Kaduna Govt To Build Dam In Terrorists-occupied Birnin Gwari Forest

Kaduna State government plans to build a dam on the 800,000-hectare forest between Buruku and Birnin-Gwari towns, which remains the haven for terrorists, bandits and other criminal elements.

The director-general of Kaduna State Urban Planning and Development Agency (KASUPDA), Ismail Umaru Dikko, disclosed this at the 7th edition of the annual Kaduna Investment Summit (KADInvest 7.0), Business Expo yesterday.

He said the dam project would not only address the security challenges in the state, but bring a permanent end to flooding in Kaduna metropolis.

The KASUPDA DG who addressed potential investors during the business expo, said the planned dam would be used for irrigation farming during the dry season.

He said, “From Buruku to Birnin-Gwari, where we have been experiencing armed robbery 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. At present, Kaduna is just like a drainage for the water, which is coming from Bauchi, passing through here to Shiroro Dam. The water sometimes causes floods here. So, as a way of finding a lasting solution, we will build the dam, save the water, address the flood problem and harvest the water during the dry season for irrigation farming.

“This, we believe, will also create jobs, most of the youths rushing to study business administration and accounting in the universities can go into agriculture. We will encourage the youths into agriculture and that is why we brought the OCP fertiliser to partner the government in this direction. We also brought NEXIM Bank to see how we can export the produce from here in a big way,” Dikko said.

LEADERSHIP learnt that over 2,000 investors and participants are attending the summit.

Most of the investors and participants who registered for KADINVEST are expected to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the state government to invest in agriculture, technology, solid minerals, infrastructure among other sectors.

One of the officials of KADINVEST who identified himself as Usman said more investors would attend the summit.

He said, “Over 1,000 did their pre-event registration and others are doing their registration today (yesterday). Hopefully more than 2,000 investors and participants will attend this year’s edition of KADINVEST”

The three-day Kaduna Economic and Investment summit will end tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the state government yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding for the development of a film village in the state to boost and modernise local film production.