NANS gives Niger gov’t ultimatum to shelve planned takeover of FUT Minna campus

The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), North Central Zone, has given the Niger State Government a 21-day ultimatum to shelve its plan to take over the Bosso Campus of the Federal University of Technology, Minna. Addressing the press on Wednesday, the North Central Coordinator of NANS, Hussaini Jamilu Ebbo, said that if the state […]

The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), North Central Zone, has given the Niger State Government a 21-day ultimatum to shelve its plan to take over the Bosso Campus of the Federal University of Technology, Minna.

Addressing the press on Wednesday, the North Central Coordinator of NANS, Hussaini Jamilu Ebbo, said that if the state government fails to withdraw its move after the 21-day ultimatum, the association would take over all major roads in the state.

Ebbo also called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to call the Niger State Governor to order, to avoid destabilising academic activities at the university.

He said NANS cannot allow the action by the Niger State Government to frustrate students.

In a letter dated October 3, 2025, personally signed by the governor, Mohammed Umaru Bago, which was obtained by Daily Trust, the Niger State government claimed that the campus, which was formerly a missionary school, was handed over to the state government and subsequently leased to the Federal University of Technology in 1980.

In another letter dated November 27, 2025, signed by the Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Abubakar Usman, the state government gave the university until December 1, 2025, to vacate the campus to avert “any unpleasant development”.

Feeling threatened, lecturers and students on Monday staged a protest, asking the state government to steer clear and insisting that the campus was acquired and paid for, not leased out as claimed by the state government.

In a circular issued on Tuesday and signed by the Registrar and Secretary to the Council of the institution, Danladi Mallam, the university insisted that the property was formally acquired from the Niger State Government on a permanent basis.

The university management lamented that the move by the state government to take over the campus amounts to a disruption of academic activities, the displacement of thousands of students and staff, and the loss of public investment.