El-Rufai’s commissioners speak on school land grab

The members of the Kaduna State Executive Council 2015-2023 have denied any wrongdoing in their actions concerning the issue of revocation of school land grabbed in Kaduna State.

The Governor Uba Sani-led administration had promised to right any wrong of the past in the matter.

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However, the commissioners in the Nasir El-Rufai-led administration in a statement made available to The Star explained what steps they took while in office to restore sanity in the matter.

The statement said: “In 2015, under the leadership of Malam Nasir El-Rufai, the Kaduna State Government commenced a programme to restore the lands encroached, reestablish and preserve the boundaries of the affected schools. We explained that our administration considered the recovery of school lands as imperative in better positioning the schools to properly discharge their primary mandate.

“Part of the actions taken included the removal of the illegal residential structures that had been erected within the premises of Alhudahuda College, Zaria. The recovery exercise was also implemented in Rimi College, Kaduna, where over three hectares of school land had been excised and distributed to individuals by previous governments for residential purposes. In some cases, the plots had been fully developed by the time we took office. Rimi College had also lost its students’ hostels which had been converted to offices for some state government and federal agencies.

“However, our administration discovered that the allottees of Rimi College plots had valid titles, unlike the illegal squatters at Alhudahuda College. The private individuals who were assigned plots were served notices of revocation. In addition, the properties of those individuals who had valid titles and development approvals were valued for the purpose of compensation. Appropriate relocation notices were also sent to the state and federal agencies occupying the the premises of Rimi College.

“Therefore, at its meeting of 16th November 2015, the Kaduna State Executive Council approved the payment of N378,357,752.00 as compensation for the first 19 properties within Rimi College whose valuation processes have been concluded. The allottees were also given application forms for allocation of alternative plots in the Millennium City layout. The current governor was a member of the State Executive Council when these decisions were debated, agreed, and implemented, as with every decision of our administration.

“Furthermore, in the interest of transparency, our administration published the names of the individuals that were allocated plots of land within Rimi College by previous administrations. The official government statement noted that some of the 38 beneficiaries of the allocations took no steps to develop their plots because they had reservations about building on school property.

“Can the current State Government transparently publish the names of the persons to whom it had allocated these Rimi College properties for which our administration had paid so much in compensation, and the names of the persons to whom those persons further resold the properties?

“The El-Rufai administration that we proudly served consistently applied this policy of recovering school lands to take back lands set aside for several primary schools across the state that had been converted to build corner shops and other shanties. Encroached land belonging to higher institutions like the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology, Zaria was recovered while squatters with wrongly acquired titles to land were compensated with alternatives.”

The former commissioners also explained efforts the El-Rufai-led government took to protect schools’ properties.

According to them, “Our administration took steps to fence up the land belonging to Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic (NUBPT), Zaria, to secure the land and protect the residents of the institution. Similar actions were taken in respect of the Annex along Gaskiya Road, Queen Amina College, Capital School, and Government Technical College, all in Kaduna. The boundaries of both Sardauna Memorial College and Government College, Kaduna were clearly defined and fenced, to prevent any encroachment, while all government quarters outside the school perimeters were included in the Sale of Non-Essential Houses programme. No staff quarters within school boundaries were included in the programme.

“In connection with this careful delineation of land for education, healthcare, and other social services, our administration implemented sound policies to ensure the safe and efficient utilization of surplus lands that were being encroached upon in some public institutions. In accordance with this policy, we took actions over the Federal Training Centre land that the school management had either illegally carved out or converted to farmland. They had no powers to alter the approved land use. Our administration, therefore, replanned the affected

area and allocated the plots which have since become some of the best prized real estate in Kaduna metropolis.

“Similar action was taken to manage the security risks arising from the huge undeveloped spaces within the Federal Government College, Kaduna, and the old Nigerian Defence Academy site in Kawo where a major expressway’s planned route traversed the undeveloped part of the institution. Our administration also reclaimed, replanned and allocated some surplus land in Sardauna Memorial College that was being used as a waste dump by the neighboring community.”

The Star