Can people demand access to Nigeria’s national opportunities for their own sons and daughters, but in active collusion with their political and traditional leaders, insist that federal establishments located in their territory should be reserved, in practice, for them alone? The answer must be no. There is everything wrong with creating the impression that a federal institution belongs to the ethnic community in whose neighbourhood it happens to be located. This is why it is imperative for voices of reason to speak out against the ongoing protests against the appointment of Prof. Abdullahi Ahmed, a native of Gombe State as Provost of the Federal College of Animal Health and Production Technology, located in Vom, Plateau State. Over time, Plateau citizens have benefited enormously from Nigeria’s federal structure. They have been appointed to some of the country’s most important political, educational, technological, administrative and professional positions, many of them in institutions located far outside Plateau State. And Nigerians elsewhere have, by and large, accepted these appointments because they understand the basic principle that federal institutions belong to the federation, not to the host community. Consider Chief Ayuba Burki Gufwan, a prominent Plateau native, who serves as Executive Secretary of the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities. The commission is a federal institution serving Nigerians across the country, not a Plateau establishment. The Digital Bridge Institute, meanwhile, is headed by another Plateau technocrat, David Daser, who was appointed its President/CEO in 2024. The two institutions have even collaborated on programmes for persons with disabilities. There are thousands of qualified Nigerians who could have occupied these positions. They were not necessarily denied because anybody hated them. One person simply had to be chosen. That is the nature of appointments. The same principle applies to Barrister Festus Fuanter, a native of Plateau State and current Chairman, National Teachers Institute (NTI) with headquarters in Kaduna. Would Kaduna people be justified in arguing that a federal institution located in Kaduna must be headed by a Kaduna indigene? And what about Rufus Bature, another Plateau citizen, who was appointed Chairman of the Nigerian Coal Corporation (NCC), an institution headquartered in Enugu State? Where was the agitation that an Enugu indigene must head it? Where were the protesters insisting that Plateau had no business producing the chairman of a federal establishment located in the South-East? There was none, and rightly so. That is precisely how a federation works. Section 14(3-4) and Section 15(2) of the 1999 Constitution as amended deal with the composition of government of the federation and issues of national integration. The first directs the federal government and its agencies to mirror Nigeria’s diverse makeup in order to build national loyalty and avoid sectional or ethnic dominance. Section 15(2) prohibits discrimination based on place of origin, sex, religion, status, ethnic or linguistic ties. This is probably why the examples of Plateau people heading federal institutions outside of their home state become even more compelling in the university system. The late Professor Umaru D. Gomwalk, a distinguished son of Plateau, was the pioneer Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Imo State. He subsequently became Sole Administrator of the University of Nigeria (UNN), Nsukka, Enugu State. Historical records from the University of Nigeria confirm his appointment as Sole Administrator following the removal of Vice-Chancellor Professor Oleka Udeala. Imagine if Imo or Enugu people had said: “This is our institution. A Plateau man cannot head it.” They would have been wrong. Professor Angela Freeman Miri provides another powerful example. A Plateau-born academic, she became the second Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University Lokoja, Kogi State, serving from 2016 to 2021. The university itself records that she succeeded its pioneer Vice-Chancellor. Did Kogi people demand that an indigene must be the Vice-Chancellor because the institution is located in their state? No. And they should not. Professor Patricia Manko Lar is another example. A Plateau citizen, she was appointed Acting Vice-Chancellor of the University of Abuja, now Yakubu Gowon University in February 2025 and served for six months. When her tenure ended, another person took over. Contemporary reports praised her leadership during the transition. Again, Abuja did not become Plateau. The Gbagyi did not insist that it must be one of their own and not Prof. Lar that should have acted. This is how things work in a federation. The list is much longer. Professor Danladi Slim Matawal, born in Bokkos, Plateau State, served as Director-General/Chief Executive of the Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute.
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