An open letter to Vice
Chancellor of Abubakar Tafawa
Balewa University Bauchi,
Prof. Saminu Ibrahim
‘Death is not the greatest loss in
life; the greatest loss is what
dies inside us while we live’, Sir
you are killing the passion of
‘going to school’ in the heart of
young population in northeast
region. Let me go straight to
the point;
Sir, what is imperative for you
to know now is that 90% of
your students are not only
unhappy with most of your
decision but characterized it as
unproductive and too
unsympathetic. When the news
of 166 % increment on
registration fee reach me i
thought it was just one of the
normal jokes student use to
crack among themselves,
because i never expect that
from you in this critical
economic situation, Sir permits
me to take little analysis of the
funds to be realized as result of
your increment.
Assuming ATBU have 10,000
student and all are returning
student, what was increase to all
returning students is 25 000
which is 168% of 14 500 Naira.
Now multiplying 25 000 by the
number of the student the total
increment to be realized every
session will be 250, 000 000.
Yes two hundred and fifty
million! this is a surplus on the
Normal 145 000 000 you
generated on school fees
‘alone’ , Now the total amount
you will generate in school fees
next session will be 395 000
000 roughly, excluding
accommodation fees. Taking
duration of session as 12 month
even though you are yet to
design a sessional calendar with
12 months because the last time
i check the first calendar design
under your administration was
13month which is April 2015 to
May 2016 for 2014/2015
academic session. Dividing the
total surplus on school fees
which is 250million by 12month
you will have an IGR increment
of 20.8million Naira to meet
your expenditures every month,
this is excluding what you are
generating now and above all
excluding what you receive
from FG monthly.
To be candid your increment is
too much Sir, Haba! Haba!. Sir
had it been you are not from
Northeast region or Northern
Nigeria in general we would
have rally to our community
elders and traditional rulers to
inform them that the struggle
they have been doing for years
to convince core northerners in
going to school someone from
somewhere have come to
destroy it. But the most
disgusting is that you are
among us and aware of
everything going on. Aren’t we
aware that Northeast is the most
region which is economically and
educationally backward that we
all even deserve scholarship
A report from African
Development (Afri.Dev.info) on
information 2015 shows that
52.4% of Males and 61.1% of
females in North-eastern Nigeria
are uneducated (cannot read
and write), and above all the
lingering insurgency that have
frustrate us and have made
more than 2million to be
internally displaced persons
which majority are women and
children. Sir do you consider all
these before taking your
decisions??
While economic and financial
experts such as Emir Sunusi
Lamido Sunusi are putting
pressure on President
Muhammadu Buhari to remove
subsidy so as to enable him
generate more funds in running
the affairs of the nation the
president has refuse to second
because of the sympathy for
the masses, he said; Until we
crate alternative such as jobs,
easy transportation among some
other social amenities we will
continue to subsidies oil for our
people. Is not that PMB don’t
want to remove subsidy in order
to save much but on
considering the current
economic situation he has to
halt that decision to sometimes
not now.
However much we wanted to
restructure infrastructure and
finance our recurrent and capital
expenditures we must consider
the situation of our students
and their sponsors. Sir, i want to
bring to your notice that you
are indirectly killing the zeal and
passion of many youths in your
catch-main areas that are willing
to go to school. We are
internally displaced persons sir,
some of our parents were killed
due to insurgency. Many among
us struggle by ourselves to
generate what we normally
spend in the university which
includes fees and feeding.
Please revert your decision, we
beg you in the name of the God
you worship to consider the
economic situation and reduce
that increment. Many of us are
from less privileged families and
not sons and daughters of
professors, Doctors, lecturers or
civil servants.
Sir, i fear how posterity will
judge you by increasing 168%
of school fees in a school
situated in a conflict affected
area, a region where even the
international communities are
passionately willing to bring aid
to us, i don’t think we will be
able to combat and mitigate
youth radicalization and
extremism with this kind of
decisions taken by the head of
public institutions situated in
northeast. Please find other
means to generate money to
run school affairs not to be
levied on student alone please,
please revert your decisions and
drastically reduce this amount.
‘Whoever wishes to foresee the
future must consult the past;
for human events ever
resemble those of proceedings
times. This arises from the fact
that they are produced by Men
who ever have been, and ever
shall be, animated by the same
passions, and thus they
necessarily have the same
results.’ -machiavelli

Abdullahi Auwal
Abubakar Tafawa Balewa
University Bauchi.