Suleja Residents Reject Proposed Military Takeover Of FCDA Field Base

The Suleja Development Association (SUDA) has rejected reported plans by the Niger State Government to hand over the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) Field Base in Suleja to the military, insisting that the facility should be preserved as a permanent centre for higher education.

SUDA’s Public Relations Officer, Mr Umar Shuaibu, disclosed this in a statement issued in Abuja on Friday, saying the association would resist any attempt to convert or transfer the facility without the consent of the Suleja community.

The field base, which currently accommodates the Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University (IBBU) campus, provides diploma and postgraduate programmes for youths in Suleja and neighbouring communities.

Shuaibu said the controversy followed an earlier proposal by the state government to convert the facility into a market, a plan he said was rejected by the community.

According to him, the community had formally written to the government seeking dialogue over the future of the property but received no response.

“We sent letters officially in order to have an amicable resolution. There wasn’t any response. No one called us to sit down and discuss. Instead, we read that an MoU was signed with the military organisation.

“If partnering with the military is a plan to intimidate us, we will never succumb. We have all our evidence for litigation,” he said.

Shuaibu said the history of the field base made its continued use for educational purposes particularly important to the people of Suleja.

He explained that the land was originally ancestral farmland belonging to local farmers before it was acquired by the Federal Government for public purposes.

“It was our parents’ farmlands. At that time, FCDA made a commitment to use it for three to four years and hand it over to Niger State as its contribution to the community development of Suleja, in recognition of its sacrifice and support for the success of the New Capital project,” he said.

He further claimed that the people of Suleja had made significant sacrifices for the development of the Federal Capital, including the surrender of large portions of their ancestral territory and the original name, Abuja.

According to him, the community subsequently resolved to deploy the field base to address Suleja’s longstanding educational challenges after the property was handed over to the Niger State Government.

Shuaibu alleged that Suleja had continued to suffer neglect in the provision of public higher educational institutions despite being one of the major economic centres in Niger State.

“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.

He recalled that SUDA had previously advocated for the establishment of the IBB University School of Medicine at the Suleja campus, but said the proposal was eventually abandoned following what he described as political considerations, with the facility moved to the Shiroro Hotel site in Minna.

He said the community nevertheless continued to engage the authorities through diplomatic channels to secure the expansion of accredited degree programmes at the Suleja campus.

The SUDA spokesman also dismissed suggestions that the agitation was politically motivated, saying the issue had nothing to do with political parties.

He maintained that the demand cut across party affiliations, including APC, ADC, NDC and PDP, because the future of the facility directly affects families and young people across Suleja.

“We wish to respectfully reiterate that our demand is for the establishment of a higher institution of learning and not a commercial enterprise.

“Our position is driven not by personal interest, but by a genuine concern for the future of Suleja Emirate, Niger State, and Nigeria as a whole,” he said.

Shuaibu also highlighted SUDA’s previous interventions in supporting school dropouts and empowering youths, saying the association would no longer remain passive over issues it considers critical to the community’s future.

He urged the Niger State Government to reconsider the reported plans for the field base, engage the community and retain the facility as a permanent higher education centre for Suleja youths.