dpkg-dev software package provides Debian package development tools, you can install in your Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus) by running the commands given below on the terminal,
$ sudo apt-get update $ sudo apt-get install dpkg-dev
dpkg-dev is installed in your system.
Make ensure the dpkg-dev package were installed using the commands given below,
$ sudo dpkg-query -l | grep dpkg-dev *
You will get with dpkg-dev package name, version, architecture and description in a table
| Distro | Ubuntu 16 04 lts xenial xerus |
| Section | Utilities |
| Package | dpkg-dev |
| Version | 1.18.4ubuntu1 |
| Description | Debian package development tools |
| Sub Section | Utils |