Bayero University Kano

The nucleus of Bayero University came into being in January 1960 when Ahmadu Bello College was established and located at the School for Arabic Studies (close to the palace of the Emir of Kano). The then Principal of the School for Arabic Studies, late Dr. Aliyu Abubakar, was also in charge of the College Section, comprising Islamic History, Hausa, and English Literature. In October 1962, the first University to be established in Northern Nigeria, Ahmadu Bello University, was founded in Zaria. It was named after the late Sir Ahmadu Bello, Sardauna of Sokoto, who was Premier of Northern Nigeria from 1954 to 1966. This made a change of name for the Ahmadu Bello College in Kano necessary to avoid any confusion.

Thus, in the same year, the Ahmadu Bello College was renamed Abdullahi Bayero College after the Emir of Kano, Abdullahi Bayero who ruled Kano from 1927 to1953. In the same year that the College was renamed, a new Principal, Alhaji, later, Professor S. A. S. Galandanci, was appointed to head both the School of Arabic Studies and the Abdullahi Bayero College section.

In January 1964, the College moved to a temporary site at the old Kano Airport Hotel with its first set of ten students admitted for a B. A. degree programme of Ahmadu Bello University. They started their lectures on 1st February 1964. The College also got its first Provost at this time in the person of Professor Abdalla El-Tayib, a Sudanese. Abdullahi Bayero College (ABC/ABU) graduated its first set of students in July 1966. There were ten of them, and they convocated in November 1966. From 1966 to 1980 this institution, which was a Faculty of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria presented graduating students to Ahmadu Bello University. With the departure of Professor El-Tayib in 1966, Alhaji Hamidu Alkali was appointed as the second Provost and he assumed duty in September 1966. Alhaji Hamidu Alkali was appointed Provost and Dean, Faculty of Arts and Islamic Studies established in 1964 and he remained in office until November 1969. His years at ABC/ABU coincided with the Nigerian civil war years. However, it was also a period for the development of the first phase of ABC's permanent site (now called Old Campus). At the time of Alhaji Hamidu Alkali's arrival, the Library complex, which up to 1999 was the main Library of the University, was at the foundation level. He supervised the building of the Library and those of the other buildings such as the first kitchen (Kitchen I), the first female hostel, accommodating forty students (now occupied by a branch of the Afri Bank), and a generator house. The funds for these came from the British Colonial Government grant for Higher Education in Nigeria when Nigeria was being prepared for independence. When the civil war started in July 1967, the ABC temporary site at the old Kano Airport Hotel (at the time it was the main Kano Airport) became a military target for the Biafran Airforce because of the location of some Russian-made MIG Fighters of the Federal Airforce in the vicinity of the old Airport.

A home-made bomb was dropped around the area towards the end of 1967. The college was however not affected. By the first quarter of 1968 the civil war intensified and there were in Kano many wounded Federal soldiers from the war fronts. At a very short notice, the ABC, ABU Zaria was ordered by the military authorities to move out of the old Airport Hotel to give room for the facilities to be turned into a military hospital. Therefore, Abdullahi Bayero College moved to its permanent site in March 1968, and the British High Commissioner in Nigeria, Sir David Hunt, commissioned the Library complex on 26th April 1969. The permanent site is located at the western outskirts of the Kano city walls in the vicinity of Kabuga and Dukawuya gates on the Kano-Gwarzo Road. It was also during this phase in the development of Abdullahi Bayero College that a maintenance unit of the ABU Estate Department was established. It was to look after the new buildings and the senior staff houses, AB1 to AB20 that had been constructed between 1959 and 1961 by the Northern Nigerian Government as part of the extension of Kano Nassarawa Government reservation Area. The fencing of the College land area of about 600 acres was also started. Alhaji Hamidu Alkali was transferred to ABU Zaria in November 1969 as Director, Institute of Education. Dr S. A. S. Galadanchi (now Professor) who held the post until he was appointed as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sokoto in 1975 succeeded him. Abdullahi Bayero College entered its second phase of development during the tenure of Professor S. A. S. Galadanchi. The buildings for the Faculties of Arts and Islamic studies and Education were built during his tenure. Likewise, the first male students' hostel, together with a larger female students' hostel, were constructed.

