Nigerian Institute of Town Planners (NITP) has appealed to the Kano State government to exercise restraint in the ongoing demolition of “illegal” structures in the state.

The institute stressed the need for Governor Abba Yusuf to give a human face to the exercise. Addressing journalists in Abuja, yesterday, the institute’s President, Nathaniel Atebije, maintained that there is no short cut to sustainable development outside physical planning.

Recall that the state government recently directed immediate demolition of all properties encroaching on public schools, marketplaces, mosque premises, graveyards and other public places sold to individuals by former Governor Abdullahi Ganduje.

Atebije said that no matter how lofty the state government’s efforts at bringing sanity to the city may be, it was important that such actions are carried out after detailed studies.

He stated: “There was a time when we planned for people; now we plan and execute the plan with the people, more so, because we are practising democracy. As at the last count, it was revealed that properties worth N126 billion have been destroyed in an ailing national economy. We call on the state government to exercise some restraint in carrying out the demolition exercise.”

MEANWHILE, Ganduje has dismissed the current administration’s claims on monies spent on foreign scholarship, insisting it incurred over N20 billion on indigent students.

Ganduje noted that 111, 687 indigent students benefited from his government’s overseas postgraduate scholarship in 14 countries, five private universities, the Nigerian Law School and other Nigerian universities from June 2015 to March 2023.

The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) government had accused Ganduje’s administration of fraud in the entire foreign scholarship scheme, claiming that it left huge debt through the initiative.

But denying the allegation in a statement by Ganduje’s former Commissioner for Information and Internal Affairs, Malam Muhammad Garba, yesterday, the ex-governor cautioned the current state government against making false claims. Ganduje noted that the amount quoted covered tuition, upkeep, accommodation and air ticket, among others.

The former governor noted that it also sponsored 50 lecturers from the state’s two universities and other tertiary institutions for their doctorate degrees in some prestigious universities in France under a programme jointly sponsored by France and Kano State government.

The commissioner pointed out that over N600 million was spent on the joint postgraduate scholarship scheme. He said it was, therefore, unfortunate that the current government in the state was laying claims to success of the scholarship programmes, and how the Ganduje administration left a debt burden of about $28 million and over N6 billion, which, according to it, more than 80 per cent of it had been settled.