The Kaduna State governor, Ahmed El-Rufai has vowed to continue the demolition of structures that ille gally encroach on pub lic places like schools, hospitals among others until the plots are recov ered.
He said this to State House correspondents in an interview on Thursday night after meeting with Vice president Yemi Osinbajo.
He said that besides working to restore aes thetics 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 organ isations 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 sit ting next to classrooms adding that one of the ille gal 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 destroy ing 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 do ing similar work iden tifying the levels of en croachment 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 ac knowledging that government might not recover everything bearing in mind the huge compen sation it would have to pay those who own land titles and approved build ing plans in the face of dwindling revenue, how ever stated, “But we are determined that the en vironment 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 said.
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.
