Scores of armed security men were said to have stormed the examination centre of the National Board for Arabic and Islamic Studies (NBAIS) in Zaria, Kaduna state, chasing out all the guards and allegedly vandalizing properties before locking-up the Centre.
NBAIS was created as a national examination body by the Federal Government in 2016 and has over 1,140 registered schools in 23 states of the federation.
Registrar of the Board, Prof. Muhammad Shafi`u Abdullahi, told journalists on Sunday that report that reached him revealed that security men of Ahmadu Bello University with armed mobile police stormed the centre on Wednesday around 2am, forced all guards out of the premises and locked all the offices.
ABU management however said that several efforts had been made by the University, to reclaim its property, but NBAIS refused to release the property.
According to NBAIS, the securities returned to the centre around 9:00am, took out official properties from offices and dumped them outside including furniture, examination materials, computers, examination results and important documents
“They also removed all logo bearing NBAIS around the premises as well as on bill board, I am afraid the students examinations records are likely to get lost following the vandalization of the properties. It is sad that the situation was unwarranted at this crucial time when federal government has slated senior school examinations for next month, there should not be any reason for one government agency fighting another.”
The NBAIS boss said he had reported the incident to the Minister of Education, local government chairman and Zaria Area Commander of Police. “Honestly, with this action, only God knowns what will happen to more than 40,000 candidates who registered with the Board for next month Senior Secondary School Examinations,” he said.
Abdullahi said the board was created by ABU in the 1960s and has been under the supervision of the University’s Institute of Education until Federal Government took it over in 2016. He said the site in contention was provided by the University to serve as its temporary secretariat for period not specified, but it was converted to examination operations centre after the Board moved to its permanent site in Kaduna.
ABU in a statement issued by its Director of Public Affairs, Auwal Umar, said the action to reclaim the premises was sequel to the failure of the NBAIS to release the property after several effort made by the University.
“The decision to reclaim the property was also partly informed by the severe inadequacy of teaching and learning facilities as a result of the ever increasing number of students experienced in the university.
“Additionally, the university is desirous of recovering all its properties and putting them to use for its overall sustainability. It is estimated that more than N100 billion is needed by the University for its infrastructure and other needs.
“NBAIS was given sufficient notice of ABU`s intention to recover its property. This was communicated to the registrar of the NBAIS, in a letter dated 18th May, 2020, the notice expired on 18th august 2020, and ABU promptly took possession of the property,” he said.
Umar said already some units of the institution in dire need of facility have been asked to move to the premises, noting that the university governing council was fully informed about the development.
