By Wasilat Ahmad
Communities in Niger state that release their lands to private developers for the second phase of construction of housing estate in the state have the total sum of about N184 million.
This was disclosed by the state commissioner for land and housing, Barrister Mukhtar Nasale, who spoke during the exercise at Jibi village in Tafa Local Government area of the state.
Nasale explained that state entered into agreement with private developers to provide affordable housing to the people in its bid to bridge the housing deficits facing the state.
“The developers are expected to construct about 4,000 units of different types of houses, which will be constructed in phases on about 326 hectares of land in which around 600 units in phase 1, were in different stages of development,” he said.
Nasale then enjoined the people of the community to be security conscious and be wary of new and strange faces in their domain because of current security challenges facing the nation.
He urged the residents of the area to be on the alert and report unusual activities in their localities to the appropriate authorities and commended the private developers; Brains and Hammers Ltd for the quality and speed of the job being done.
Leaders of the community and beneficiary farmers who spoke during the programme commended the efforts of the state government in ensuring that compensation was paid through a transparent procedure, acknowledging that the lands were not forcefully taken from them but was given out voluntarily by the owners.
District Head of Zuma who stood in for Emir of Zazzau Suleja, Mallam Awwal Ibrahim, Alhaji Musa Abubakar Sadauki, expressed appreciation to the government for fulfilling its promise to the people and assured him of their continuous support towards development of the state.
The payment exercise was witnessed by the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Land and Housing, Dr Abdul Hussaini, local government officials and traditional leaders.