AREWA HOUSE @ 50: History, Successes And Challenges

BY OBUTE JAMES

Arewa House was established in 1970 to serve as an outfit for historical research and documentation of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

It was primarily mandated by its founding fathers to serve as an outfit for the promotion, encouragement and advancement of research, teaching, publications of scholarly materials in the field of history and culture; and generally, to spread the knowledge of the history and culture of peoples and societies of northern region.
It is situated at the former official residence of the last and only premier of Northern region, Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto, who lost his life following the abortive coup of 15th January, 1966.
The concept was born in response to the Nigerian crisis, the simmering Nigerian political crises, which started largely in 1962 and reached its peak in 1967, with the outbreak of the civil war. This brought onto the nation a traumatic experience. The Federal Government wanted an explanation on what went wrong with the system. The government believed that only a historical explanation made by a detailed examination of the crisis could throw light on the national catastrophes. Accordingly, the Government established a commission to write the history of the crisis. The mission of the commission was to explain what happened and offer solution on how to avert its future recurrence.
As the Nigeria’s Civil War was coming to an end, the Federal Government set up a committee to write the history of Nigeria and the simmering Nigerian crisis. On that note, the Northern region feared that the result of the committee might not reflect the accurate picture of the northern history.
This assumption influenced the Interim Common Services Agency (ICSA) to set up its own committee under the leadership of then Secretary to the Government of northern region, Alhaji Ali Akilu, to write the history of the people and societies, drawing evidences from many sources. Other members of the 7-member committee included Mallam Liman Ciroma, Chief Sunday Awoniyi, Alhaji Yusuf Gobir, with Alhaji Adamu Fika and Alhaji Gidado Idris as co-secretaries.
After its preliminary sitting Professor Abdullahi Smith was invited to serve as secretary of the project. Subsequently, the project was transformed into a research Centre, known as Arewa House.
Professor Smith successfully argued for an expansion of the project’s mandate to go beyond a mere chronicling of the account of the civil war years. He extended the period to be covered as far back as he could; and preceded to collect a wealth of primary source materials, books and other facilities.
All this was after the dissolution of the three regional governments in the country and the creation of twelve states. This situation led to the establishment of the Joint Interim Common Services Agency (ICSA) to oversee the common assets and liabilities of the six newly created northern states. It was in this respect that the residence of the late premier of the former Northern Region, Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto, was formally approved to serve as an office for this project, with the name “Arewa House.”
The governors who established Arewa House included the following:

The Interim Common Services Agency (ICSA) was a body controlled by the Governors of the then six northern states, with functions similar to those of the present nineteen (19) northern governors forum. It constituted the History of Northern Nigeria Project Committee. The first Chairman of the committee was the late Alhaji Ali Akilu. His position was later taken over following his death, early in 1971, by Alhaji Liman Ciroma. These two gentlemen showed an extra-ordinary example of dedication in the handling of the project. Alhaji Liman Ciroma continued to steer the affairs of the committee until 1976, when Arewa House was transferred to Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Needless to say, the six Governors of the Northern States, through their consultative body, ICSA, worked tirelessly, to ensure the success of the Project.
The first formal meeting of the committee took place on the 15th of January, 1970 with the following terms of reference:
(a) To arrange to write a history of Northern Nigeria from about “1900 to date”.
(b) To repossess and store all records relating to the history of Northern Nigeria……. in the Marble Office attached to, or any other suitable room within No. 1 Ex-Ministers’ quarters for safe-custody and future use”.
(c) “To draw up a plan for establishment of a museum on the premises of No.1 Ex-Ministers’ quarters.

THE FUNCTIONS OF AREWA HOUSE
In recognition of its importance and relevance, the functions of the House were expanded. This was approved in February, 1973, by the Governors of the Northern States. They included the following:
(1) Maintenance of a Museum (comparable if not superior, in standard to the Nigerian Museum, Lagos) as a memorial to the life and work of the late Sardauna of Sokoto, and illustrative of the cultural traditions of the North;
(2) Organization of the academic and cultural activities appropriately associated with such Museum, together with an advisory service for State Governments in the field of Museum development;
(3) Maintenance of an archive of such records of the former Government of Northern Nigeria as are not the concern of the National or State archives, and of such private and foreign papers bearing on the history of the North as may be recoverable;
(4) Organization of the services appropriately associated with such an archive, including an information service for State Governments, practical facilities for training of state archives, etc.;
(5) Maintenance of research library eventually to the Newspapers, all printed publications (including government publications) bearing on the history of the North, together with manuscripts, maps, pictures, tape-recordings etc., in the same field;
(6) Promotion of research into the history of the North in all aspects and periods by members of senior staff of the House and the provision of facilities for approved post-graduate workers in this field from other institutions (including facilities for post-graduate work of government personnel in education, information, and cultural affairs, tourism, community development etc.
