professor Angela Freeman Miri, Vice Chancellor of Federal University of Lokoja (FULOKOJA) is elected Financial Secretary while Professor Mohammed Sani Abdul Kadir is elected General Secretary.
Delivering welcoming address at the occasion was Rector of the host University: Universite d'Abomey Calavi of Benin Republic, Professor da Cruz Maxime, while the outgoing Chairman of the association, the Vice Chancellor of University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) Professor Abdulganiyu Ambali gave opening remarks.
In his acceptance speech, Professor Bala who is expected to chair the six-man management leadership of UWUA for the next 3 years said he was humble by making him the Chairman of the association. He said he was expecting somebody with more experience to be elected into the position taken into consideration the fact that he has no spent up to two years as a Vice Chancellor. He then promised to reward the confidence reposed on him by working assiduously to the betterment of the association. He said he will use his position as Chairman of the association to promote internationlisation of the member universities, encourage students staffs exchange programmes among members universities and trans-border research and training.
He later commended the effort of the outgoing management committee of the association under the leadership of Professor Abdulganiyu Ambali saying they had done so much for the association in the last 3 years.
The conference cum general meeting was well attended by the representative of universities from fifteen countries of West Africa sub region including Nigeria, Cote d'Ivoire, Benin Republic, Togo, Mali and Senegal. The theme of this year event was "The Role of West Africa Universities in Regional Industrialisation and Economics Transformation".