A NATIONAL Assembly bill seeking to amend the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU) Act, to migrate the school from only science and technology-related courses, has stirred controversy among stakeholders within and outside the state.

Theproposed piece of legislation, titled Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (Amendment) Bill 2025 (SB 910), aims to broaden the university’s mandate beyond science and technology, allowing it to introduce courses in law, social sciences, and other non-technical disciplines.

The Senator representing Bauchi South, Shehu Buba, had sponsored the bill that has passed second reading and was referred to the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFund for further legislative work.

Speaking on the development, a former chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Bauchi State Chapter, Jibrin S. Jibrin, commended the efforts of the senator, adding that the conversion to a conventional institution would allow thousands of students within the catchment area to access art and humanities, as well as social science courses.

He argued that Bauchi, despite being “the most populous state in the entire Northeast geopolitical zone,” remains the only state without a conventional federal university.

However, the management has declared that it is not aware of any legislation to repeal the establishing law and amend it to convert the Institution to a conventional university.

The Registrar, Kabir Garba Aminu, stated that management only became aware of the development through the news, without being consulted prior to the initiation of the bill.

“The VC and I just woke up one morning to see a clip that our enabling law is going to be reviewed to convert the university from a specialised to a conventional institution,” he said.

Aminu insisted that the two “major organs” in the university – theCouncil and the Senate – werenot consulted or informed before the process.

Also speaking, the National President of the university’s alumni association, Mohammed Sani Wada, expressed disappointment in the process, saying they rejected the ongoing amendment, noting that the institution remains the only one specialising in technology in the whole of the North-East region.

In his opinion, Prof. Suleiman Bogoro, a former Executive Secretary of TETFund, believed that the university should retain its mandate to avoid losing the “hard-earned” glory in its science and technology strength.