(7) Publication of the results of research undertaken at Arewa House, in the form of books and articles in learned periodical to be published by the House. Significant publication in the form of books should be classified as “Arewa House Series”.
GOALS
1. As an academic unit of the institution the goal of Arewa House Archives is to provide institutional continuity and sustainable documentation -on Northern Nigeria. It is primarily concerned with procuring, preserving, analyzing and discussing issues of national and international interest, particularly as they affect the development of Northern Nigeria.
2. The Centre has a Museum, Library, Archives and research facilities that are frequently patronized by both local and international researchers. The Centre also for many decades served as a springboard and a bridge between the north and south political divide.

AREWA HOUSE TRUST FUND
In order to enable Arewa House to survive and perform its functions and discharge its responsibilities properly, the Six Governors of Northern States directed the committee to set in motion the process of setting up a Trust Fund for the Centre. Two reasons particularly informed the decisions of the Governors. First, there was the question of the fate of ICSA. It was known that sooner or later this temporary Agency was to wound up its activities. In that case, the source of Arewa House funding was to come to an end. There was also the problem of what the Committee described as: The increasing obstruction of the Arewa House Project by Ahmadu Bello University Authorities (withdrawal of essential help originally offered in staff recruitment and Building works, mismanagement of Arewa House accounts entrusted to Ahmadu Bello University etc.)
The latter problem constituted an agenda for the Governors’ meeting in August, 1973. An important feature of the Arewa House Trust” was its sources of funds. According to the sub-committee which was charged with the presentation of a report on this matter, the Trust was to come into effect on the first of April, 1973 and its funds were to come from the following:
(a) The governments of the Six Northern States or any number of them as feel sufficiently interested in the project;
(b) The public corporations and other quasi-government bodies either jointly owned by these states or owned individually by each state.
(c) The Local Authorities.
(d) Private enterprises doing most or all of their business in Northern Nigeria.
(e) Big indigenous businessmen of Northern States origin”.
In addition, it was proposed that, “Governments should commit themselves to pay:
(i) “An initial lump sum grant of $75,000 (N150,000) each. This will realize $450,000 (N900,000).
(ii) An additional annual grant of $25,000 (N50,000) each from April, 1973 to April 1976. This gives a sum of $600,000 (N1,200,000). The net sum should come to $1,050,000 (N2,100,000).”
Other contributors should be carefully lobbied and the position properly explained to them but no attempt should be made to impose any sum… Once the funds have been assured, Arewa House Trust should be registered under the terms established in Law.
After series of preparations and discussions, the Six Governors of the Northern States approved the conversion of Arewa House Project into a Trust in January, 1974, having for its object:
The promotion, encouragement, and advancement of research, study, compilation, publication, teaching, and generally the spread of knowledge of the history and culture of Nigeria and in particular the history of Northern Nigeria.
Subsequently, the Trust was to be recognized in Edicts to be promulgated by the Governors of the Northern States and its relationship with History Bureaus of these states as defined, for example, by the North Central State Edict No.14 of 1975 which states: –
(1) The Arewa House Trust is hereby recognized as a coordinating body between the (North-Central State History Bureau) and similar institutions in the (other) states.
(2) The Arewa House trust shall have power in Association with the Bureau to collect, and keep in its custody all kinds of historical materials.
(3) The Bureau shall nominate one of the members for appointment to the Board of Trustees of Arewa House Trust.
(4) The Bureau may refer any matter to the Arewa House Trust for research or any other historical investigation on such conditions as payment or otherwise as may be agreed to. (5) The Bureau shall make annual grant to the Arewa House Trust as may be agreed to by the state.”
