Kaduna State governor, Ahmed El-Rufai, has vowed to continue the demolition of structures that illegally encroach on public places like schools, hospitals among others until the plots are recovered.
El-Rufai made this known to State House correspondents in an interview on Thursday night after meeting with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
As stated by him, besides working to restore aesthetics in the state, his administration intends to develop a new layout for Kaduna residents.
Explaining his reason for demolition, El-Rufai said: “We found on taking over that large portions of land meant for schools, hospitals, libraries and other public buildings have been encroached upon, carved out and sold to very important people thus, depriving the organizations the opportunity for future expansion.
“Our population is growing and we need to build more classrooms and hostels”.
El-Rufai said that in some cases, such as the Al-Hudahuda College, the encroachment led to personal residences sitting next to classrooms adding that one of the illegal developers connected his sewage to the septic tank of a public school.
“It was a situation we weren’t going to accept because it was destroying the environment for learning and healthcare”, adding that many of those involved neither have titles to such land, nor the approval to build, which is a complete violation of the law.
The governor assured that his administration would recover such land and restore them to their original use.
“We have started in Zaria with Al-Hudahuda College, we have finished work on Rimi College and we will move to Sardauna Memorial College and other schools.
“The local government chairmen have been doing similar work identifying the levels of encroachment in the land in the primary schools.
“We are taking each case and ensuring that we do a rational analysis on the needs of the schools”.
El-Rufai while acknowledging that government might not recover everything bearing in mind the huge compensation it would have to pay those who own land titles and approved building plans in the face of dwindling revenue, however stated, “But we are determined that the environment in which our children learn or those that are sick enjoy peace while in hospital.
“It will take some time but we are determined to do that,” he stated.
The governor said the government had plans to develop new Kaduna City and expand the already congested roads in the old city.
He also hinted on plans to install Close Circuit Television (CCTV) in Kaduna, Kafanchan and Zaria to assist in combating crimes.