Rijiyar Zaki community in Kano cries over school’s land encroachment

It was gathered that last week’s attempt by the PCRC generated a tense atmosphere in the community as members of the parties almost engaged in a fight. The attempt, according to findings, was not the first one as previous attempts by the committee were vehemently resisted by members of the community.  Pyramid Trust learnt that […]

It was gathered that last week’s attempt by the PCRC generated a tense atmosphere in the community as members of the parties almost engaged in a fight. The attempt, according to findings, was not the first one as previous attempts by the committee were vehemently resisted by members of the community.

 Pyramid Trust learnt that last week’s drama took a new dimension when the PCRC came with a document from the Kano State Urban Planning and Development Authority (KNUPDA), giving the committee a building permit on the said school’s land. This, therefore, made the school authorities to raise alarm on the development as it was disclosed by the headmaster of the primary school, Umar Musa Dankaliya. “When the PCRC came to me with the permit, I became confused over the whole issue because I have not received any formal notification from the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB). So, I wrote to the local government education secretary who later informed the board of the present development,” he said.    

On his own part, Chairman, Parent Teachers Association (PTA) of Rijiyar Zaki Special Primary School, Alhaji Balarabe Adamu, told our reporter that the land in question belongs to the school, just as the school belongs to the community. He also stated that the community did not want the school land to be used contrary to what it was meant for.

“This is our stand; the school needs additional classes; because now in a class we have more than 180 pupils. This, sincerely speaking, cripples educational standards of our children. We implored SUBEB to wade in and rescue the only hope of acquiring education for our wards. The sad issue here is that most of the PCRC members have their wards schooling elsewhere. That is why they don’t give a hoot about the development of the school,” the PTA chairman said.

But all attempts to get members of the Rijiyar Zaki Police Community Relations Committee to comment on the issue failed as the chairman of the committee was said to be out of town.

However, Permanent Member II, Kano State Universal Basic Education Board, Alhaji Bala Muhammed Inuwa, said the board would not fold its arms while some group of individuals encroached on lands belonging to schools. He also said the act of encroachment contradicted the Land Use Act of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.  

“We have held talks with the police and the police had distanced themselves from the agitation. They claimed neutrality on the issue. Therefore, I want to tell this committee that the community does not want any police station there. In fact, they have applied for the board’s approval to build a junior secondary school on the said land and the board has already given its approval. Moreover, the document they claimed was given to them by KNUPDA was just a building permit but not a document to substantiate their claim. I want to categorically state here that SUBEB will take up this issue to a logical conclusion,” he said.   

Also reacting to the issue, Director of Development, Kano Urban and Planning Development Authority, Bala Ahmed Rogo, faulted the claim made by SUBEB on the said land. According to him, PCRC had duly satisfied all protocols to qualify it for the issuance of the building approval and that KNUPDA had done everything by the book. He also said the committee had presented before it, a document of clearance from the state ministry of education and Ungogo local government which certified it deemed to be given the approval.