AREWA HOUSE TRUST DEED
After series of meetings, a proposal for the Deed was presented to the Committee at its meeting which was held in late November, 1974. The draft deed was examined clause by clause and appropriate amendments were affected. The document was then tabled at a meeting of law of officers of them Northern States, after which it was to be presented to the meeting of the Governors of the Northern States. Before the Deed could become effective, each state government had to issue an Edict, giving effect to the establishment of the Arewa House Trust Deed.

TRANSFER OF AREWA HOUSE TO AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA
Following the Federal Government dissolution of ICSA, certain services and organs which were maintained by the Agency had to be transferred to other authorities or institutions to run. Accordingly, a decision was taken that Arewa House should be taken over, with all its existing facilities, including staff, by Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria as one of its research units. This was affected in February, 1976. Along with other legacies of the defunct Northern Region, Arewa House was created by the Interim Common Services Agency, ICSA. Funding for it came from Northern States through the Interim Common Services Agency. But in 1975, following the hysteria against the remnants of the regions and the belief by the then military administration that demolishing these would add to patriotic nationalism, ICSA was disbanded. Arewa House became an orphan – but not for long. It was taken over by the Federal Government and handed over to Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
Initially, ABU catered for it as best it could, but as circumstances changed the university itself came to be in no position to cater for its own needs. While everything else in the university system suffered, units like Arewa House were the worst hit. And unforeseen developments brought new situations against it which contingencies could not have been prepared, so that it was no longer possible to pursue the original mandate of Arewa House; and it became even more difficult to change it to something more important.
From the onset, the mandate is clearly too narrow; however, over the years it has snowballed into an international research Centre of international standing.
DEVELOPMENT AND GROWTH
Arewa House from onset has passed many phases of growth and development. From inception in the 1970s to the present times, it has experienced monumental increase in physical infrastructure within the last 50 decades. The development was more witnessed from 1992 to date; a period that saw the expansion and realization of the museum complex and Library; and also, the provision of conference facilities and befitting restaurant.
Since its establishment in 1970, Arewa House has been engaged in many activities. In the earlier years, these activities included the concerted efforts made to establish infrastructures and facilities for research, the recovery of documents and their proper storage, the establishment of Research Library and Archive facilities, identification and restructuring of buildings for conference and seminar accommodation as well as living accommodation for researchers consumed a lot of time energy.
It was the ability of the first Director, Professor Abdullahi Smith and his assistants, Mr. George Kwanashie and the late Dr. Mahmud Tukur as well as several technical staff to put such facilities in place that made it possible for the Centre to attract researchers from all the continents of the world. It was this, also, that enabled the House to render useful services to the governments of the Northern States.
The House is concerned, not only with research and documentation of the history and culture of the people of Northern Nigeria, but also with contemporary studies on Policy, Peace and Conflict Resolution and Leadership. As a research Centre, the House is primarily concerned with procuring, preserving, analysing and discussing issues of national and International interest, especially as they affect the development of Northern Nigeria.
Between 1970 and1980 it witnessed a flurry of activities in Arewa House. Virtually all the proposals and programmes were carried out during this period.
One of the most important activities of Arewa House in the period under consideration was the establishment of History and Culture Bureau in all the Northern States. The name given to this institution differed from one state to another. Some of these institutions have recovered valuable records in the form of written materials, historical objects of considerable antiquity and orally transmitted information. They have also rendered valuable services to their respective state governments, local governments and researchers.
The Centre has also succeeded in earning for itself a very high reputation all over the world. Scholars in social sciences and humanities discipline have indeed been making a “NECCA” of Arewa House. This has had to do with the range of research materials which Professor Abdullahi Smith succeeded in accumulating in the House.
Scholars in social sciences and humanities discipline have indeed been making a “NECCA” of Arewa House. This has had to do with the range of research materials which Professor Abdullahi Smith succeeded in accumulating in the House.
Professor Smith himself supervised many theses which range across wide geographical areas.
Professor Smith became attractive to students and scholars in the Social Sciences and the Humanities due to the range of languages which he spoke, ranging from Arabic to Urdu, from French to Italian and from English to Hausa. This valuable giftedness enabled him to make Arewa House into a Centre of translation of documents for foreign and Nigerian scholars alike.
