Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna state has met with the old students of Federal Government College (FGC) Kaduna over annexation of the College land by former governor Nasir el-Rufai-led administration.
The old students, under the auspices of Unity Schools Old Students Association (USOSA) and Federal Government College Kaduna Old Students Association (FGCKADOSA), had last Saturday staged a peaceful protest at the College premises, calling on Governor Uba Sani to restore the 800 plots of College’s land annexed by the el-Rufus’s administration.
The Director General of Kaduna State Urban Planning and Development Agency (KASUPDA), Ismail Umar-Dikko, who was invited to address the meeting, explained that the land was excised due to the ravaging insecurity and kidnapping of school children in the Northwest region, adding that the annexed land is close to River Kaduna and has remained undeveloped for over 50 years, thus making the school open to easy attack by bandits.
But Governor Sani assured the old students that he has not closed his mind to the request by the College stakeholders, adding that all works at the site will stop until he personally visit the school to assess the situation, after which a dialogue between the government and the College’s stakeholders will continue.
He said the former governor may have annexed the College land for security reasons.
He said, as a former Senator, he is aware that, the 1976 Land Use Act puts all lands in a state under the control of the state governor.
“The Governor has the power to allocate land based on public interest. I believe the former Governor, Malam Nasir el-Rufai decided to annex the land because of security challenges, which have been compounded by ungoverned spaces.
“The former government in its wisdom felt it did not have to wait for insecurity to happen around the FGC before taking action, because the portion of the land annexed borders River Kaduna and Keke Community of New Millennium City, where series of kidnap cases have been reported,” he said.
The governor however, promised to visit the school in the company of the old students to see things for himself and advised that the matter be resolved through dialogue rather than legal battle, which he said may create more bottlenecks than solution to the challenge at hand.
He said he feels and appreciates the concerns of the old students towards protecting the interests of their alma mater, adding that government was also putting the safety of the students first.
President General of USOSA, Mr Michael Magaji, who led the delegation to Government House, thanked the governor for the invitation and expressed USOSA’s displeasure over what he called the encroachment of FGC Malali, Kaduna’s land.
Magaji requested that the governor carries USOSA’s executives along when he embarks on the visit to the school.
