By Danhassan Abubakar
The Bauchi State Citizens Forum has raised strong objections to what it described as a “regressive and ill-conceived” plan by the management of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi, to close some faculties and academic programmes.
Addressing journalists at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Secretariat in Bauchi on Monday, the forum’s leaders—Comrade Abdullahi Yalwa, PhD, and Jibrin Sa’id Jibrin, Esq.—warned that the move could erode years of educational progress and undermine ongoing efforts to upgrade ATBU into a fully fledged conventional university.
“We say very loudly and strongly that the decision is not acceptable. It is a direct attack on the developmental aspirations of Bauchi people and beyond,” Dr. Yalwa declared.
According to the forum, the university’s governing council has already discussed the proposal with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the Students’ Union Government (SUG). Among the areas reportedly marked for closure is the Faculty of Management Sciences, a decision the forum insists would deny thousands of prospective students—many from Bauchi State—access to higher education.
The group also accused the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Ibrahim Hassan Garba, of “misguiding” the council and of slowing resource verification for the university’s Distance Learning Centre and nearly 50 degree programmes approved by the National Universities Commission (NUC) during the previous administration.
“The thinking of the ATBU leadership is to shrink, choke and reduce the existing space in the university. This is one of the greatest disservices to the educational drive of our people, and we shall go to any length within the law to ensure its reversal,” the forum said.
The forum noted that stakeholders, including Senator Shehu Buba Umar of Bauchi South, are already sponsoring a bill to amend ATBU’s enabling law to confer on it the status of a conventional university, similar to recent upgrades of Modibbo Adama University in Yola and Joseph Tarka University in Makurdi.
It therefore appealed to the Federal Government and the Minister of Education, Dr. Maruf Tunji Alausa, to intervene, and urged the Bauchi State Government, traditional rulers and senior citizens to “enrich the conversation and engage all concerned” to prevent a policy reversal that could set the state back.
The forum commended the university’s governing council chairman, Air Commodore Emmanuel Jakada (rtd), for what it described as his “maturity and ability to see reason” in handling the matter.
“As we say in the popular struggle parlance, Aluta continua, victoria ascerta,” the statement concluded.