Between 1980 and 1990 that Arewa House continued to function in this decade and had a lot to do with the solid foundation laid in the previous decade. In spite of lack of academic and administrative guidance, at least up to 1986, the Centre continued to perform useful functions, in terms of providing library services.
According to the current Director of Arewa House, Dr Shuaibu Shehu Aliyu, from the last 50 years several things have been achieved. “In the first instance we have the Museum where we have a dedicated space for the life and time of the Late Premier and another for the life and time of the whole northern Nigeria.
“We have a central gallery and each and every state has its own particular gallery dedicated to that state, which depicts the culture, values and everything about that particular state. This has been achieved significantly,” he said.
On the issue of the Achieves he said indeed it has been achieved. “We have the richest archives in Nigeria. I can tell you we are competing with the national achieves, because most of the records we have cannot be found at the nationals achieve. Of course, you should understand that the focus of the national archives is the whole nation, while our focus is northern Nigeria. Therefore, in terms of the issue of documents relating to pre-colonial period, early colonial period and even post-colonial period we can all find it in our archives. All the writings of the Sokoto Caliphate, Kanem Borno Empire and even the period preceding the Sokoto Caliphate you can find in Arewa House.
“Also the issue of the library has been greatly achieved. Our library is a reference library. You discover that we have a very rich and wide collection of materials. We are able to achieve this unique feat because some individuals, families have donated their entire libraries to Arewa House.
“We have people within and outside the country; for instance we have an American, Prof. Whittaker, who all the way from the USA donated his entire library to us. It has been shipped successfully and it was stocked and sorted. It is a collection of very rich and invaluable materials.
“We also have the collection of Abdullahi Smith, John Lavers, Late Dr. Mahmud Tukur, who was the pioneer chairman of ASUU, Mallam Baba Gana from Toro, who also donated his entire library. We also have some people from Kano, Katsina and Zaria etc. who donated Archival materials relating to Arabic manuscripts because that is actually one of the areas that earned Arewa House credibility in terms of collections and materials.
“We have a very wide and rich collection of Arabic manuscripts preserved in Arewa House and so many people are still showing interest and willingness to donate more books and materials to Arewa House. So I can tell you without fear of contradiction that in terms of library, Museum are Archives Arewa House has achieved 80 to 90 percent.”

WHY IT IS NECESSARY TO CELEBRATE AREWA HOUSE AT 50
The current Director of Arewa House, Dr Shuaibu Shehu Aliyu, said “Yes, I will say we will be celebrating the coming of age of an institute, a center that has served for 50 long years in the particular area of being a rallying point for the entire northern region in terms of politics, economy and education. At conception it was decided that the residence of the former and only premier of the Northern region, Sir Ahmadu Bello, should be the headquarters of the Arewa House. It has so many purposes, first of which it was to serve as a centre of harmony and unity not just for the region, but for the entire country. And this has been demonstrated by the series of activities undertaken by Arewa House in the last 50 years. The first formidable activity it undertook to bring together the diverse people of Nigeria to discuss issues of national importance was the conference organized in the early 1970’s on the state of the nation and the way forward; and that is actually one of the major important events that brought together diverse people from all backgrounds to come and discuss issues pertaining to the political stability of the northern region.
“ Arewa House had also initiated annual lectures series in order to immortalize the legacies of the Late Sardauna of Sokoto, particularly his sense of belonging; his issue of one north, one Nigeria project which he strongly believed in. And most of his engagements in politics were to promote national unity. Therefore if you see the concept of the annual lectures we organized they are largely to promote national unity. There is this misconception which I want to debunk right now. People have been insinuating that Arewa House is encouraging sectionalism, regionalism and parochialism based on northern sentiment. This is not true.
:Arewa House always strives to promote national unity in most of its activities. It promotes integration even among the diverse ethnic groups of the north. This you can understand if you look at our lecture series, from the first lecture to the last lecture. The first lecture was delivered by Liman Ciroma, the second lecture was delivered by Prof. Ishaya Audu. The third lecture was delivered by Alh. Shehu Shagari, while the fourth one was by Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. The fifth lecture was delivered by Sunday Awoniyi, while the sixth one was by Alh. MD Yusuf, Seventh by Gen. Yakubu Gowon, and the eight by Prof. Ango Abdullahi, ninth by Prof. Iya Abubakar and last one by Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.
