Again, Kano Demolishes Illegal Structures, Vows To Reclaim Government Properties

By Suleiman Anyalewechi

Months after it paused the   exercise, the Kano State authorities on Wednesday December announced the commencement of  another round of demolition of structures purportedly erected on Government properties.

Hameed Sidi, the Secretary of the Demolition Taskforce,  informed that the renewed exercise that cuts across the entire state, is primarily aimed at recovering and safeguarding  public assets.

The Source reports that at inception in office in 2023, the Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf-led New Nigeria Peoples Party NNPP administration, had embarked on a massive demolition of structures in some choice areas of the commercial hub of the North.

It claimed that the immediate past All Progress Congress, APC, regime in the State, partitioned Government lands, public spaces and recreational hubs to cronies,friends and family members.

Within its first three months in office, it reduced to rubbles several choice properties, including business outlets, worth billions of Naira within the Kano metropolis.

Over 100 high profile structures and business establishments ,ware believed to have been affected by the sweeping demolition exercise.

Wide public outcry and expression of outrage both within the state and across the country, as well as a plethora of litigations against the obviously  unpopular expedition, halted the exercise.

Not a few had, also, impugned  political motives into the exercise .

But speaking with the Media at the  Kwankwasiya City where the taskforce  earmarked about ten buildings for demolition, Sidi noted that the affected structures were also erected on Government property without the required official permits

He informed that

the taskforce, in carrying out the latest demolition exercise, will be focusing on known and identified flashpoints for unauthorized and unapproved structures across the State.

Sidi insisted that the demolition will subsist until public properties are reclaimed and all identified cases of encroachments on Government lands are satisfactorily addressed.

He explained that all affected property owners were duly served notices in line with extant laws before the commencement of the demolition.

According to him, the taskforce is set to restore a regime of sanity in the erection of buildings as well as ensuring that public spaces serve their intended purposes.

The taskforce scribe urged the people to avail themselves of the ongoing recertification exercise at the State Ministry of Lands and Physical Planning to update their land titles to avoid any unpalatable consequences.