The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Abuja branch, has threatened industrial action over the alleged unlawful allocation of portions of the institution’s land by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.
The union demanded the immediate reversal of the disputed allocation and appealed to President Bola Tinubu to intervene by calling the minister to order.
ASUU branch Chairperson, Prof. Sylvanus Ugoh, made the demands at a news conference in Abuja on Tuesday, following an emergency congress held by the union on November 3 to deliberate on the dispute.
The conference was themed “Ministerial Encroachment into University of Abuja Land: Some Points to Ponder.”
Ugoh warned that the union could no longer guarantee industrial harmony on the campus if Wike failed to reverse the alleged allocation of university land to individuals and companies.
He accused the minister of disregarding a court order restraining him from encroaching on the university’s property.
According to Ugoh, Justice F.E. Mesiri of the Maitama High Court, on August 18, granted an interlocutory injunction restraining Wike from entering or encroaching on the university’s land.
He, however, alleged that the minister proceeded on September 26 to allocate portions of the disputed property to companies and individuals despite the court order.
Ugoh recalled that Wike had announced on June 30, 2025, during the inauguration of an access road to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Institute in Giri, that the FCT Administration had retrieved 7,000 hectares out of the 11,000 hectares allocated to the university.
The minister had accused the institution of land grabbing and fencing large portions of land without proper approval or documentation.
However, the ASUU chairman insisted that documentary evidence established the university’s ownership of the disputed property.
He explained that the University of Abuja was established on January 1, 1988, with an initial allocation of 11,824 hectares to accommodate its long-term academic and infrastructural development.
Ugoh argued that the land belonged to the Federal Government and not the FCT Administration, adding that the size was deliberately determined to provide room for future expansion, research and other institutional activities.
He said the university required the land for academic facilities, research institutes, innovation centres and environmental conservation.
The ASUU chairman also dismissed arguments that the institution had failed to develop the land, noting that university development was a gradual process requiring sustained government investment.
To support his position, he cited the land sizes of other federal universities, including the University of Ilorin, which occupies 15,000 hectares; Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, with 13,000 hectares; Federal University of Technology, Minna, with 10,650 hectares; and Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, with 10,000 hectares.
He added that about two hectares of the University of Abuja’s land were hilly and would require substantial resources to develop.
Ugoh said the union would resist any attempt to take away the institution’s land through unlawful means, while maintaining that it would operate within the law.
We do everything possible to supply quality news and information to all our valuable readers day in, day out and we are committed to keep doing this.
Your kind donation will help our continuous research efforts.
-Advertisement-
-Want to get the news as it breaks?-
