The journey towards establishing a State University in Kwara State began in November 1990 when the then Military Governor of Kwara State, Colonel Al Wali Jauji Kazir, inaugurated a 15-man Committee under the former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, late Professor Samuel Afolabi Toye, to work out logistics for the establishment of the Institution. The plan however, did not go beyond the drawing board. Also, about 2002, the then Governor of Kwara State, late Alhaji Mohammed Alabi Lawal, took further step by converting the present Kwara Polytechnic to a University, while the turning of the sod was undertaken by former President Olusegun Obaasanjo, his administration but failed to go beyond that step till the expiration of his tenure in May 2003.
History was however, made on July 11, 2007 barely two months into the commencement of his second term in office, when Governor Bukola Saraki inaugurated a Planning Committee under former Governor of Kwara State, Alhaji Mohammed Shaaba Lafiagi to prepare ground for the establishment of the Kwara State University. When that committee completed its assignment, an Implementation Committee under former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Professor Shuaibu Oba Abdulraheem, was constituted to draw curriculum and prepare master plan for the University. The government subsequently sent a bill on the proposed Kwara State University to the state House of Assembly which was passed after series of deliberations on it. The Bill of the Kwara State University was therefore signed into law on December 24, 2008. The Governor alongside members of the Implementation Committee obtained the certificate and instrument to operate the University on February 9, 2009 from the National Universities Commission (NUC). Thus, Kwara State University became the 77th University to be registered by the NUC.
The Implementation Committee was converted to the Interim Governing Council by the Governor to conduct the exercise for the recruitment of principal officers for the University. The pioneer Vice-Chancellor, Professor Abdulrasheed 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 Tuesday, July 28, 2009. Two more principal officers were appointed after the assumption of office of the new Vice-Chancellor. They were the Bursar, Alhaji Mohammed Ndatche and the University Librarian, Mr. Alao Isiaka Atunde who have since assumed duty.
On Monday, August 10, 2009, the government went a step further to concretize the foundation it has laid for the University by inaugurating a substantive Governing Council for the University under former Governor Mohammed Shaaba Lafiagi who had been involved in the conception and evolution of the University. Other members of the Governing Council are Professor Halidu I. Abubakar; Alhaji Shehu Gafar; Mrs. Wosilat McCarthy; Mr. Adetunji Fagbemi; Mr. Mudashiru Oladipo; Alhaji Toyin Sanusi; Dr. Ali Ahmad and Alhaji Abiodun Olayiwola, former Secretary of the Interim Council, who was appointed the Acting Registrar and Secretary to the Governing Council.
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