Our mission
To promote responsible care, compassion and welfare for cats within Ahmadu Bello University and the wider community through rescue, rehabilitation, adoption, veterinary care, education, advocacy, research and partnerships.
About us
We started because nobody else was going to.
ABU Cats Club is an animal welfare student association at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, working for the welfare of cats on campus and in the wider community.
Our story
Anyone who has walked through Samaru at dusk has seen them: cats around the hostels, behind the faculties, near the gates. Hungry, often injured, breeding without limit, and occasionally trapped by hunters. For a long time this was treated as scenery rather than a problem.
The club was established to address exactly those challenges — hunger, injuries, illness, abandonment, traps, uncontrolled breeding, and the absence of any shared understanding of what responsible animal welfare requires.
We care for the cats ourselves. We also spend a great deal of effort persuading everybody else to do the same, because a hundred students who know what to do will always reach more animals than a committee can.
Catwalk 2.0, August 2026 — the awareness march through Samaru.
Our vision
To inspire communities to adopt compassionate, responsible and sustainable approaches to the welfare and humane management of stray and community animals, with ABU Cats Club serving as a model for community-led animal welfare and One Health.
Objectives
What we are actually trying to do
- Rescue, treat and rehabilitate injured, sick and abandoned cats on and around campus.
- Feed and water the campus colonies consistently, not occasionally.
- Reduce uncontrolled breeding through humane spay and neuter programmes.
- Find homes for cats who cannot safely remain where they are.
- Teach responsible animal care to students, staff and the surrounding community.
- Advance One Health — the link between animal welfare, human health and the environment.
- Document what we do, so the work can be evaluated and repeated elsewhere.
Our values
How we work
Compassion first
The animal in front of us is the point. Everything else is method.
Humane, not sentimental
Spay and neuter, veterinary evidence, honest limits about what we can do.
Community-led
A campus that looks after its own animals does not need rescuing by outsiders.
Accountable
We publish what we have done and what it cost. Numbers with a date on them.
Our impact
What that has added up to
- 7 Rescue cases Injured, trapped or abandoned animals a volunteer attended
- 4 Spay/neuter procedures Humane population management
- 22 Volunteers Students who have given time to the club
- 545 Members People who have joined ABU Cats Club
- 6 Projects completed Campaigns, drives, seminars and outreach
- 13 Campus areas reached Faculties, hostels and surrounding communities
Figures as of 4 September 2026. See how we count them.
In their own words
Some of the people behind it
The full council is listed on the home page. These are the officers who have written something about the work they do.
Aisha Umar Panti
Founding President
Industrial Design graduate, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria
Aisha founded ABU Cats Club to promote the welfare of community cats, responsible human–animal coexistence, and the link between animal welfare and public health through a One Health approach. As the pioneer president she led the club’s establishment, its early programmes and partnerships, and the development of its long-term vision.
Through the club’s official email and social media
Kalimah Ibrahim
Data & Research Officer
Faculty of Education, Department of Arts and Social Science Education
Kalimah gathers, organises and analyses the data behind the club’s operations, health initiatives and outreach — turning raw information into clear insight that improves cat care and guides strategic decisions.
TODO(club): photographs for every officer, and a short bio from each of the remaining thirteen.
Executive archive
Previous administrations
Every council that has held office, with the roles they filled. The current council is listed on the home page.
2025 / 2026 — Founding council
- Founding PresidentAisha Umar Panti
- Vice PresidentNuhu Isma'il Jibril
- General SecretarySaimeerah Abubakar MJ
- Assistant SecretaryAbdulhameed Muktar Abolaji
- TreasurerRuqayyah Mahmud Abdullah
- Financial SecretaryNafisah Okunade
- Public Relations OfficerNabeelah Jummai Yusuph
- Director of Welfare IAbdulsamad Musa
- Director of Welfare IIAmina Salihu Danladi
- Director of Feeding ISa'idu Abdulyazid Abdurrahman
- Director of Feeding IIAliyah Abdulmumini
- Data & Research OfficerKalimah Ibrahim
- Director, Awareness & PublicityAbdulkareem Muhammadulfatah Omeiza
- Samaru Campus ManagerMukhtar Tahir Mustapha
- Kongo Campus ManagerMustapha Muhammad Kamilu
This is the first council. Future sessions will be added here as they hand over.