By GARBA MUHAMMAD, Kaduna

Kaduna State Government says it was planning to convert the terrorists-occupied Birnin Gwari forest to a water dam.

Director-General of Kaduna State Urban Planning and Development Agency (KASUPDA), Ismail Umaru-Dikko, disclosed this at the opening of Kaduna Investment Summit on Thursday in Kaduna.

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.

While addressing potential investors during the Business Expo, Umar-Dikko also said the planned dam would also be utilized for agriculture, as the state would be tapping into it for irrigation farming during the dry season.

“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 very massive land that has never been utilized 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. Presently, Kaduna is just like a drainage for the water, which is coming from Bauchi, passing through here to Shiroro Dam.

“The water sometimes causes flood 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 to go into agriculture and that is why we brought the OCP fertilizer 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,” he said.

Meanwhile, on the proposed Film Village, the Administrator of Kaduna Capital Territory Authority, Hafiz Bayero, said the partnership was not going to build new structures, but leverage on the old Trade Fair Complex structures, which were currently under-utilized, to refocus them.

“We are looking to have a space in the trade fair complex, where people can come to do 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 that trains people on the use of advanced technology that is involved in modern day film making and Kaduna has the best landscape,” he added.