The Housing and Passages Division of the Registry Department came into existence since the days of Abdullahi Bayero College, Kano in 1964. The Provost of the College took charge of the allocation of houses to senior staff then while the Passages Section was controlled by Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
All requests for passages facilities for recruitment purposes or home leave were channeled to Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria for approval. This practice continued until 1975 when Mrs. Edith Rekiya Idikwu was seconded to constitute the Establishment Section for handling senior staff matters. The Housing and Passages Office continued as one Division until 1977 when it was split into two sections because of considerable expansion in services.
Housing Office
The Housing Office is one of the divisions under the Registry Department which was created since the inception of the institution. This division serves as the secretariat for the committee to assist the Vice- Chancellor on the formulation of guidelines and allocation of senior staff housing. A senior member of academic staff is appointed by the Vice-Chancellor to serve as Chairman.
From the early stage, the administration of the division was run by the Provost (later the Principal and subsequently the Vice-Chancellor). The number of staff needing residential accommodation at that time was small and the university houses were few. Initially there were three categories of housing in the University, namely, on-campus (at both the old and new campus), Zoo Road flats, and rented houses which were discontinued in the late 1990s.
Old Campus
By 1978 there were 74 houses, including 20 two-bedroom flats with no garage or boys quarters, available to accommodate senior staff on the old campus. By 1979 the University had built 90 additional housing units making a total of 164 on the old campus to meet the increasing needs of the rising number of senior staff.
New Campus
In 1982, the University built 57 houses/flats and in 1991 84 more houses/flats were built making a total of 141 houses/flats available on the new campus. Another set of 17 houses were commissioned in 1995.
Zoo Road Flats
The University also purchased 48 two-bedroom flats from the Kano State Government at a cost of N1,000,000.00 in 1982 to cope with increasing senior staff housing problem.
Rented Houses
In addition to University-owned houses, the Senior Staff Housing Allocation Committee found it necessary to rent some houses in various locations in the town. Up to the end of the year 1993, the University had a total of 61 rented houses, but the number decreased to 52 later. The new rate of housing allowance introduced by the Federal Government payable to staff in self-owned or self-rented houses served to minimize demand on University housing, which eventually led to the discontinuation of the rented houses outside. The new housing allowance encouraged staff wishing to rent a house on their own to do so comfortably.
Passages Office
This section was directly responsible to the authority in Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria during the formative years for its day to day activities even with the presence of the then first Administrative Officer, Mr. Allam whose primary function was to coordinate the activities of the Sudanese lecturers on secondment to the institution.
The Passages Officer has been the Chief Protocol Officer of the University. He attends to the welfare of visitors, and made their accommodation and travel arrangements. He liaisons with the Immigration Department over immigration and passport problems of expatriate and local staff. This unit was transferred to the Vice-Chancellor’s Office in 2005 under a reorganization
