Kaduna issues land titles and plots to seven Igabi communities after decade-long military land dispute

Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani has distributed land titles to communities in Igabi local government area whose land has been the subject of a decade-long dispute with the military, directing the Kaduna State Geographic Information Service (KADGIS) to issue alternative plots and farmland to affected households.

The benefiting communities are Unguwan Malam Auta, Unguwan Alhassan and Unguwan Lauya, as well as Unguwan Aboki, Unguwan Danjuma, Unguwan Musa and Unguwan Yohana, comprising 704 houses. Speaking at Birnin Yero Tsohuwa Primary School on Sunday, the governor said more than 5,000 people live within the affected communities and that more than 2,000 of them had been displaced by the dispute.

According to the governor, the land seizure took place before the present administration, which tried to resolve the matter amicably without success. Although the case is still in court, he directed KADGIS Director General Dr Bashir Ibrahim Garba to give plots of land, including farmland, to the affected communities.

"Today, we gathered here not only to give free plots of land to all the members of the communities and the households, we are also here to ensure that we look at other problems," Governor Sani said. "Apart from giving you plots of land, ensuring that all of you have decent shelter is important to our administration because we believe in the human dignity. We also gave each one of you a farmland as a means of livelihood because 90 per cent of you are farmers."

The governor also promised the communities five trucks of free fertiliser and directed the Secretary to the Kaduna State Government, together with the commissioners for finance and for planning and budget, to meet community leaders on a social intervention package for residents who lost livelihoods, particularly small business owners.