The Suleja Development Association (SUDA) has rejected moves by the Niger state government to hand over the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) Field Base in Suleja to the military.
The Public Relations Officer of SUDA, Mr. Umar Shuaibu, said this in a statement issued in Abuja on Friday.
Shuaibu that the property currently serves as a campus for Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB) University, offering diploma and post-graduate programmes to local youths.
He criticised the administration’s response to community engagement, revealing that formal letters and official entreaties sent by the community association to the authorities for relevant engagement were disregarded.
“We sent letters officially in order to have an amicable resolution, but there wasn’t any response. No one called us to sit down and discuss. Instead, we read that a MoU was signed with the military. If partnering with the military is a plan to intimidate us we will never succumb,” he said.
Shuaibu said the land originally belonged to local ancestral farmers before it was handed over to the federal government for overriding public interest.
“It was our parents’ farmlands, but the FCDA made a commitment to use it for 3 or 4 years and hand it over to the Niger state government as its contribution for the community development of Suleja in recognition of its sacrifice and support for the success of the New Capital project.
“The people of Suleja have made unmatched sacrifices for the nation, including surrendering 80 per cent of the FCT land, and the town’s original name, Abuja, to the federal government in 1979 before renaming their community, Suleja, after Emir Suleiman Barau,” he claimed.
According to him, despite the fact that Suleja local government generates and contributes the highest internal revenue to the state government, it remained marginalised in public infrastructure and educational development.
“Suleja is the only major town in the whole of Niger state without a full-fledged post-secondary public higher institution – no polytechnic, no college of education, and no state university main campus,” he lamented.