The Pro Chancellor of the University of Abuja, Senator Olanrewaju Tejuoso, has defended the institution’s 11,000-hectare land allocation by comparing it to other federal universities after facing queries from FCT Minister Nyesom Wike.
During an interview with Arise TV from 9:24, Tejuoso provided comparative data to justify the university’s land size. “Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife is about 13,000 hectares, University of Ilorin is about 15,000 hectares,” he stated, suggesting that the University of Abuja’s allocation falls within standard parameters for federal universities.
Addressing Wike’s accusation that the university inappropriately fenced off the land, Tejuoso clarified the timeline of the boundary demarcation. “The fencing was done over 5 years ago. I met the fencing there. We met the fencing when I became a Pro-Chancellor,” he explained, distancing himself from the decision.
The Pro Chancellor acknowledged the federal government’s ultimate authority over the land dispute while calling for intervention to prevent the revocation. “The legal advantage that we have is that it is a matter of the federal government taking land from itself. Everything is owned by the federal government. So if the federal government decides that it doesn’t want University of Abuja to exist or to develop, so be it.
I was appointed by the president to be the Pro-Chancellor, the chairman of the council, and I inherited what we have now. So if the federal government decides that he wants to reduce what I’m going to govern over, what can I say? But what is important is there’s no way that we can have a successful vision if they reduce what we are marketing to partners,” Tejuoso stated.
