HISTORY
Quite early after the establishment of Bayero University Kano, in 1976 the need was felt for a Computer Centre that would provide computing services to the entire University Community. The University Senate therefore, set up a Computer Committee that was charged with the responsibility of establishing a Computer Centre and advising Senate on all matters related to the use of computers in the University.
While this committee worked towards the setting up of the Computer Centre, a special arrangement with Ahmadu Bello University Zaria allowed members of staff of Bayero University Kano to use the Computer facilities at Ahmadu Bello University Computer Centre (a CYBER 72 of the CDC 6600 family.) Eventually in 1980, a VAX 11/780 mini computer was installed at the Bayero University Kano Computer Centre. At that time, it was an expensive state-of-the-art machine that only few other American and European Universities could afford.
The machine came with accessories such as a TE16 tape drive, 2 RMO3 disk drives with 67 MB capacity, 15 remote terminals, 1 line printer and 2 character printers. As time went on, a few other accessories were added and a 55 KVA generator and a large Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) system were purchased.
The VAX system came with the VMS operating system and some software packages for common applications such as word processing and spreadsheet analysis. It also came with compilers for programming languages such as BASIC, COBOL and FORTRAN as well as SPSS, a statistical package.
Over the years, the VAX system became increasingly difficult to upgrade and maintain. Maintenance costs were outrageously expensive and the maintenance service was not satisfactory at all. The fact that the consultant that maintained the Computer Centre was in Lagos made matters much worse. The machine frequently broke down and each time it became more un-operational, it took ages to repair. In 1987 it became unserviceable. A number of trade-in options were explored but in the end, none was considered viable.
While the Centre was facing the challenges of maintaining the VAX system, rapid developments in computer technology were taking place. This was especially in the area of microcomputers, where smaller but more powerful machines were quickly replacing the bigger minicomputers and mainframes. The single user nature of microcomputers and their declining cost meant that computer usage no longer needs to be centralized as departments and other units could have their own computing facilities.
World wide, these developments were changing the roles of university computer centre but it took a long time for the Bayero University Computer Centre to adjust. Eventually, the Centre began this process of adjustment by commencing the procurement of microcomputers. At about the same time other departments and units also started to acquire their own systems.
The history of the Centre took a turn for the better in September 1999, when the then new Vice-Chancellor, Professor Musa Abdullahi (upon assumption of office), had the vision that Bayero University deserved a befitting Computing Centre. This was due to his realization of the growing importance of computer and information & communications technology (ICT) and the fact that universities are catalysts of change. Thus before the end of 1999 he had a new building for the Centre – to be located on the New Campus – designed and costed, awaiting the availability of funds.
Subsequently, the University was able to get a grant of $220,000 from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation of Chicago USA (later termed the planning grant) meant to address some urgent needs of the University. One of such needs was the provision of more computing facilities as the few micro-computers at the Centre were grossly inadequate. Part of the grant was therefore used for ‘computer enhancement’ whereby additional computers were purchased and placed at the Centre on the Old Campus and many others were placed in the New Campus Annex of the Centre located in the Library Complex. This was to provide computing facilities to members of the University community on both campuses.