Born on 19th August 1952 in Lagos, Prof Salau attended the Ansar-Ud-Deen College, Isolo,Lagos State (Jan. 1966 - Dec. 1772). He attended Odessa Civil Engineering Institute, Odessa, Ukraine, where he was awarded M.Sc Civil Engineering with honours (First Class) in 1979 and Ph.D. in Civil Engineering (Structures) in 1983.
He started his teaching career at the Department of Civil Engineering, University of Lagos in 1984 and rose to the prestigious rank of a Professor in 2001.
He was Acting Head (2002 – 2004), Head of Civil & Environmental Engineering Department (2005 – 2008). During his tenure, he facilitated the upgrade of all the laboratories and in particular acquired Universal Testing Machine from Imperial College. He also improved staff offices.
He served at different times, as Consultant Structural Engineer of various projects in the University of Lagos including recently, Human Resources Development Centre Building. He was Consultant Structural Engineer to the Nigerian Ports Authority (Tin Can Island Port Water Rehabilitation Project, 2004), NNPC, SPDC and others.
As the Dean, Faculty of Engineering, University of Lagos, Prof. Salau was an achiever. He secured L.G. Electronics Ltd to sponsor Engineering Design Laboratory worth N60m as well as PTDF sponsored Petroleum and Gas Laboratory (Building and Equipment) in the Department of Chemical Engineering worth N500m in 2010. Prof. Salau organized an International Conference, tagged “Innovations in Engineering and Technology” in August 2011. During his tenure as the Dean, he ensured quarterly publication of the Faculty Journal, “Journal of Engineering Research”. He has over 45 publications to his credit in form of books, monographs, articles in learned local and international journals as well as papers delivered at conferences. He is an external Examiner for many Federal Universities in Nigeria and Post Graduate candidates in the University of Cranfield, in the United Kingdom. Prof. Salau is the current Chairman, UNILAG/NIMASA Project at the University of Lagos, where NIMASA has agreed to sponsor the establishment of Institute of Maritime Studies.
Prof. Salau is a Registered Engineer, Fellow, Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE); Fellow, Nigerian Institute of Structural Engineers (NIStrutE); Member, Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM).
He was a Council Member, Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (1999 – 2006); Council Member, Nigeria Society of Engineers (1987 – 1998), (2000 – 2003) and (2011 – 2012), Chairman, Nigeria Society of Engineers (Lagos Branch) (2001 – 2003). He was Chairman, Technical Committee of the NSE (1992 – 2009) and he ensured quarterly publication of the Society’s Technical Journal during his tenure.
Merits award won by the astute lecturer and professional include Best Foreign Post-graduate Student (1983, Odessa Civil Engineering Institute); four-time Merit Award Winner (Nigerian Society of Engineers, 1992, 1993, 2004 and 2006); Merit Award Winner (Nigerian Society of Engineers (Lagos Branch, 1991) and a nominated recipient of 2013 edition of “International Who’s Who Professionals.
Professor Salau is happily married and blessed with children.
