Kaduna State govt plans to turn forest harbouring terrorists to dam

Disturbed by the menace of terrorists, the Kaduna State Government said it had concluded arrangement to build a dam on the 800,000 hectares forest between Buruku and Birnin-Gwari, which has in the past two decades, remained haven of terrorists, bandits and other criminal elements.

Director-General of Kaduna State Urban Planning and Development Agency (KASUPDA), Ismail Umaru-Dikko, who disclosed this at a business expo marking the commencement of the seventh edition of the yearly Kaduna Investment Summit (KADInvest 7.0), said the dam project would not only address the security challenges in the state, but also permanently end flooding in Kaduna metropolis.

This was as the Kaduna Capital Territory Administration signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Kaduna Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (KADCCIMA) to establish a film village within the Kaduna International Trade Fair.

The KASUPDA DG, while addressing potential investors during the summit, also said that the planned dam would be utilised for agriculture, as the state would be tapping into it for irrigation farming during the dry season.

He said: “From Buruku to Birnin-Gwari, we have been experiencing armed robberies from time immemorial. It moved to cattle rustling and now kidnapping and banditry. So, we feel something must happen there. We have a very massive land that has never been utilised there and that is why we cannot just fold our arms and allow criminals to continue to take advantage of the blessed land.

“So, we came up with the master plan and discovered that, from Buruku to Birnin-Gwari, we have close to 800,000 hectares of land, which is about two states in another part of the country. We are creating a dam there.”

Meanwhile, the Administrator of Kaduna Capital Territory Authority, Hafiz Bayero, while speaking on the proposed film village, said the partnership would not build new structures, but leverage the old trade fair complex structures, which are currently under-utilised to refocus them.

“We are looking to have a space in the trade fair complex, where people can come to film movies and do their pre and post production and also move the movie to the international film market.

“What we need to do in Kaduna is to have a steady supply of technical hands in all aspects of film production. We will be setting up a film academy to train people on top of the advance technology that is involved in modern day film-making and Kaduna has the best landscape.

“We are going to build Kaduna City History Centre, because Kaduna City has a very rich history,” he said.