Kano yarn maker says state began fencing its land without notice or compensation
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A.B. Janruwa Enterprises says contractors started fencing its four-hectare Chalawa site without a revocation notice, putting a multi-billion-naira expansion and 2,000 planned jobs at risk.
A Kano-based manufacturing company, A.B. Janruwa Enterprises, has accused the Kano State Government of beginning the takeover of its more than four-hectare land in Chalawa Industrial Area without prior notice, Daily Trust reported.
The company, which produces yarn and tailoring materials, said it discovered that government contractors had begun fencing off the land earmarked for its expansion project despite what it described as the absence of any formal notification or compensation process. It warned the move could jeopardise a planned multi-billion-naira factory expansion expected to create more than 2,000 jobs.
Speaking to journalists in Kano, the company's manager, Abdullahi Hashim, said the land near its existing factory in Kirimbu, Chalawa, was acquired over several years from local farmers for a large-scale manufacturing facility. He said the company later learnt the land had been included in a proposed industrial layout to be developed by the state, linked to the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano gas pipeline corridor.
The company's legal representative, Umar Ahmad Umar, said A.B. Janruwa was never served with a revocation notice as required by law and only became aware of the development after physical activities commenced on the land.
The Kano State Ministry of Lands and Physical Planning said all lands affected by the takeover will be duly compensated and urged the company to remain calm. Murtala Shehu, the ministry's director of public enlightenment, ruled out a forceful takeover, saying the project is for the economic prosperity of the state. "We are appealing for calm; no land will be taken over without proper compensation," he said.