The Kaduna State Urban Planning and Development Authority, (KASUPDA), says it plans to allocate another land to Ahmadu Bello University, (ABU), Zaria at Kangimi village, following disagreement over alleged encroachment by the university’s College of Agriculture and Animal Science, situated in Mando area of the metropolis.
Addressing a news conference in Kaduna yesterday, the KASUPDA Director-General, Isma’il Umaru Dikko, stated that, “It is strange that people who are supposedly out to protect institutional land will not exercise any curiosity regarding the unauthorised excisions that have occurred on the land, or demand that their institution investigate how it happened.
According to him, “The entire area was a forest when the land was allocated in 1965. Now, it is a veritable part of the Kaduna metropolis. The entire area is being re-planned in line with the reviewed 2016 Kaduna Master Plan Law, and the Urban Renewal Programme.
“This replanning will preserve the College, its academic facilities, hostels and staff housing on the current site, but with a revised land allocation that more appropriately reflects its actual ability to use the land.
“The College will also be allocated land for agriculture in the Kangimi area earmarked for such endeavours in the Kaduna Master Plan.
“This is the first time that KASUPDA has seen an instance where a landowner admits ownership of less than his full allocation; these are the facts of the matter. A campaign of blackmail by trade unions and management of the institution will neither alter these facts nor confer immunity for violations of the terms of land allocation”.
Recall that while protesting the alleged takeover of its land by the State government despite a court order restraining it or its agencies from doing so, the ASUU ABU branch chairman, Prof. Haruna Jibril, had impressed on the university’s Senate to consider withdrawing the “degree certificates awarded to Gov. el-Rufa’i, on the grounds that his many actions are in contravention of the requirements in character and learning deemed worthy of Ahmadu Bello University degree award”.
