AS I had noted in the first issue of this article for the attention of the Visitor to the University of Abuja: ‘How is the University of Abuja established in 1988 by an Act of the National Assembly as a federal government owned tertiary institution affected by the power of the FCT Minister to revoke plots of land for overriding public interest?’
As I was saying, the FCT Minister should visit the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital and other faculties and see things for himself before insulting them as land grabbers. The reasons for the needs assessment by the FCT minister aren’t far-fetched. As an opinion writer, Humphrey Ukeaja has rightly noted, the curious land grab by the FCT authorities actually “threatens the University of Abuja’s future”.
This strange development, where a remarkable portion of a nascent federal institution’s strategic land asset is suddenly reclaimed, provokes serious curiosities about government’s foresight, policy consistency, and priorities of a ruling class in a developing country.
The University of Abuja, established barely 37 years ago, is still a young institution, striving to carve out its niche and build the basic infrastructure necessary for 21st-century education superstructure that can support development. And the authorities in Abuja and the Visitor’s men who seem complacent about the curious land grab should note that stripping the university of such a massive landmass abruptly under the guise of grabbing land for individuals who are hungry for plots of land should not just be concerning, it should be seen as a decision that threatens to cripple and undermine the growth of the young university.
I like Humphrey’s submission: ‘Universities, globally, are not just classrooms and lecture halls; they are sprawling ecosystems designed for diverse functions: academic expansion, research hubs, student accommodation, recreational facilities, and future technological advancements’. The vast plots of land for universities are not mere empty spaces; they are canvasses for innovation, expansion, and the creation of self-sustaining academic cities.
Let’s us quickly amplify voices of reason to the education authorities in Abuja that the University of Abuja, despite its considerable initial allocation, is far from realising the infrastructural sophistication of its counterparts, nationally and globally. Doubtless, as I was saying, a visit to the campus reveals a stark reality: the institution lacks the cutting-edge facilities essential for country and global competitiveness. I join others in asking, ‘where are the state-of-the-art research parks, the dedicated AI and robotics hubs that are hallmarks of emerging trends in education, or the robust innovation centers that foster start-ups?
As I was also saying, our University of Abuja currently struggles with inadequate student housing. The institution lacks modern, comfortable lodges and well-equipped hotels that are capable of attracting international students and faculties. As the clear-headed Humphrey has noted, one would expect to find commercial amenities like a university-owned water factory, advanced sports complexes, extensive medical facilities, and robust conference centres.
These are not luxuries: they are classic features of a modern university. These basic tools are to facilitate learning, research, and community engagement. Instead of facilitating the acquisition of the vital infrastructure, the Minister’s arbitrary action of retrieving 7,000 hectares can only serve to stunt the development of the university that has already been relegated to a reproachful state.
Universities even in global context are expected to last for centuries and it is inconceivable that any ivory tower should develop its entire plots of land within two or three decades of its operations. According to available records, the university began operation in 1988 with few Faculties, Departments and Units which gradually and over time increased to its current level of twelve Faculties and over 50, 000 students.
There is no armour against the demographic fact that every day, the population of the country increases, and so the academic planning and other relevant sections of the university must forecast the incremental admission rate including additional faculty/ non- teaching members of staff.
There is therefore the need for additional classrooms, libraries, laboratories, offices, hostels, sporting facilities, audutoria, recreation areas, cafeterias and car parks and others. Technological devices can’t replace all these physical features for now the world over. Again, universities are expected to solve contemporary national challenges like epidemics, food shortage, security challenges, increasing housing demands, etc all of which necessitate that academics isolate themselves in their laboratories so that useful ideas that would move the society forward can strike them.
In the same vein, the universities teach the doctrine of sustainable development, which dictates that we cannot utilise all of land resources at once such that the university will be choked up after some years without any land for expansion to accommodate additional programmes and facilities to be used to resolve emerging challenges. Even the National Assembly’s relevant committees, notably education and sustainable development should tell the FCT Minister and the Visitor this.
The Minister of FCT needs to note that the original Title of University of Abuja land is traceable to the 1989 Ministry of the Federal Capital Territory grant of the main campus Giri District parcel, which was physically occupied in 2001. In 2002, the Title Deed was signed by the then Honourable Minister of the FCT, Mohamned Abba Gana, an engineer as “Land Set Aside for the Use of the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
And so a conceptual confusion emerged when ESV.Ebere M.Orjiogo, the Deeds Registrar noted in a letter on the issue that the decision of the Honourable Minister to revoke the statutory right of University of Abuja to its land stems from the recommendations of an old ‘Joint Technical Committee on University of Abuja (Lands and Sundry Issues)’ comprising the representatives of the Federal Capital Territory and the University.
