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Opinion

Federation within a Federation:The Untold Story of Prof Na’Allah as Uniabuja Vice-Chancellor

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2 years ago

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Professor Na'Allah

 

Hakeem Alohunmata

The 1914 amalgamation of the Northern and Southern protectorates as one entity, called Nigeria, has repeatedly been described as a ”marriage of inconvenience” or simply put, a ”forced marriage”. To some people, even, it was a wedding without marriage. This is the position of the pessimists who see Nigeria as a failed project. How can it be a successful project when the couples are constantly in conflict like sworn enemies? A nation that graciously allows artificial divisions to becloud its sense of harnessing its cultural diversity and religious plurality for national development. A nation that allows faint lines of boundaries to blur its vision of tapping into the resources of its over 400 languages for tourism enterprise. A nation that allows mutual suspicion to daunt its passion for developing its human resources for skill exportation.

A nation that allows political affiliations to clog the wheel of its fortune, progress and prosperity. Pursuing the banality of a fictitious interest, the nation is found wanting in the loneliness of a multi-crore forest. The multitude of culture, plurality of ethnicity and diversity of religion, rather than being a blessing to the nation, seem like an irredeemable curse placed on a traitor in a local movie. Nepotism, sectionalism and corruption have eaten so deep into the system that it has spread like a wildfire to every sphere of our institutions.
University of Abuja, a federation within the federation, shares a similar experience. It is the only federal University in Nigeria that has all the thirty-six states of the country as its catchment in terms of staff recruitment and student admission.

It is an heterogeneous community, and a conglomerate of conflicting ethnic groups, diverse cultures and polarized religious affiliations. Like the bigger federation, the ethnic divisions and religious affiliation have, over the years, become a bane in the development of the university. The institution had badly been bitten by the bared fangs of nepotism. Past leaders of the university had tried, without much success, to free the University from the tightening claws of sentiment in order to chart a course for development of the University. However, lack of political will to suppress ethnic favoritism and religious bigotry whips the chord of incessant internal crises, underscored by monumental bickering and eventual down-tooling of labour unions within the university. Prolonged industrial actions, blatant disregard for academic calendar, admission and certificate racketeering, infrastructural deficit, poor staff and students welfare, and low-level of academic research output, top the chart of the numerous challenges bedeviling the institution. And this is no less the reason why the university was being derided and ridiculously referred to as a ‘glorified secondary school’.

This was the situation of Uniabuja, until the birth of a new regime spearheaded by an altruistic, patriotic and detribalized Nigerian – Prof. AbdulRasheed Na’Allah. Rather than succumbing to the seemingly insurmountable problems, which are as big as the mountains surrounding the campus itself, Prof. Na’Allah saw an opportunity in the ethnic and socio-cultural division of his staff. No sooner he was appointed as the Vice-Chancellor in 2019, than he coined a slogan – The University for National Unity – for the university. This slogan has come to stay as the University is now popularly known as UofA of Nigeria and the University for National Unity. The coinage of this slogan shows the readiness of Prof. Na’Allah, right from inception, to form a government of national unity by mobilizing staff, students and stakeholders regardless of their ethnic or religious affiliations to work with him on his mandate to bring an aggressive development to the University. The idea of University of Abuja as a university for National Unity becomes his watchword. It is at the fulcrum of his programmes and policies, and it was brought to bear even in the appointment of deans and directors into key positions in the University without sacrificing merit. His idea of national unity was reflected in the admission process. Having realized that some sections of the country had benefited too much for so long in the scheme of things including student admission, he reviewed the admission process to ensure that applicants from every state of the federation are admitted to the University without prejudice. Prof. NaAllah’s patriotism could also be noted in the staff recruitment exercise by standing firm on the principles of federal character. His belief in National Unity resonates in two critical centres he established: the Centre for Community Development and Centre for Stakeholders Mobilization. While the Centre for stakeholders mobilization is working hard to mobilize for support from people of different background and status from within and outside the University, the Centre for Community Development serves as a link between the ‘town and gown’. Through the Centre for Community Development, the host communities are deeply involved in the activities and programmes of the institution. They now feel more attached to the University like never before. The harmonious relationship between the host communities and the university made it possible for Prof. NaAllah to achieve the construction of perimeter fencing of the entire university land – a task no one believe was possible.

