Former Bauchi State Governor, Isa Yuguda, on Friday led key state stakeholders in endorsing the Senate’s plan to convert Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi, from a specialised university of technology into a conventional university.
The endorsement came during a public hearing organised by the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFund, aimed at gathering stakeholder input on the proposed amendment to the university’s enabling Act.
At the hearing, Yuguda described opposition to the conversion as unfair to the people of Bauchi State and surrounding communities, pointing to the limitations students face due to the absence of several academic programmes at ATBU.
“Anyone who is against converting the university to a conventional one is not being fair. I know what I went through to ensure ATBU began running medicine. Today, we have produced over 100 medical doctors,” he said.
Yuguda, an economics and accounting graduate, stressed that students should not be denied access to courses essential for their development simply because of the institution’s current classification.
“If economics is not offered at ATBU, why shouldn’t I fight for it? There are many science, arts and social science courses that are needed but are not being run,” he added.
However, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), ATBU branch, opposed the proposed amendment.
The branch chairman, Haruna Angulu, said the union’s position, as contained in its memorandum, was against converting the institution to a conventional university.
“In an era where the world is moving rapidly towards technology, what is required is increased funding to strengthen the existing specialised university of technology, not to make it conventional,” Angulu said.
He noted that ATBU is the only university of technology in the North-East and warned that the region could lose a critical technological institution if the amendment is passed.
Earlier, in a keynote address delivered at the hearing, Senate President Godswill Akpabio said it was the responsibility of lawmakers to ensure that legislation affecting national institutions benefits from broad stakeholder engagement.
“Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University has, over the decades, served as an important centre of excellence in science, technology, research and innovation,” Akpabio said.
He added that the institution, like many public universities, had evolved beyond the framework envisaged in its original Act, making legislative review necessary.
Akpabio urged academics, administrators, regulators, students, civil society groups and development partners to contribute constructively to the process.
In his opening remarks, Chairman of the Committee, Senator Muntari Dandutse (Katsina South), said the public hearing was designed to draw from the collective wisdom of stakeholders.
He explained that as ATBU has expanded in programmes, structure and responsibilities, some provisions of its existing Act had become inadequate.
“The amendment bill seeks to update and strengthen the governance framework of the university and clearly define the roles of key officers,” Dandutse said.
He acknowledged that the Senate’s plan to broaden academic offerings to include arts, social sciences and humanities had generated intense debate among academics, students, policymakers and industry experts.