“Similarly, if you look at the personalities that chaired the lecture sessions they were largely from the south, and this was in order to demonstrate that Arewa House is promoting national unity and cohesion as against division and sectionalism. And in this regards we even changed the narrative and perspective by inviting a serving governor from the south, who is the chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum, the governor of Ekiti state to serve as the guest speaker. This singular act is enough to disabuse the minds of those saying Arewa House only promotes sectionalism rather than national unity.
“You will understand that Arewa House is a centre of national monument established to serve a northern regional purpose but we have to do that within the context of a larger Nigeria and begin to look at how we can promote national unity; national integration and national development all within the context of one united Nigeria. It is on this premix, therefore, that we try to promote such activities that are centred towards promoting national unity. Also we try to bring together the different diverse ethnic groups in northern Nigeria. In this wise we have proposed the governor of “Plateau State, Samuel Lalong, to come and deliver the Annual Lecture at our next Annual Lecture series. You can see how we try to emulate Sardauna who brought and surrounded himself with people from the different ethnic groups of the region. You can see his relationship with Michael Audu Buba, Jolly Tanko Yusuf, Sunday Awoniyi and the rest. He never segregated because of ethnic or religious differences. No one can fault Sardauna for segregation based on ethnicity or religion, that was why when Azikiwe approached him and said Sardauna let’s forget our differences, he said no, let’s understand our differences within the context of one Nigeria.
“And let me tell you, if we are able to uphold such philosophies, we’ll never have any problem in the country. You see, our failure to understand our differences, respect our differences, appreciate our differences are what took us to many problem as a country. It is important we understand that we must live together – Muslims and Christians – in Nigeria. You can not eliminate the Muslims or the Christians, so we must learn to live together in harmony so that we can promote unity and togetherness. That was what Sardauna lived and died for; and that is what we at Arewa House are trying to uphold after his death.”
“Also in the last 50 years, Arewa House has been the vanguard of promoting so many other projects to improve educational development in northern Nigeria. Arewa House has initiated Northern Educational Research Project in the 2000. And since then it has organized educational summits annually, as it brings together different stakeholders, held consultative meetings with diverse interest groups from within the entire northern states with the respective states governors in attendance, to discuss issues of concern, particular science and technology, girl child education, Almajiri etc and have to close the yawning educational gap between the north and the south.
“So what we do here is, before each summit, we collect NECO results from the north and compare same with the same results from other regions. We also collected JAMB applications; those who applied to write JAMB exams. We then look at the ratio of applications from the north, and also the performance.
“We understood that without bridging the gap there is bound to be more problems because the north is actually left behind in terms of educational development. Therefore, within the year 2008 we organized 6 education summits and it has really helped greatly. Lest I forget, one of the education summits discussed the issue of integration; that is bringing Quranic education and western education together. So I can proudly tell you that it was Arewa House that spearheaded the creation of Almajiri Education in northern Nigeria and the federal government’s almajiri education scheme is a brain child of Arewa House. Away from that, we have also written a manual on school inspection, school management and we have written most importantly an agenda of action in 2000. This included the activities, how to be achieved; how we can improve education in northern Nigeria, and that agenda has been reviewed.
“Similarly in 2004, we organized first of its kind Northern Peace Conference in collaboration with Northern Governors Forum, and that was one of the major conferences that drew people from diverse backgrounds. The conference took place at the Kaduna International Trade Fair Complex, because we don’t have enough space at Arewa House. It was such a well attended conference during which issues relating to northern Nigeria were extensively discussed. A communiqué was issued but you know the problem we have in Nigeria; there are a lot of policies but no implementation. We are also looking forward to organizing a similar conference to discuss and find ways out of the general insecurity in the north. We need to understand that the north is central to the unity of this country.
“It is key to also mention that Arewa House has established partnership with so many other countries and institutions we share common interests and orientation with. We have partnership with Cambridge University on Arabic manuscripts, University of Hamburg in Germany, University of Khartoum in Sudan, and another institute in Mali on the issue of preserving our literary heritage.

