The Katsina State Government said it has traced and reclaimed landed properties worth more than ₦10 billion, about 38 years after the state was carved out of the defunct Kaduna State.
The General Manager of the Katsina State Assets Management Agency, Dr Lawal Aminu-Bala, disclosed this while briefing journalists in Katsina on Thursday.
According to him, the recovery followed a directive by the state government led by Gov. Dikko Radda to trace and recover all public assets that were encroached or converted to private use.
Aminu-Bala said that the development led to the inauguration of a committee chaired by the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Alhaji Abdulkadir Mamma-Nasir.
He further explained, “the committee obtained a gazette that shared assets and liabilities between the two states, when Katsina was created in 1987.
“This document gave us the latitude to recover landed properties, especially 37 houses and plots within Kaduna and Zaria, that were initially allocated to Katsina.”
According to him, the committee obtained official documents detailing the asset and liability sharing formula between the old Kaduna State and Katsina State.
Aminu-Bala said that the document revealed several properties due to Katsina, but had been occupied by either individuals, federal government agencies, or converted to private use.
The general manager said the committee worked closely with the Kaduna State Ministry of Lands and Survey to successfully take over the control of the properties.
He added that the committee had also succeeded in recovering about 15 hectares of lands in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), belonging to the Katsina government.
According to Aminu-Bala, the government is taking a decisive action to demarcate the land and to take a drastic measure in ensuring that the property is utilised for the betterment of the state.
He said that arrangements had been concluded to recruit assets surveillance officers across the state to protect government properties from vandalism and identify underutilised public assets.
He added that coordinators would be appointed at the local government level to supervise the officers across the 361 wards in the state,
Aminu-Bala said that a state Coordinator would be based at the agency’s Headquarters to ensure effective coordination and monitoring.
