ABU spent 45 years without building new hostel – VC

The Vice Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria (ABU), Professor Ibrahim Garba, has decried the lack of accommodation for students of the institution saying the university spent 45 years without having additional new hostels.

Garba made the remark when he paid a visit to Daily Trust, in Abuja, on Wednesday.

He said the university with a high student population has accommodation for only 11,000 students on its campuses.

According to him, insufficient accommodation is one of the major challenges facing the university.

To this effect, he said Alhaji Aliko Dangote has built multi-million Naira state-of-the-art hostel to address the challenges of insufficient accommodation in the university.

He said that 10-block of hostel has the capacity to accommodate huge number of students conveniently.

“Alhaji Aliko Dangote came to our convocation in 2016 and promised to build 10-block of hostels as I am speaking to you now they are 100 percent completed. These hostels will accommodate about 2,000 students in what we called ABU Phase 2 site. In the last 45 years, ABU has never built a single hostel. There has never been a new hostel. Late Ummaru Musa ‘Yar’adua built one little block for five rooms for Katsina students”.

He disclosed that the new 10-block of hostels and additional 3-block built by the university would be commission soon.

He recalled that it was the military government policy that barred universities from building additional hostels for fear of students protest.

He said that was the factor that contributed to the insufficient accommodation in ABU and other Nigerian universities.

He said out of over 50,000 students, the university could accommodate only 13,000 students in its campuses adding that the number was very high.

He disclosed that some students would be relocated to the new student’s village as part of the university effort to tackle accommodation problem.

He explained that Sulaiman and Amina hotels have been completed to make the students comfortable and learn in a friendly environment