“We also have partnership with Research Centre For Islamic History, Art and Culture, which is an outfit of Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) based in Istanbul, Turkey. In collaboration with this outfit we have organized a series of conferences on Islamic civilization in West Africa. We have organized a conference in 2019 in Abuja and also travelled to Niamey for a similar conference for the Francophone countries. We were also in Ndjamena and were just about going to Cameroun to organize the conference for Central Africa when this issue of corona came up and we were deterred. We are also now planning to organize about 2 or 3 conferences with the Turkish research centre.
“First, we are trying to see how we can organize on the Hajj, particularly the significance of the Hajj towards cementing socio-political relationships between West Africa, East Africa and the Middle East. And we are even trying to see how we can revive the overland Hajj routes, because with the way things are going, we have to see how we can revive ancient overland routes; and we are trying to organize this conference in the first quarter of next year.
“Secondly, we are also discussing with them on how we can organise a conference on the intellectual development and the new paradigm shift in the West Africa sub-region. This is because we have so many other challenges particular grapple the interim Islamic intellectual development. Therefore, we shall organize this conference at Arewa House but this time not limited to only West Africa but the entire African continent to come to Arewa House and discuss issues that are Germaine for the revival of indigenous intellectual heritage.
“We are also working with other similar bodies to see how we can organize a conference on the security challenges bedeviling the West African sub-region. Let us understand what is happening in the Sahel region with a view to ascertaining if it has any correction with what is happening in Nigeria.
“We have also organized a conference with Afro-Arab Cultural Institute based in Bamako, Mali in the year 2008 and we are now trying to see how we can revive that partnership. They have approached us and we are now about to sign an MoU in this regard. We are in fact in so many partnerships with a view to reviving our ancient cultural relationships between East African, North Africa, West Africa and even the middle – East. We also have partnerships with other institutions in South Africa, Netherlands, France and so on. We have partnership also with the University of Hiroshima in Japan to the extent that we have a researcher from there that came for a 2years research Programme and we have him here in Arewa House since his arrival for free. He is Prof. John Phillips. So, you can see actually Arewa House is playing significant role particularly in academic research activities not only in Northern Nigeria or Nigeria but also in Africa and other parts of the World,’ he said.
He said “Let me at this point appreciate those that contributed to our appeal fund in 1991. It was one of the biggest appeal funds ever conducted in Nigeria where the proceeds exceeded the actual expectation. This was the first in the history of Nigeria. That appeal fund was epic and it was from the proceeds that most of the facilities in Arewa House were developed like the Museum, the Auditorium, the Library, the Archives and even the restaurant. The Board of Trustees of Arewa House must be commended for that.”
MAJOR CHALLENGES AND CONSTRAINTS
According to the Director, Arewa House, Dr Shuaibu Shehu Aliyu, the major constraint is lack of available space in the library and the archives.
“We have a huge collection and many people are still ready and willing to donate their libraries and archival materials but we don’t have enough office accommodation to keep them. The plan was to have separate building for the library and the archives, but if you go to the library now you will discover that we don’t have where to keep them. The same is true with the archives. It is very important that we have additional spaces for the library and the archives to keep our invaluable materials.
“It is only in Arewa House that you can find all newspapers published in Nigeria from the early colonial period to date. Today, each and every day Arewa House purchases every newspaper published in Nigeria without any discrimination.
“Here let me appeal to the Northern governors, prominent and eminent Nigerians, Senators to come to the aid of Arewa House by constructing the archives for us. If this is done we have other visions we want to undertake.
:Firstly, we want to create a digital newspaper library and if we are able to do that, it will be the first of its kind in Africa. Secondly, we want to create an oral data bank and on that we created an oral documentation project. By this, we will interview prominent personalities across Nigeria that actually contributed to the development of Nigeria in the important areas of politics, education, civil service, business, sports and even farmers. We will collect and preserve their oral experiences so that our future generations will come and listen to them. We have an audio of Yakubu Gowon and other prominent Nigerians of the older generations. Oral history is very important in the society. It can inspire and motivate the younger generation. It can help not only in Northern Nigeria but also in the whole of Nigeria.

He maintained that Arewa House depends only on goodwill, and that efforts are ongoing to boost the internally generated revenue (IGR) of the House so that in the near future Arewa House can finance its activities without seeking for assistance from any person. He therefore appealed to Northern state governors to assist Arewa House with the construction of accommodation for researchers that come here for researches, adding that when this is achieved, Arewa House will be able to stand on its feet financially.