Host communities of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO) have urged the institution’s management to obey the directive of a Federal Government inter-ministerial committee and excise 2,200.999 hectares of land to them.

The communities are Avu, Obinze, Umuanunu, Umuoma, Ihiagwa Ancient Kingdom, Dindi Ihiagwa, Eziobodo, Eziokele, Okolochi, Emeabiam, and Obibi Ezena.

Spokesman for the group and estate surveyor, Mr Sam Anokam, said the decision followed years of negotiations and judicial interventions between the university and the landowners. He lamented that the host communities were running out of habitable space for their growing families, while more than 2,000 hectares of the 4,455.768 hectares acquired in 1986 under Imo State Plan No. OWR (M) 321 remain unused by FUTO.

According to him, the inter-ministerial committee comprising the Federal Ministry of Education (FUTO’s supervising ministry) and the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development issued a letter directing the university to implement the land excision in lieu of monetary compensation. He accused FUTO authorities of defying the directive and deploying security personnel to block community access.

“It is preposterous for the FUTO authorities to challenge the superior authority of the Federal Government through advertorials in the print and social media. Such acts amount to flagrant disobedience driven by conflict of interest,” Anokam said.

Citing Section 51(2) of the Land Use Act, Anokam argued that the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development has the statutory authority to manage Federal Government properties on behalf of the President. He insisted that the communities would use the committee’s letter to reclaim their ancestral lands, dismissing FUTO’s position as “abhorrent, ridiculous and irresponsible.”

However, in a counter-statement, FUTO Registrar, Mr Chiedozie Uba, said the university would rely on Section 19 of the Federal Universities of Technology Act, which stipulates that only a direct directive from the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria can guide such actions.

Uba maintained that the university would not act on the order of any individual or agency without presidential approval.