Kaduna State Government has sold 2,028 government residential houses, allocated 4,359 plots of land, and 51,032 land titles in the last four years.
The land were allocated to businesses, institutions and individuals as part of its efforts to accelerated development in its Urban Renewal Programme.
A statement by El-Rufai’s spokesperson. Muyiwa Adeyeye said the state has also issued 51,032 Certificates of Occupancy for new titles and recertification of previous titles, apart from selling 2,028 non-essential residential houses 80 percent of which were bought by the civil servants who were sitting tenants, based on their market value.
He said the state government denounced the attempt to smear all those who are being assigned plots under an accelerated development programme.
Adekeye said that certain persons were allocated plots for accelerated development between six and 12 months, constituting less than one percent of the persons who have been assigned plots in recent years.
“In addition, Malam Nasir El-Rufai specifically directed that KADGIS should allocate plots of land to as many government workers and citizens as demonstrate active interest by applying,” Adekeye added.
He said the plots have been revoked from persons who have held on to them for years without developing them.
“Many of these plots in prime areas are being reallocated to individuals and corporate bodies with a strict mandate to develop them within six months to one year,” he said.
He pointed out that “plots in the Millennium City are also being actively allocated as part of the deliberate focus on fast-tracking the development of the Eastern Sector of Kaduna metropolis.”
Adekeye further said that apart from sale of non essential houses, Kaduna State Government has also allocated plots of land to government workers and private citizens in its desire to accelerate the development.
Adekeye recalled that “as Minister of the FCT, Malam Nasir El-Rufai allocated 27,000 plots to applicants, some of whom had waited for decades. He promoted the accelerated development programme which took land from speculators and allocated to those ready to develop them within set times. He supervised the sales of 30,000 government houses, enabling many federal civil servants to own houses.’’
“After his tenure as FCT Minister, there were attempts to question his powers as minister to allocate plots as lists, including any person with Rufai in their surnames, were circulated to smear him and his record in democratising access to plots of land and houses in Abuja.