Development and continuous infrastructural availability are what citizens expect in every city as it expands. In that light, Kano has continued to expand albeit with few challenges.
In a bid to transform Kano into a megacity with world class facilities, between 2012 and 2015, about 1,500 luxury houses were built in three new cities, namely, Kwankwasiyya, Amana and Bandirawo.
This is to address the challenges of housing, overcrowding and overstretched public infrastructure and related problems, making the state the most economically developed.
However, nearly 10 years after, the three new cities have become ghost towns, with the beautiful houses losing their charm, elegance and aura as owners seem not keen to move into them.
Kwankwasiyya City was commissioned on January 28, 2015 by a former defence minister, TY Danjuma in an elaborate ceremony after over N30 billion was sunk into the project.
The then governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, alluding to the N4.1 billion pension money used in funding the project, said at the event: “Government resources were solely used to build these houses. We have sold some while others are being sold to Kano citizens and other Nigerians.”
Kwankwaso said all the houses would be sold by May 2015.
Kano residents were elated when the luxury houses were delivered, looking forward to a vibrant new life in the new cities devoid of the chaos and noise that characterised living in some parts of the state.
The cities, apart from the luxury duplexes and bungalows, were designed to have hospitals, schools, commercial plots, hotels, mosques, parks and gardens.
There were hues and cries over the prices of the houses, which at the time ranged from N11 million for a bungalow to N35 million for a 5-bedroom duplex, as many, especially civil servants, could not afford. It is believed that the current market value of the houses may have doubled.
Apart from residents, Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf, who was the commissioner for work when the idea of the mega cities was mooted by the Kwankwaso administration in 2011, was also disappointed when he visited to discover that the rate of physical occupation by owners was still very low.
Those who were entrusted to look after the houses by their owners had leased them to people at a paltry sum of N20, 500, depending on the person interested.
Weekend Trust learnt that most owners had leased their houses to personnel of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, who have their headquarters within Kano city.
Though the Kano Independent Power Plant at Tiga Dam, operated by Kano Hydroelectric Development, (KHEDCO), supplies electricity to Kwankwasiyya and Amana cities, most of the houses are yet to be connected. This probably explains the cheap but temporary rent being enjoyed by tenants there.
Our correspondent gathered that security is the biggest factor responsible for near zero occupation of the houses by the real owners or genuine tenants. Water supply is another challenge as the area is a bit far from Kano metropolis.
To encourage people to move into the houses, a new governor’s lodge, which is nearing completion, was cited in the area, with the belief that security would receive a major boost.
Also, no activity is taking place at the Amana leadership centre, a completed multipurpose edifice located within the city.
The Kwankwasiyya City, renamed Khalifa Isyaka Rabiu Housing Estate by the Ganduje administration, usually comes alive on Fridays as a result of the mosque built there, which attracts worshippers.
Amana City, also renamed Sheikh Nasiru Kabara Housing Estate, is the second megacity facing a similar challenge. It, however, enjoys physical occupation of some federal and state agencies that benefitted from the allocation of the houses with free rent by the state government to make the city lively.
The occupants – National Insurance Commission; Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON); Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority; Industrial Arbitration Panel; National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA); National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA); National Agency for the Control of Aids (NACA) —have their North-West zonal offices in the city. Also, the Nigeria Immigration Service runs a passport office there, just as the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN), Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Kano and Jigawa. The Triumph and KANInvest also have offices in the city.
Aside from them, Amana city remains partly deserted.
324 houses belong to pensioners – NUP
It is said that N4.1 billion from the state pension fund was partly used to fund the megacity project; and the state chapter of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) is indifferent to the physical occupation of the cities.
The NUP chairman, Comrade Salisu Ahmad Gwale and his deputy, Comrade Shuaibu Musa Jibrin, told our correspondent that the union had requested the state government to direct the pension board to sell the 324 houses in lieu of the N4.1 billion investment in the project to offset outstanding pension liabilities.
The union leaders said the new government had convened a meeting with the pension board, inviting the union, where it showed interest to pay with interest for the houses owned by pensioners to enable it re-allocate them to new buyers willing to pay and move in.
“A memo has been raised to this effect; we are waiting for government’s final decision. That is the stage we are at this moment,” the union chairman told our correspondent.
Allottees to pay outstanding balance in 2months – MD, Kano Housing Corporation
The managing director of the Kano State Housing Corporation, Alhaji Abdullahi Rabiu, said that virtually all the houses in the megacities had been sold, and some allottees who had not completed payment would be given two months to make payment or the houses would be reallocated and their money returned to them.
He said efforts were being made to provide basic infrastructure and adequate security so that people would be encouraged to occupy the houses and make the cities lively.
The managing director said that in the next few weeks, the new governor’s lodge would be hosting guests and Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf would be conducting official functions to encourage property owners to move in.
“Occupation rate at Kwankwassiyya City is about 90 per cent now. Some of the houses at Bandirawo have not been sold. But we are working to improve physical occupation of the houses in the cities and provide security. We engaged some vigilant groups and KAROTA operatives to patrol the cities, in addition to civil operatives that were deployed,’’ he said.
He revealed that sooner or later, other cities would be fully occupied as Kwankwasiyya, and gradually link with Kumbotso, while Amana City connects with Dawakin Kudu.
Ahmad Sanusi, who was seen in one of the houses in Kwankwasiyya City, said he only went there to sleep at night.
He said that sometimes he slept at Darmanawa Quarters if he did not have enough money because the place is a bit far from his workplace. He said the idea of allowing people to stay was to guard against criminals who may want to take advantage of the lack of adequate security to steal valuables.
Huda Abdullahi, a real estate agent at ASYD Properties, said distance was discouraging people from renting houses in the two cities, but added that in no distant future, houses in the cities would be too expensive for would-be buyers or tenants.
He said, “Most people living in Kwankwasiyya or Amana were given accommodation at give-away prices until the owners are ready to make use of them. Because of distance, especially for Amana City, people do not usually want to go there. The houses could have been like hotcakes if not for the distance and maybe security risk.’’
Some civil servants in the state like Abdullahi Sarina and Maiwada Abubakar believe the luxury houses in the mega cities are beyond the reach of low income earners, saying a two-bed bungalow go for at least N15 million, which is more than the salary of middle level civil servants for three years.
“Those houses were not built for civil servants like me. Where on earth can I raise money to buy a house at N15 million,” Sarina who works in the state judiciary said.