Muhammadu Dan Saidu
There is no gain saying the fact that
Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf of Kano state is leaving no one in doubt as to his good intentions of bringing about the desired and necessary development to Kano state in every facets of life with a view to making the state to compete favourably with its peers.
This can be attested to by the fact that Kano has become a construction site of sort, with many ongoing projects spread across the state such as roads construction and rehabilitation, schools and hospitals rehabilitation and construction, water resources and environment, human capital development among many others.
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In line with his continuous strive for rapid and contemporary development of the state, governor Yusuf has not only initiated new projects but equally look in the direction of abandoned and uncompleted projects.
One of such remarkable efforts at ensuring even development by the governor is the recent initiative to revive the Kwankwasiyya city housing estate situated along Zaria road in the ancient city which was reduced to a near ghost city since it was launched over ten (10) years ago.
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The Kwankwasiyya city housing project along with Amana and Bandirawo Cities which were initiated by the Enginieer Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso administration was conceived as part of the State development plan strategies.
Understandably , the idea was meant to promote economic growth, social development, and environmental sustainability, towards addressing issues like urban sprawl, congestion, and lack of affordable housing.
However, no sooner than the city was launched challenges creep in, and tied down the city from realising the very objectives for which it was set out to achieve.
Challenges like the investment of pensioners funds into the project generated controversy, and which was highly politicised, became a major challenge. Other challenges include the failure of some allottees to complete their payments, transfer of ownership, failure to complete some of the houses and most disheartening and disappointing the refusal of many of the owners to put the houses to proper use thereby leaving them unattended to, unoccupied and uncompleted hence the houses became a major criminal hideouts and harbour all manner of characters thereby becoming a security threat to residents and neighbouring communities.
Another challenge worth noting is the illegal bastardization of the original master plan of the city by some unpatriotic and unscrupulous elements who diverted and allocated plots originally meant for public use such as market, hospitals, graveyard etc to some individuals for private use.
This criminal act of bastardization of the city’s master plan has deprived residents of basic public amenities like market and others thereby making the estate a hell for them and scare others from moving in, this singular act make the city non-functional and retarded it’s growth.
Worthy of note is the fact that similar housing projects that were initiated alongside the Kwankwasiyya city in other states like Gombe and Yobe have since become fully functional and habitable while the Kwankwasiyya city remains desolate, abandoned and constitute a major existential threat to the few residents of the city and by extension to the state as a whole.
Therefore, concerned by the sorry state of the Kwankwasiyya city and the need to realise the objective for which the project was initiated, Governor Abba Kabir formed a high-powered committee under the able leadership of his workaholic and creative Commissioner of Information and Internal Affairs, Comrade Ibrahim Abdullahi Waiya
with a mandate to provide comprehensive action plan on the revival of the Kwankwasiyya city including public sensitisation, ascertaining the actual ownership, completion, occupancy of the houses among others.
As a prelude to the formation of the committee and in order to demonstrate his resolve to make the Kwankwasiyya city habitable, Governor Yusuf reclaimed the Governor’s Lodge situated in the city which was hitherto diverted and allocated to the federal government agency by the previous administration against the original master plan.
However, upon retrival by the governor, the facility has now been renovated and returned to its original state as a Governor’s Lodge. In the same vein, the governor in his desire to return the city to its original master plan, wasted no time in pulling down and demolishing illegal structures in the city.
It is clear that Governor Yusuf has set the tune for reviving the Kwankwasiyya city to its original concept. The challenge now is thrown to the owners, residents of the city including other stakeholders to rally round the governor in his avowed resolve to make the city habitable.
Dan Sa’idu
Writes from Eye On Kano Initiative
16/3/2025