By Waziri Isa Adam
The policy of ongoing demolitions of illegally built or acquired property in kano, by the State’s Governor, Engineer Abba Kabir Yusuf, aka Gida-Gida, has been described as counter productive and needed to be reviewed urgently in the best interest of both the government, public and owners of the structures.
Speaking in an interview with The Newspaper on the policy, the intention of which, according to a Senior Academic with Bayero University Kano (BUK), Professor Bashir Muhammad Fagge, may be good, and may have been informed by alleged fraudulent action or decision of the Dr Abdullahi umar Ganduje’s administration to sale government’s lands to cronies or party loyalists, but, the approach applied by the Gida-Gida administration, to reclaim the lands in question, is a step in the wrong direction.
The University Don adviced the Governor to immediately halt the action, which has generated mixed reactions, with the view to reviewing it, and to look into the possibility of converting some of the property into public use, especially those that were built on public lands, or on lands that were illegally sold, instead of destroying them.
Professor Fagge observed that, “It is true that some of the actions of the past government of Ganduje, especially those that were related to the needless sales of some government’s lands were wrong, it is also wrong to demolish them out of anger or due to political differences, when they can comfortably be used for the benefit of the public”.
He advised politicians not to allow insatiable greed to always prompt them into using their positions, or taking advantage of their relationships with governments in power to illegally take over governments’ properties which are meant for the general use of the public.
The University Don who said though he is not an Urban and Regional Planning expert or a Politician, but, a patriotic observer and a development enthusiast, adviced that the governor needed to have started his administration on a ‘construction note’, and not on a ‘destruction note’, however, expressed optimism that Gida-Gida, considering his antecedents and the role he played in the Kwankwaso administration, may perform extremely well in the state.