The Kano State Government, under the late Governor Audu Bako, contributed a lot towards the physical development of the College, especially in the area of hostel accommodation. In 1975, Abdullahi Bayero College was raised to the status of a University College with the right to award degrees on behalf of Ahmadu Bello University. The institution adopted the new name of Bayero University College and its first Principal was Dr. Mahmud Tukur, who formally took over in September 1975. The University College also got a separate Governing Council headed by Professor S. O. Biobaku. In 1977, the Federal Government of Nigeria made all the University Colleges in the country full-fledged universities. Thus Bayero University College dropped "Abdullahi" and "College" and became simply Bayero University. The Principal of the College, Dr. Mahmud Tukur, became the first Vice Chancellor of Bayero University. Dr. Tukur together with a dedicated team shouldered the responsibility of establishing the foundation of a University. The philosophy, orientation, and mission of the University were clearly spelt out. THE CREST OF THE UNIVERSITY The symbol adopted by the University is the (lunar) crest and the star. The translation of the "ajami" inscription in the crescent is "JAMIATU BAYERO KANO" i.e. Bayero University, Kano; while in the star is inscribed a quotation from the Holy Qur'an: And "over every possessor of knowledge, there is one more learned." THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNIVERSITY The first phase of the development of Bayero University was vigorously undertaken during the time of Dr. Tukur's administration. He clearly established the norms, procedures and structure for the Faculties of Education (1975); School of Management Sciences (1975) renamed Social and Management Sciences (1977); Science (1975); Law (1977) and all the planning for the establishment of the Faculty of Technology (1978) were completed by 1977 just before Dr. Tukur left the University. The Department of Preliminary Studies was up-graded to the School of General Studies (1978). This school is now the General Studies Unit. It formerly provided pre-degree courses to enable students to qualify for various degree courses. This, however, has been discontinued with the introduction of the 4-year degree system in 1989/90, consequent upon the introduction of the 6-3-3-4 system of education in Nigeria.

The school since 1990 conducts, for all undergraduates of the University, the course, General Studies. This is a national requirement for the award of a degree irrespective of the course an undergraduate is registered for. The Estate Department, together with the Physical Planning Unit, were established in 1977 and a Director of works appointed. The Health Services Department, which started as a clinic under ABU Zaria in 1967, became an independent Department when BUK became a full-fledged university in 1975. The University Nursery and Primary Schools also took off in 1975 and 1974 respectively. The Primary School, which was initially established in 1969 by the then Local Education Authority L.E.A., Kano was handed over to the University in 1974. The Development of the new permanent site of the University took off in earnest. A ten thousand-acre piece of land, five kilometers out of Kano, on the Kano - Gwarzo Road, was acquired. The difficult and sensitive task of demarcating the farmlands and computing compensation and payment to the right people were all carried out. In October 1977, Dr. Tukur left Bayero University and was succeeded in 1978 by Professor J.O.C. Ezeilo, who was transferred from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Professor Ezeilo spent the remaining one year of his full term as Vice-Chancellor of University of Nigeria, Nsukka at Bayero University, Kano. Professor H. I. Umar (1979-1986) succeeded Professor Ezeilo. Professor. Umar handled the second phase of the development of the permanent site of Bayero University. By 1986, the core buildings of the new site of the University had been completed. These include the academic and administrative buildings, the student hostels, junior and senior staff quarters, the access roads, and the Business Centre. The Library building had also reached an advanced stage. The Computer Centre (changed in January 2004 to Centre for Information Technology) was established in 1980 in the premises of the Faculty of Science. In January 2004, the Centre moved to a permanent site on the New Campus whose construction was facilitated by a grant from the MacArthur Foundation. The University Consultancy Services (Bayero-Consult) was established in September 1985. The Staff Secondary School whose construction started in 1982 took off in 1985, with the first batch of students, 64 in number, made up of 32 boys and 32 girls, and with Mrs. R. R. Hurst as the founding Principal. The Faculty of Medicine was also established in 1986. The University movement to the new site did not take place until the tenure of Professor Dandatti Abdulkadir (1986 - 1990), who succeeded Professor Umar. Professor Abdulkadir's tenure saw the movement of the University to its permanent site (called the New Site). The Vice-Chancellor also moved into the new Vice-Chancellor's Lodge on the New Site. A large number of students also moved into the new hostels. This ushered in the system of commuting between the new and old campuses of the University, which both students and lecturers had to adopt. Professor M. S. Zahraddeen succeeded Professor Abdulkadir in 1990. The physical and academic development of the University continued steadily. The Management Information System (MIS) Unit was established in 1994. In this year, BUK and other sister Federal Universities in Nigeria were mandated by the National Universities Commission (NUC) to establish an MIS Unit in the Vice Chancellor's office with the objective of generating necessary information about individual universities for the planning of Higher Education in the country. During this period, 1990-1995, the following physical developments were started: The Students' Centre, the Twin Theatre, and the conversion of Kitchen I (old campus) into a lecture hall. Professor Zahraddeen initiated the ceremony marking 30 years of the establishment of Bayero University, with a book written for this historical landmark entitled Building the Citadel: Thirty years of University Education in Kano, 1964-1994. Professor Bello Bako Danbatta succeeded Professor Sani Zahraddeen as the Vice Chancellor (1995-1999). The construction for the first time of a perimeter wall around the Old Campus was started. This important project gave the University a sense of security and also served as a check on the increasing encroachment on the University's land. The construction of a large overhead water reservoir at the old campus by the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) helped to improve the water supply situation on the campus. In August 1999, Professor Musa Abdullahi (1999 - 2005), succeeded Professor Danbatta as the Vice Chancellor. The period 1999-2004 recorded a number of important developments. The Centre for Democratic Research and Training, Mambayya House, was established in November 2000. The Faculty of Agriculture was established in 2002. The Education Tax Fund (ETF) constructed the Perimeter wall on the side bordering the Gwarzo road of the New Campus. In September 2005, Professor Attahiru Muhammad Jega, OFR succeeded Professor Musa Abdullahi as the Vice-Chancellor till date