Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai said arrangement has been concluded to commence the process of recovering all public lands belonging to government from today.
El-Rufai asked the residents and citizens of the state not view the recovery exercise as an attempt to demolish houses in order to witch-hunt or fight anyone.
The Special Assistant to the Governor on Media and Publicity, Samuel Aruwan, who disclosed this Monday during a press conference at Sir Kashim Ibrahim Government House, said the aim of the exercise is not to demolish as widely misconstrued by some persons, but to ensure that public institutions have their lands back.
He explained that the recovery exercise should not be misconstrued as witch-hunting or political persecution.
“All Governor El-Rufai is trying to do is to recover government land and nothing else.
“We are not happy that people are already thinking that we are just out to demolish for no reason, but it is not so,” Aruwan said.
According to him, it is illegal and wrong to give out lands originally allocated to schools such as Rimi College, Kaduna; Sarduana Memorial College, Kaduna; Alhudahuda College, Zaria and Public Liberary, Zaria owned by the state government to private individuals to build residential houses.
He insisted that all these lands must be recovered from the owners even if Certificates of Occupancy were given to the owners.
He said those viewing the exercise as demolition aimed at some certain powerful people got it wrong.
While also stressing that the aim of the recovery exercise is to secure the environment and make it habitable for the public as well as future use for students, he said there is need to support Governor El-Rufai in his bid to sanitise and restore Kaduna State to its old glory as the historical headquarters of the northern region.
He also urged those that would be affected by the exercise to understand and bear with the resolve of Governor El-Rufai to develop the state and make it a good and habitable place.