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Prof. Na’Allah’s zeal for infrastructural development is not known only to University of Abuja. As the pioneer Vice-Chancellor of Kwara State University, he started the university from zero infrastructure to a masterpiece, a world-class university with beautiful landscape, superb architectural edifice, good road networks, stable and quality academic delivery, a feat that made the then Kwara State Governor call on the House of Assembly to review the one-term tenure policy of a Vice-Chancellor, to allow him come back for another term of five years.

This also is an uncommon privilege earned by uncommon character and dedication to duties. The Executive Secretary of TETfund, Arch. Sunday Echono, visited the university recently. He could not but confirm the solid foundation laid by Prof. Na’Allah upon which KWASU today stands.
However, the great achievements he recorded at KWASU were not enough to reveal the patriotism in him as KWASU seems to be a small community with small political set up. The opportunity eventually came when he was called upon to serve his nation in the capacity of Vice-Chancellor of a Federal University- a university with conservative tradition that defies modernity; a university that takes solace in mediocrity and stagnancy; a university with galaxies of scholars working in isolation without collaborations; a university with a senate that is divided against itself across ethno-religious lines.
Managing such an institution was a huge task because the most difficult thing to accept is change. As a master strategist, Prof. Na’Allah, amidst stiff rejection, cheap blackmail and witch-hunting, was able to waddle through the muddy water to pave the way for the needed development in the University. Under his leadership, University of Abuja has regained its rightful position in the community of Universities in Nigeria. With his doggedness and administrative acumen, Prof. Na’Allah had, in no small measure, maintained the sanctity of academic calendar and improved academic standard of the University. With COVID-19 lockdown and the prolong ASUU strike that rocked the entire 2020 and early part of 2021, University of Abuja was one of the few, if not the only, universities that did not lose a single session. Prof. Na’Allah developed a robust virtual learning system that allowed students to take their classes while at home. Students now know the day they will graduate, the first day they are admitted into the University. This was largely made possible with the introduction of a portal system by Prof. NaAllah who is popularly known across the length and breadth of the campus as a digital Vice-Chancellor.

To the committee of Vice-Chancellors of Nigeria Universities, Prof. NaAllah is known as an infrastructure Vice-Chancellor. He leaves no one in doubt of his capability by turning University of Abuja to a construction site. To him, the best welfare any staff can get is to have a conducive working environment. He then began on an aggressive mobilization for fund by blocking leakages, improving the university internally generated revenue (IGR) without unnecessary hike in school fees, rallying for financial supports from philanthropists, organizations and well meaning alumni of the University, and lobbying government and government agencies to invest in the infrastructure of the university. These endeavour yielded tremendous benefit as money raised are prudently plunged into building of faculties, befitting lecture theatres, state-of-the-art laboratories, world-class international conference centres, building of new hostels and renovation of existing ones, staff clubs, new staff quarters on campus, mini stadium, solar farms, computer laboratories across the campus, first-of-its-kind new senate building (ongoing), completion of the old senate building as well as all other abandoned projects (PG school, Faculty of Engineering, Faculty of Sciences etc.) landscaping and street lighting of the entire campus, good road network, to mention a few.

This recent
transformation occasioned by a world class administrator, Prof, AbdulRasheed Naallah, opened up the University to both local and international collaborations. Government agencies, ministries, diplomats from various countries, international organizations, Universities from other African countries, Europe, China, Japan, North and South Korea, are now trooping to the University for partnership and exchanges. This gives the ever-expanding student population the opportunity for intercultural exchanges as some students of the university, that won Fukushima Prefecture Governor’s award were recently invited for a tour of Japan by the Japanese government; so also is the University receiving international students on exchange programme to its campus. The Chinese government is continuously supporting the University’s Engineering programme through provision of state-of-the-art equipment.

