Kaduna State Urban Planning and Development Authority (KASUPDA) has reiterated that it will continue to carry out its mandate of development control by ensuring that developers abide by building code.
The Director General of KASUPDA, Malam Ismail Umaru Dikko who said this in a statement on Friday, was clarifying why the agency took down the buildings on Filin Idin Bare-Bari in Zaria town on Thursday.
Malam Ismail said that all the buildings were illegal structures as none had a Certificate of Occupancy and building permit, adding that ‘’I challenge any of those property owners to produce these documents’’.
According to him, the land was a ‘’designate Eid Praying ground which was reserved Muslim faithful since the reign of Emir of Zazzau Yamusa but people kept encroaching on it.’’
Ismail argued that the land was supposed to serve millions of people and even future generations but a few people had cornered it for their personal use, adding that ‘’we cannot sacrifice the people’s commonwealth for the greed of a few persons.’’
The statement reminded that during the administration Arch Namadi Sambo, when he was governor of Kaduna State, ‘’government had ordered developers and land speculators to stop the encroachment but the directive fell on deaf ears.’’
‘’In spite of an existing government order, KASUPDA served the residents with a demolition notice in June, 2020, after the Zonal Manager had issued several warnings,’’ Ismail added.
The Director General said that the residents were given 21 days ‘’to remove all structures and valuable items on the site because they had illegally trespassed into the Eid prayer ground which is located along Kofar Gayan-Kofar Kona road in Zaria.’’
The statement further reiterated that people should endeavour to obey all planning and building laws in order not to fall afoul of the law, vowing that ‘’KASUPDA will restore the master plan of Kaduna State.’’