It has emerged from facts available that the FCT Minister might not have been properly briefed on the point at issue as the information made available to the University Council by the officers of the University who were privy to this matter did not uphold ESV. Irjiogo’s claim, which might have been exploited to take a rash decision on a public university’s plots of land.
Specifically, on October 13, 2020, the University of Abuja Management paid a courtesy visit to then Minister of FCT as was done to the predecessors. During the courtesy visit, the University Management appealed to the Minister to settle the indigenes of the Giri District who were still occupying part of the University land so that Management could commence the process of removing the illegal structures and fencing the entire land for adequate possession.
Consequently, a Joint Technical Committee was constituted to examine the request made by University Management and the Committee only met immediately after inauguration. The representatives of the University were never invited to subsequent meetings of the Joint Technical Committee until March, 2022 when the then Vice Chancellor received a copy of the Report it knew nothing about.
It is now clear to the university that some fifth columnists within the FCT Administration who were hell bent on illegally dispossessing the University of Abuja of its prime land must have doctored the report to include the machination of the recommendation upon which the FCT Minister acted recently without due diligence. That is one reason the Minister should probe the allegation (of forging a report) to avoid injustice to the University as a result of the absence of one of the two cardinal principles of natural justice: hear or listen to the other side.
As it is conventional in public service, in this regard, the FCT Minister may want to call for Minutes and the Attendance Register endorsed by those who attended the purported meetings of the Joint Technical Committee that made the absurd recommendation for the revocation of the statutory right of occupancy of Uni-Abuja’s plots of land.
What is worse, the Main Campus land in question has a large quantity of granite rock outcrop within its boundary that is undeveloped and if the size is reduced to 4, 519.80 HA as stipulated in the revocation letter, twenty one percent (21%) of the excised and re-granted land would have gone leaving only grossly inadequate 2,039.8 HA as the Pro Chancellor of the University, Dr. Lanre Tejuosho has revealed in a television interview.
Besides, the authorities in Abuja should note that the University has begun implementation of the Federal Government directive on Public- Private Partnerships with a number of Corporations such as National Land Development Agency (NALDA), Raw Materials Research and Development Council ( RMRDC), National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI ), Federal Ministry Of Agriculture, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC ), National Automotive Design and Development Council ( NADDC), Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) amongst others showing interest in using various parts the Uni-Abuja’s land for one meaningful project or the other.
Another reason for concern: the Uni-Abuja has signed Partnership Agreements with private organisations for value exchange that are currently being processed for approval by the Infrastructure Concessions Regulatory Commission (ICRC) for the establishment of Medical Research Resort, Cash Crop Processing Centre, Students Agropreneurship Centre, Vaccine Production, Agriculture demonstration farms, Ranching Techniques, large scale fish and poultry farming, etc. These Partnership Agreements and Infrastructure are located where the FCT Minister has excised. The negative consequences of the revocation are endless including costly litigations for breach of contract/Agreements, battered image for the University and the country.
Other significant projects lined up on the revoked plots include International Conference Centre sponsored by TEFund, Botanical Garden for Botany Department, Zoological Garden for Zoology Department and fully functional Institute of Education. The Faculty of Agriculture Teaching Farms for arable and cash crop demonstrations of which land preparations have commenced for this planting season is also on the revoked portion of University land. Where will they take the students for the needed exposure on agriculture and allied disciplines?
A glimpse at the Master Plan of University of Abuja also reveals that student hostels, several research Institutes /Centres of Excellence such as sickle cell research and trainning centre for which the university had received grants for construction are located on the revoked land. On internationlisation policy, it is understood that the university is collaborating with several universities in Europe and the Americas to have modern equipment for their laboratories as well as hubs in Engineering and Computing.
According to findings too, the Food and Agriculture Organisation, an agency of the United Nations recently flagged off special grant to universities worldwide on promoting Genetically Modified Food. Uni-Abuja has raised specialist academics in relevant departments to reap from this giant step at forestalling global Food shortage. Land availability is very central to enhance cooperative research with other universities within and outside Nigeria on this.
So, the FCT Minister’s actions risk sending a dangerous message: that education and its enabling environment are not useful to the Tinubu administration, after all. For our young University (UniAbuja), that has been ruthlessly neglected and underfunded for 37 years, the loss of 7,000 hectares out of 11, 000 hectares, is not merely a reduction in size: it is a ghastly injury on its development strides. And so President Tinubu, the Visitor to the University should not bear a hand in the death of the only federal, sorry federation university in the capital of the federation, because they call him ‘Father’.
- Oloja is former editor of The Guardian newspaper and his column, Inside Stuff, runs on the back page of the newspaper on Sundays. The column appears on News Point Nigeria newspaper on Mondays.