Yola stands still for Atiku, American versity

President Muhammadu Buhari killed four birds with one haul of stone when he visited  Yola, the Adamawa State capital, last weekend. Former vice president Atiku Abubakar killed four or five and the American University of Nigeria Yola, which Atiku founded ten years ago, killed no less than two. It was a handful for them all. In an airport ceremony in the town the President lifted the spirit of soldiers doing battle with insurgents in the North-eastern parts and decorated some wounded ones with badges of courage. He visited the Emir Yola, Muhammadu Barkindo Aliyu Musdafa, camps of internally displaced persons and capped his events-packed trip with presence at the home of Atiku Abubakar where he served the significant role of father to give out Atiku’s three daughters in marriage on a day one of their brothers was bringing in his wife. Governor Bindow Jibrilla of Adamawa received the new wife from her Ghanaian people for the Atiku family.

Evidently, the former vice president’s family and the American University, Yola, became the cynosure of all eyes. The American University of Nigeria, Yola had its founder’s day and the commissioning of its unique administrative block. The number of private jets at the airport gave inkling that many men of means were in town- likes of Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, Bola Ahmed Tinubu and several others who flew back shortly after the wedding.
Friday went with the wedding, leaving Saturday for Atiku and the American University to hold sway for its founder’s day.
It was founder’s day with a difference, being the tenth and the first time Atiku Abubakar would give the keynote address. The institution latched on the occasion to commission an epoch-making Administration Building, named after chairman of the university’s board of trustees, Mr. Akin Kekere-Ekun, the founder’s long standing friend and confidant. The building stands out. The innovation of standing such a structure, not from the usual cement and blocks builders are wont here, but from containers used to import other items for the school. Mr. Alex Cobo who led the team says the 1000 capacity building is home grown given that the work force was totally Nigerian.
No fewer than 300 local people worked on the structure and local women made the acoustic panels using local tailoring scraps. Insulation and exterior finishing were made from local red clay and bonded laterite. There is a bio tank for full recovery of sewage discharge, making it perhaps the most sustainable structure in the country. President of the University (American equivalent of vice chancellor), Dr. Margee M. Ensign was so elated that she  requested for a standing ovation for Alex. It was the founder who said  Alex deserves an international award for conceiving and erecting the structure, which ought to form a centre of practical instruction for builders.
Awards were not lacking during the event. Some members of staff and students had plaques for their diligence in an institution that has students and staff from 36 countries. Vice Chair of the board, Professor William Bertrand received the founder’s award for 2015. But the icing on the cake was the keynote address by Atiku Abubakar. In the words of the American Peace Corps Association when awarding him their Harris Wofford Global Citizen Award, ‘No private businessman in Africa has worked harder for democracy or contributed more to the progress of higher education than Atiku Abubakar.’
Ensign says in her years of service in the education sector across continents no one has yet surpassed Atiku Abubakar in philanthropy in the education sector. “I do not care about the politics of your nation. All I know is that I have never seen any one like His Excellency Atiku Abubakar in funding education. He is outstanding in that respect.” Kekere-Ekun says all students of the institution benefit from Atiku’s large heart because while it costs N4million to take care of a student in the school, they pay a little more than half of the sum.
Ensign says student fees  pay just about a third of their bills. The founder and donor agencies make up the rest.
In his speech, Atiku pledged that he would not pull back from the plow. He would do all in his power to move the dream to the next level. 
Speaking on the topic: ‘Beyond terrorism: Education and sustainable development.’ Atiku said: “Looking ahead, there are still plenty clouds, but they pale in comparison to the silver lining on the horizon. Insecurity is still pervasive, but the terrorists are no longer growing in strength, thanks to the sacrifice of the security and intelligence services, the decisive leadership of the senior defence staff and their Commander-in-Chief, President Muhammadu Buhari, and the support and cooperation of the local communities and regional allies, including Chad, Cameroon, and Niger…. I’m grateful to all those who decided to tackle the problems we’ve almost come to tolerate. The governors in this zone have helped in tackling the insurgency crisis and have been advancing infrastructure development under very difficult circumstances…I’m proud that the AUN community has stubbornly refused the logic of conflict: amidst the turmoil, and defying the odds, academic life went on; research continued, courses were taught, exams were held and degrees were awarded. The Adamawa Peacemaker initiative demonstrated that every one can make a difference…”
Everyone has indeed stood up to be counted in the enterprise of making a difference in that initiative which is a gathering of priests, Imams, community leaders whose purpose is to discourage religious violence and nip the hydra-headed insurgency in the bud. The university has its special kind of security coordinated by a former American marine personnel who has done a good job.
An emotional result of a psychological angle of the fight lay in seeing former street children (the infamous Almajiri kids) who were taken in by the university, fed and taught to read and write, saying thank you to Atiku, their benefactor in flawless English. 
Ensign lists that transformation as one of the high points of the university’s move to curb insurgency. The boys would have hugged AK-47 guns in place of education were they left to be recruited by the insurgents.  The transformation of some of the Chibok girls who escaped from their captors now being educated in the school stand as testimony of seamless union of town and gown.
The forgoing must have encouraged Atiku to reaffirm his resolve to keep the dream alive to the best of already acclaimed ability. Sitting besides her husband, his wife Titi Abubarkar flashed smiles in appreciation of her husband who has also put smiles on the faces of many people.
The AUN and its founder stood tall that weekend. The town tended to have risen above the challenges of insurgency as the serene campus did not detract from an academic environment. The administrative building shows that innovations remain constant. As Atiku put it, “change does not just happen, it comes with determination.”