Prof. Na’Allah, in a grand style and in one scoop, did what no Vice-Chancellor in the history of Uniabuja had ever done by securing NUC approval to start twenty-six (26) new programmes including Aeronautic and Astronautic Engineering. He is a Vice-Chancellor of many first’s’: The first Vice-Chancellor to introduce students employment scheme to Nigerian education system, the first Vice-Chancellor to introduce Railway Engineering (awaiting NUC resource verrification result), Aeronautic and Astronautic Engineering (at KWASU) as undergraduate programmes and so on. Prof. NaAllah’s unmatched administrative experience in managing tertiary institutions had, without doubt, brought about a significant change not only to University of Abuja but also to the Nigerian higher education system as other Universities now tow the lines of a new direction he had painstakingly led.

Prof. NaAllah is a distinguished academic and astute administrator that only needs a bigger stage to turn around the fortune of Nigerian education system.

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Opinion

Kano North Must Not Get lt Wrong : Why Returning Senator Barau Jibrin CFR is a Strategic Imperative

Published

11 hours ago

on

May 1, 2026

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By Muazu A. Ishaq

In moments of electoral decision, societies are often confronted with a choice that goes beyond sentiments and party affiliation to the deeper question of consolidation and continuity versus disruption, a moment when the electorate must pause, look beyond the noise of detractors and ask a fundamental question; can we afford to make this costly mistake? For the good people of Kano North Senatorial District that moment is now, the coming 2027 electoral cycle presents such a moment one that demands careful reflection, not sentiment. The stakes are not about party loyalty or sentimental rhetoric, it is about avoiding a mistake whose consequences could reverberate for years.

The Deputy President of the Senate, Barau I. Jibrin PhD CFR, has, over time, built a record that is both visible and measurable. His re-election, therefore, is not merely about sustaining a political career; it is about preserving a strategic advantage that Kano North currently enjoys within Nigeria’s national power structure.

As the number five citizen in the country, his position offers the zone direct access to influence, opportunities, and federal preseence, assets that are neither automatic nor easily replaced.

One of the most remarkable aspects of Senator Barau’s stewardship is his deliberate investment in human capital development.
While some politicians are busy sponsoring mudslinging campaigns to tarnish his growing national image, Senator Barau has been busy building a future for Kano youth.

Recently, the first batch of his foreign-trained scholars returned home; 16 graduates in Cyber Security and Forensic Science and 10 graduates in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. These are not ordinary certificates. These are the tools of the 21st-century economy, and they are now in the hands of sons and daughters of Kano North.

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Subsequent batches are on the way. This is a pipeline of excellence. Lose Barau, and you lose the architect of this intellectual revolution.

If anyone doubts the scale of Senator Barau’s grassroots reach, let them examine the events of April 19, 2026. In a continuation of his legendary mega empowerment programmes, the Deputy President of the Senate distributed 47 brand new cars and 282 motorcycles to critical stakeholders and grassroots mobilizers across the 13 LGAs in Kano North including party chairmen, party secretaries, primary school headmasters, and secondary school principals among others. This was a strategic injection of mobility and dignity into the very fabric of the zone’s leadership.

Just five days later, on April 24, 2026, Senator Barau proved that his empowerment is not a one-off event but a continuous process. He announced the continuation of yet another significant programme that was launched previous month; a cash donation of ₦100,000 each to 100 beneficiaries in every single one of the 13 LGAs of Kano North.

Taken together, these initiatives reflect a leadership approach that is both strategic and people-centered. They are not isolated gestures but components of a broader vision aimed at uplifting communities, strengthening institutions, and preparing the next generation for global competitiveness.
It is, therefore, not surprising that such a rising profile at the national level may attract political opposition and attempts at distraction.

However, elections should ultimately be guided by evidence, performance, and the long-term interests of the people not by transient narratives.
Kano North today occupies a position of relevance in Nigeria’s political and developmental landscape. This is not accidental; it is the product of deliberate engagement, years of strategic alliances, and consistent delivery. To risk losing this standing would be to step back from a trajectory of progress that is already yielding results.

The decision before the electorate is therefore clear. It is a choice between consolidating and sustaining democratic gains or starting afresh; between sustained access to national influence or uncertain repositioning. In making that choice, the people must ask themselves a simple question: which path best secures their future?

Avoiding a regrettable mistake requires clarity of purpose and fidelity to facts. The record speaks for itself. Continuity, in this instance, is not just desirable, it is essential.

