The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Abuja branch, has called for the immediate reversal of what it describes as the unlawful allocation of university land by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike. The union also urged President Bola Tinubu to intervene and restrain the minister, arguing that such action would restore peace and harmony on the university campus.
The demands were made by the Chairperson of the ASUU UniAbuja branch, Prof. Sylvanus Ugoh, during a news conference in Abuja on Tuesday. 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 if the minister failed to reverse the alleged allocation of the university’s land to his friends and associates. He described the minister’s action as a clear breach and a total disregard for the rule of law.
According to the union chairperson, Justice F.E. Mesiri of the Maitama High Court granted interlocutory injunctions on August 18, including an order restraining the FCT Minister from entering or encroaching on university land. Despite that court order, Ugoh said, the minister proceeded on September 26 to allocate the university’s land to companies and individuals.
Ugoh recalled that on June 30, 2025, during the inauguration of an access road to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Institute in Giri, the minister announced the retrieval of 7,000 hectares from the 11,000 hectares allocated to the university. He said the minister had accused the institution of land grabbing and of fencing several hectares without proper approval or documentation. In response, the union chairperson insisted there was overwhelming documentary evidence showing that the parcel of land was allocated to the University of Abuja.
He explained that the university was established on January 1, 1988, with an initial land allocation of 11,824 hectares to accommodate its long-term academic and infrastructural development. According to him, the university authority could not have decided on its own where to situate the institution, and the university and its land are the property of the Federal Government rather than the FCT.
Ugoh said the large landmass was deliberately allocated to provide room for future expansion, research activities, academic facilities and other institutional needs. He noted that the university, as a dual-mode institution offering conventional and distance learning programmes, requires sufficient land to fulfil its mandate. The land, he added, is also needed for research institutes, innovation centres and other facilities that would contribute to national development, while portions serve as green areas for ecological balance, environmental conservation and climate change mitigation.
Addressing the argument that the land had been left undeveloped for too long, Ugoh said the slow pace of development at the University of Abuja does not justify the takeover, since it is the Federal Government that is responsible for developing its university. He acknowledged the minister’s zeal to develop the FCT but maintained that the case for reclaiming the land does not stand, as universities gradually realise their full potential.
He further argued that 11,824 hectares is not excessive for a dual-mode university in the country’s capital, citing other institutions for comparison: the University of Ilorin occupies 15,000 hectares, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, occupies 13,000 hectares, the Federal University of Technology, Minna, occupies 10,650 hectares, and the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, occupies 10,000 hectares. He also noted that about two hectares of the University of Abuja’s land are hilly and would require huge resources to develop.
The union chairperson said ASUU would resist, within the ambit of the law, any attempt by the minister to unlawfully take away UniAbuja land. The news conference followed an emergency congress of the union held at the university on November 3 to deliberate on the land dispute. In June 2025, Wike accused the university of land grabbing, noting that the institution had claimed 11,000 hectares of land, of which he had retrieved 7,000.
