Ahmadu Bello University is the first University of Northern Nigeria; the citadel educates over 40,000 students on both undergraduate and graduate levels. With students from all walks of life, the poor, the rich and the intermediate; almost every tribe in Nigeria gets admitted into one department or the other.

However, the school has a lot of history, which many of the students and the aspiring students do not know and as well do not bother to know. Today you will know five important things anyone should be aware of Ahmadu Bello University. It will either encourage you to apply for a change of institution or amuse you and urge you to come and see for yourself. Read on

1.The Chancellor and Vice Chancellor of A.B.U

It is not a typical question that comes out in General studies tests or exams, as compared to the Vice Chancellor's name, but it is pertinent to know the name of the Chancellor of a University. Most students don't pay attention to this detail because of what use is it? You never can tell, however, as surprises are ways of catching someone unaware. The question can be asked anytime and anywhere; it may be while representing the school or somewhere where lapses will not be tolerated.

The Vice Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University is Professor Ibrahim Garba. The name of the Chancellor of A.B.U is Igwe Nnayelugo Alfred Nnaemeka Achebe, the Obi of Onitsha. According to Google, A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or a university campus. In most Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations, the chancellor is usually a ceremonial non-resident head of the university. View full list of all federal universities Chancellors

2. A.B.U has the largest Campus in Nigeria and 2nd in Africa.

Over time, Ahmadu Bello University has been adjudged the largest University in Nigeria, in sub-Saharan Africa and second largest in Africa coming behind Cairo University, Egypt. This is because the University runs two campuses, one in Samaru and the other in Kongo. This information, however, is due to land usage by the University. Ahmadu Bello University has only 7000 hectares of land, while the University of Ilorin has 75,000 hectares. But Ahmadu Bello University tops this list on the merits of land usage and not the area of land owned. This is one of the most interesting things about the school, and the management is not relenting as they are pushing to increase the land usage by the development of the new multi-billion Naira project " Ahmadu Bello University phase 2," which had already started and will enormously increase the size of the Samaru campus.

3.The majority of the staffs and students are Muslims.

Different students will understand and accept this fact differently depending on their religion. Since there is no harm caused by this on the welfare of students, except on the social and political influence by students and their school of thoughts, there is no great consequence of most people on campus belonging to a particular religion.

There is a chapel, a Catholic building and Christian students are always seen holding fellowships peacefully on campus grounds. Islam and Christianity, being the two most practised religion in the country, are somewhat compatible on Ahmadu Bello University campus. Each group goes about their activities peacefully without disturbance, the school left no chance for any disturbance, as the student(s) involved will be given immediate rustication or expulsion. However, the most prominent religion on campus is Islam, and this is due to the location of the University.

The Northern part of Nigeria is known with Islam as the South Western part is known with Christianity, aside from the effect of religion and sense of belonging on the school's politics, there is nothing to worry about when it comes to a peaceful environment on campus. Muslim students rush in numbers to Central Mosque for Jumat prayer every Friday, this vast population of Muslim students has resulted in the school having more Mosques than Libraries, who is to blame? A large number of students trooping to Jumat on Fridays is not seen when the Christians are holding their revivals.

4. The most spoken language on Campus is Hausa.

This is not expected to be, given the fact that we are talking about a University where the mode of learning and lecturing is in English Language, the official Lingua Franca in Nigeria.

The majority of the students on campus are always seen conversing in the Hausa Language in classes, Laboratories, excursions and field works. This does not come as a surprise; the school is located in Hausa-speaking region, you don't need to be reminded do you? Many a time, students have been cautioned by the non-Hausa speaking students to converse in English so that they can all flow with practicals and field works, but it all has been falling on deaf ears. It does not look like it will change soon, so if you do not speak Hausa, it's time to learn some.

Here is a list of Languages in a descending order or frequency of how much you'll hear them on campus

Hausa
Yoruba
English
Pidgin
Igbo

5. Extreme weather conditions

The climatic conditions in Zaria can be likened to that of hell fire, and that is if there is any place like that. Everything seems to be extreme in Zaria, and you will have to pack your sweaters as well as your hand fans to campus. The weather changes sharply and no one knows when it does, they just anticipate.

When it's cold, typically during harmattan periods, from November to early February, everyone on campus is always shivering. That is when you will see different kinds of dressing and packing, it does not leave anybody behind, from the top officials to the freshers. When it's hot, this is the weather condition most students detest the most, trust me you don't want to experience heat period in Zaria. Many wonder how Zaria could be freezing and almost immediately scorching with just a few days between the weather periods, and one answer is that Zaria is hell fire.

If you have never seen ice falling from the clouds, you will experience this in Zaria when it rains. One safety measure you'd want to take is to be indoor when this happens, so the rain won't wash away blood from your head as the ice could give you a slight knock. You'd also want to be indoor when it's about to rain because the wind that comes before it rains in Zaria can carry you to na man's land.



These five revelations listed above actually make Ahmadu Bello University a lovely place to be, if you have not traveled away from home before, you will need to make this trip, whether for your post-ume screening or registration, Good luck.

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Mercy Aigbe
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The language part tho brought back memories of my time in CU. The first time I spoke Yoruba on my way from Chapel, almost everyone turned back to look at me because it was rare for people to speak Indigenous languages in the academic area(maybe because of the diversity of the student base) and the only day i ever heard anyone speak Igbo was in 400 level even though the population of Igbos and Yorubas were almost equal on campus.I particularly insisted on speaking my Language because there was some sort of shaming attached to it on campus. However, i never speak when amongst a diverse group of people so as not to exclude them which i believe the Northern guys in ABU are doing with the Hausa language - This particularly irritated me during NYSC as folks were always forming tribal cliques. So what we have in ABU is extreme and might make it difficult for 'outsiders' to integrate. CU and other Private universities are also on the other extreme end where people have almost lost all the value for Culture and Heritage.
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