As Kano North looks ahead, the imperative is to protect its voice, preserve its advantage, and ensure that the momentum of development is not interrupted. Re-electing Senator Barau Jibrin is, therefore, not just a political decision it is a strategic investment in the future of the constituency.

Muazu A. Ishaq
+2348038981655
muazuabdullahi29@gmail.com

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Opinion

DSP Barau and “Abandoned Projects” : An Appraisal

Published

2 days ago

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April 29, 2026

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By Abba Anwar

Only those who know and understand the sluggish nature of budget implementation under different administrations, can understand whether projects are deliberately abandoned by their initiators and facilitators. Or whether the onus is on the pattern of implementation and implementors.

If Kaduna Eastern Bypass, initiated 2002, Abuja-Lokoja highway started in 2006, Kano-Maiduguri of 2007, Sokoto – Tambuwal- Jega-Kontagora, flagged – off in 2009, Abuja-Minna of 2010, among other abandoned federal projects, are not marked as noise making hubs, why then is Kano-Gwarzo-Dayi, that was flagged – off in June, 2021, can deliberately be tagged as point of condemnation by noise makers?

Kano-Gwarzo-Dayi federal road, as facilitated by the Deputy President of the Senate, His Excellency Barau I Jibrin, CFR, since 2021, though abandoned at a point, up to January, 2026, the work has resumed since February, 2026, this year.

Senator Jibrin worked hard and made sure that, the sum of Thirty Seven Billion Naira (N37,000,000,000) only was appropriated in 2026 Appropriation Bill, which has now become Act. After that he also pushed, very well for the additional Six Billion and Three Hundred Million Naira (N6, 300,000,000) only.

Unlike DSP’s facilitated federal road project of Kano-Gwarzo-Dayi, which was flagged – off in 2021, as contractors are back to site, since February, this year, there are many abandoned federal road projects, scattered around the country, whose resumption of work, with so many of the projects, is still elusive.

Such as Makurdi-Naka-Adoka-Ankpa federal road flagged – of in 2012, Calabar-Itu-Ikot Ekpene, of 2010, Benin-Sapele-Warri road, which was flagged – off in 2009, Enugu – Onitsha road, of 2013, Kano-Katsina dualization project, that was started in 2013, as contractor left in 2022, among many other abandoned federal roads.

Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano federal road is another case of study, in this context. The project has been in limbo for many years, with touch-and-go strategy.

So to me, castigating or rather blaming DSP for this singular Kano-Gwarzo-Dayi road is either premature or not necessary at all. In his own case, the work has resumed. And look at what he pushed to be reflected in 2026 national budget. Which has already become, 2026 Appropriation Act.

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Another constituency project for DSP Jibrin, is E-learning Centres across 5 local governments from his Kano North Senatorial District, in collaboration with National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), was facilitated by the Senator in 2015.

The Centres are across 5 local governments, Tofa, Gwarzo, Kabo, Bichi and Dambatta.

Some people erroneously blame the Senator, advancing that, the E-learning Centres were abandoned by him, since 2015, which, according to them, shows his “negligence” over his constituency. As a matter of fact, the truth of the matter is this, all the 5 E-learning Centres were converted to become Study Centres for National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN). Amongst other locations from the remaining local governments that constitute Kano North Senatorial District.

Another great project that some are blaming His Excellency DSP is Barau Initiative for Agricultural Revolution in the North West (BIARN). Many things were said about it by opponents. But the truth of the matter is this, that the project is yet to take-off fully due to the issue of cash flow from the end of the partner agency. Which is Bank of Agriculture (BOA).

Coincidentally I came across a press statement issued by the
Special Adviser to the Deputy President of the Senate on Media and Publicity, Ismail Mudashir, narrating that, the Chairman of the Initiative, Prof. Bashir Fagge Muhammad, disclosed that, “Following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the BOA management, applicants were invited to participate in the initiative. However, implementation was stalled due to challenges relating to cash flow.”

As the programme was unveiled March, 2025, it aims to revolutionise agriculture and encourage young Nigerian graduates to venture into farming.

Part of the statement reads, “Specifically, the programme was designed to empower 558 young farmers with loans ranging from N1 million to N5 million for rice and maize cultivation across the seven North West states in line with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda on food security and youth empowerment.”

