PUNCH
A Kaduna State resident, Rukayat Azeez-Ayodeji, who hails from Osun State, tells GODFREY GEORGE how the state government marked residential buildings, which she and her husband built for N17m in 2018 in the Kurmin Mashi area of the state, for demolition to pave the way for road construction and offered a compensation of N5.9m
Where are you from?
I am from Osun State. My husband is from Kwara State. We moved to Kaduna almost 18 years ago. We met in Kaduna and got married. We have four children. I am 41 years old. My husband is 47 years old. I work in the private sector. My husband is a builder and a quantity surveyor.
You claimed that the Kaduna State Government was planning to demolish your property without giving you commensurate compensation for it. Can you shed more light on what you meant?
We acquired a plot of land in 2015 for N1.6m opposite the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna. It is along Poultry Road, behind the MS filling station, Kurmin Mashi, Kaduna. We built a three-bedroom flat for our use and another set of two-room self-contained apartments for rent. The place was ready in 2018 and that was the year we moved in. Two years after we moved in, I came back from work and my neighbours came to inform me that some government officials came to mark my house for demolition. The officials kept on coming for two years. When they came in their vans, they moved to the front and back and wrote something; they took pictures and left.
What purpose is the demolition supposed to serve?
They didn’t tell us, but when we inquired, we found out that the government was planning to construct a road around that area. My entire three-bedroom flat and two self-contained flats were affected. We learnt the government had chosen a different spot, which it said would cost more money. So, they decided to move to the other side of the road, where residential buildings, including ours, were situated. They just kept marking, leaving and going back to remark. They came for the final marking a few months ago.
Do you have documents to prove the land belongs to you?
Of course, we do. We have our certificate of occupancy and all other documents required to prove the land was legally acquired for our use. What we thought was that they would call us and compensate us the way they ought to. I was shocked when they called me last week to come to their office. When we got there, what we saw was not what we expected. What we were offered as compensation is nothing to write home about. They gave us N5.9m. My husband is a quantity surveyor. So, what he spent from the first day to the last, as of 2018 when cement was sold in Kaduna for N1,600, was over N17m to build that house. This does not include the two-room self-contained apartment that we later built for rent. In that area, land is being sold for N5m per plot now. I want to know what type of valuation was done that would have made them offer us N5.9m in 2022 for a house we spent over N17m to build in 2018.
Nobody is talking to us. Even in the office when we were angry and shouting, they just told us that it was not their fault. Are we to pay when the government is constructing a road or any other infrastructure that encroaches on our property? Is it the poor me that will pay for such? It is not like there is a master plan, which states that houses should not be built there in the first place. I don’t really know what they want us to do. I am just confused; I cannot even think straight since I visited their office.
Did you get the necessary approval from the government to build on the land after you acquired it?
Of course, we did. Everything is here to prove that we did. They gave us documents and everything. The land is in Kaduna metropolis. The land now in that area is more than N5m per plot. How do they want me to survive?
Was there any letter given to you or any other occupant of the apartments?
None at all. They just marked the houses and left. We asked them, but they didn’t even respond to us at all. Whenever they came around, we tried to engage them in conversations, but they never responded. They won’t talk. They will not say anything, maybe, not to implicate themselves, but I don’t know why they will not talk to us.
How many houses will be affected by the planned demolition?
For the one that will clear everything, there are up to seven houses. But, for others, which can be partial, it will be more than that.
