Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), one in every of Nigeria’s oldest and largest tertiary establishments, spends about ₦4 billion ($2.6 million) yearly on electrical energy payments, a price Vice Chancellor Professor Adamu Ahmed says is “crippling and unsustainable.”
Talking at a information convention to mark the college’s 63rd anniversary in Zaria, northern Nigeria, Ahmed stated the rising power prices had been straining tutorial and analysis actions, forcing the establishment to hunt different energy sources.
“The electrical energy invoice is weighing closely on our funds,” he stated. “We’re taking steps in direction of self-reliance and difficult our workers and college students to innovate, whereas pursuing partnerships for sustainable power options.”
Ahmed stated the federal authorities had acknowledged the burden, offering ₦1 billion ($650,000) in intervention funding final yr by way of the Tertiary Schooling Belief Fund (TETFund) and approving a brand new 10-megawatt renewable power undertaking for the college.
He added that ABU’s alumni had additionally begun supporting the power transition, citing a solar-powered undertaking by the School of Primary Research (SBS) class of 1975 for one of many college’s computer-based testing centres.
Based in 1962 by the late Northern Premier, Sir Ahmadu Bello, the college was established to advertise unity and growth throughout Nigeria.
Ahmed stated insecurity and poverty have since hindered progress within the area, however pledged that ABU would play a higher function in addressing these challenges by way of analysis, agriculture, and coverage advocacy.
“We consider insecurity can’t be solved by power alone,” he stated. “Our strategy is to advertise dialogue, understanding, and community-driven peacebuilding. We now have the analysis capability and networks to make an impression.”
The vice chancellor highlighted ABU’s agricultural sources, together with the Institute for Agricultural Analysis (IAR), the Nationwide Animal Manufacturing Analysis Institute (NAPRI), and the School of Veterinary Drugs, describing them as unmatched in West Africa.
From its modest starting with 4 colleges, 15 departments, and 426 college students, ABU has expanded to 18 colleges, 110 departments, seven institutes, 4 schools, and 17 analysis centres. It’s now thought-about the most important college system in sub-Saharan Africa.
Ahmed stated ABU was not too long ago ranked Nigeria’s finest public college within the 2025 Instances Increased Schooling checklist and is amongst three Nigerian universities featured within the QS 2025 World College Rankings.
He additionally disclosed that the establishment had secured three World Financial institution Centres of Excellence grants price over $15 million and a €5 million Horizon grant for a man-made intelligence undertaking growing microscopes for diagnosing uncared for tropical illnesses.
In response to him, ABU’s researchers and college students have registered greater than 30 patents globally, overlaying renewable power, prescription drugs, and crude oil refining applied sciences.
Regardless of these achievements, Ahmed warned that insufficient funding, mind drain, and decaying infrastructure pose vital challenges to sustainability. He stated the college would concentrate on digital studying, analysis commercialization, and start-up incubation to strengthen self-reliance.
He urged the college’s alumni to contribute by way of endowments and donations, saying: “The Sardauna gave you alternative; now it’s time to give again. You could have the sources, the expertise, and the affect to safe ABU’s future for generations to return.”
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