Adding that, “Applicants are therefore urged to remain patient, as the Board of the Initiative, under the chairmanship of Professor Bashir Fagge Muhammad, is working closely with the BOA management to resolve the issue.”

So we can now understand that the programme is not, and can never be, abandoned, as some started speculating while peddling rumors around.

It is not the intention of this piece to start cataloging DSP’s long standing achievements as the Senator representing Kano North, in many areas of human endeavor.

From his Scholarship scheme where hundreds of students were sponsored for their undergraduate studies, across Nigerian universities and dozens, who were sponsored for Postgraduate studies abroad, as some completed their studies and started coming back. As thousands students from his constituency are given scholarship for their upkeep. Not to talk of his intervention in all other areas of education.

I’m not cataloging his intervention in the security sector. As he is the single individual from across North West whose intervention in the sector supersedes that of many. A Senator like no other.

His effort in sports development is unmatched. Apart from aiding football clubs and players, his completion of stadium in each of the 13 local governments under his constituency, is something to write home about.

All his interventions in such areas will come our way shortly.

Anwar writes from Kano
Wednesday, 29th April, 2026

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Opinion

The Ink Dried Up: An Open Letter to Matthew Hassan Kukah-Prince Daniel Aboki

Published

3 days ago

on

April 28, 2026

By

 

Dear Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah

I write you with the utmost sense of respect.

Permit me to begin by congratulating you. Not in the usual way, but in a manner that reflects a keen observation of recent developments in our country. Since the emergence of Bola Ahmed Tinubu as President, and coincidentally since your assumption of office as Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of Federal University of Applied Sciences Kachia, there appears to have been a remarkable shift in the narrative of insecurity across Nigeria.

From Zamfara State to Sokoto State, Katsina State, Benue State, Plateau State, Kwara State, and indeed across several troubled parts of our nation, one might be tempted to conclude that the k!llings have suddenly come to an end. The silence is striking. The headlines have softened. The urgency has waned.

It is this very contrast that compels this letter.

You will recall, Bishop, your powerful and courageous interventions during the administration of Muhammadu Buhari. Your voice rang loud through a series of open letters that captured national attention and stirred both conscience and controversy.

On Christmas Day, December 25, 2018, you wrote with piercing clarity about a nation drifting, warning of a “nation at w@r with itself.”

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Again, on December 25, 2019, your message, “A Nation in Search of Vindication,” questioned the moral and political direction of leadership, calling attention to bloodshed and division.

On December 25, 2020, in “A Nation in Search of Peace,” you spoke even more bluntly, addressing the worsening insecurity and the growing despair among Nigerians.

And on December 25, 2022, your letter once again raised concerns about governance, justice, and the value of human life in Nigeria.

These interventions were not just letters. They were moral signposts. They reminded leadership of its duty and the nation of its conscience.

It is against this backdrop that your current silence, or perhaps restraint, becomes more noticeable.

Has the situation improved so dramatically that the urgency of those words is no longer required?

Have the forests suddenly emptied?
Have the highways become safe?
Have the cries of victims ceased?

Or is it that the burden of national admonition must shift depending on who occupies the seat of power?

Lord Bishop, sir, your voice has always carried weight not because it was loud, but because it was consistent. Not because it was critical, but because it was principled.

Nigeria still needs that voice.

Not selectively. Not occasionally. But steadfastly.

If indeed peace has returned to the troubled lands of Zamfara, Sokoto, Katsina, Benue, Plateau, Kwara, and beyond, then you deserve commendation for witnessing such a transformation. But if, as many still believe, the reality on the ground has not changed as dramatically as the silence suggests, then your voice is needed now as much as it was then. Unless there is something we are not seeing that you would want us to see, could it be a case of “Tinubu I love, Buhari I hate”? Or should we begin to wonder whether conviction has given way to convenience?

Bishop, sir, would you recommend that we keep silent when we benefit and speak up only when we do not?

Over time, we have seen that history is kinder to those who remain constant in truth than to those who are convenient in silence.

I write not in condemnation, but in expectation.

Prince Daniel a Concerned Citizen and Head of cool Wazobia And Arewa Radio on Kano

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