The Emir of Kano, Malam Muhammadu Sanusi ll has said that
for Kano to regain its lost glory as centre of commerce, attention must be paid
to education, agriculture and industrialization.
Speaking at the 2-day conference in commemoration of Kano’s
Golden Jubilee, the emir said “China has doctors, engineers and economists who
cannot utter a word in English language, there is no reason Kano cannot support
Qur’anic and Arabic students to become engineers, economists and doctors. This
can rapidly increase the number of educated people in the state.”
On agriculture, the emir urged government to ensure constant
training and retraining of farmers with a view to equipping them with modern
farming techniques.
He also called on government to ensure adequate supply of
high yield seeds and discourage any policy that paves ways for taking away
farmlands from the real farmers.
Turning to industrialization, Sanusi lamented that in the
1851, Kano was exporting 10 million pairs of shoes to various African
countries, but today Nigeria was importing three million pairs of shoes from
China.
He regretted that Kano State had seen the impact of some
federal government’s policies on industrialization which led to the closure of
thousands of industries in Bompai, Challawa and Sharada industrial estates in
the state metropolis.
Earlier, the state Governor, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje,
while declaring the conference open, said Kano State had given itself an
identity in culture, economy and politics.
By Yusha’u A. Ibrahim
