About a thousand members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria branch, last week went on a “peaceful protest” at the College of Agriculture and Animal Science, Mando, Kaduna over alleged encroachment on the school’s land by Kaduna State government. The spokesman of the union, Comrade Haruna Muhammad Jibrin, told journalists at the gate of the college that the union wanted ABU to take legal action against the government.
He demanded that Governor Nasiru Ahmed El-rufai pay compensation for the destruction of the college fence and trees as well as “distortion of flora and fauna and the entire environment”. In addition, he said the ABU senate should withdraw the degree certificates awarded to the governor because “his many actions are in contravention of the requirements of character and learning deemed worthy of an ABU degree”.
The college is one of three colleges of agriculture established by ABU shortly after its founding October 4 1962. The other two are College of Agriculture, Zamaru and College of Agriculture, Kabba (1964) in present Kogi State. The one at Mando was set up in the 1950s as a veterinary training centre of the then Northern Nigerian government. It was later transferred to the ABU, Zaria, in 1971 to train students “with sufficient technical knowledge and adequate practical skills in livestock management.” The three run national and higher diploma programmes. Their contribution to Northern Nigeria’s agro economy has been immense.
Despite this, the Kaduna State government, early this year, decided to take some portions of the land for development purposes and has begun constructing access roads and clearing the bushes. Explaining it’s action, the government accused the ABU management of double standards, stating that the school violated one of the conditions under which the land was allocated to it. According to the government, the institution sold some portions of the land to individuals rather than using it for the purpose of agricultural development and livestock production which it was meant for.
Ismail Umaru-Dikko, the Director-General of the state’s Urban Planning Development Authority, told Channels Television that the management of the college illegally sold about 80 hectares of the land without recourse to the Kaduna State governor, Nasir El Rufai, who is the custodian of all lands in the state. That, he said, was a clear violation of the state’s Land Use Administration Law. “The college does not have the legal right to excise any portion of the land outside the purpose of agricultural development and livestock production for which the land was allocated to the school from the onset,” he argued. However, ASUU, ABU branch claimed it was federal land that did not fall under the state’s jurisdiction. It cited the Land Use Act which is federal legislation.
This is an issue of legality which should be resolved in no other place than the court. We understand the management of the college had previously obtained a court injunction restraining the state government from encroaching on the land. Our position: let it go back to court.
