The startling revelation by the Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Shippers Council, Mr. Hassan Bello, that Kano State has been unable to do anything tangible about developing its dry port at Zawaciki came to many observers as a very rude shock, given the enviable status of Kano which prides itself as the commercial nerve center of northern Nigeria.
Fielding questions from reporters about effort being made by the federal government to decongest the port of Lagos, Mr. Bello disclosed that Jos and Funtua Dry Ports will be ready for business operations between December and January, 2020. Certainly, this news represented something positive especially at a time when all hands must be on deck to improve the economy of northern Nigeria in particular and address the current pathetic and endemic poverty that has been ravaging the country.
Many states in the north are doing whatever in their capacity to catch up with Kano or even surpass it in terms of ease of doing business and economic competitiveness. For that reason, observers are finding it difficult coming to terms with reasons why Kano economic stakeholders have failed to invest in initiatives that would maintain the current competitive economic advantage of Kano state in the emerging globalized economy.
Nigeria is Africa’s biggest economy, yet the fruits of its economic growth are not shared equally. Poverty and destitution are stubbornly high: around 10 million children are out of school, a quarter of citizens lack access to safe drinking water, and half are living below the $1.90 poverty line. It is estimated that $24bn would be needed to end poverty in the country, which is less than the combined wealth of the richest five Nigerians. The combined wealth of the five richest Nigerians ($29.9bn) is more than the country’s entire 2017 budget and is more than enough to end poverty in Nigeria, according to the aid and rights equality group, OXFAM.
It is an open secret that pervasive poverty can be described as northern Nigeria’s signature trademark. No geo-political region of Nigeria comes any closer in terms of excruciating poverty, economic stagnation, squalor, want and degraded life challenges like northern Nigeria. Besides, there is strong link between high level insecurity in the country and poverty, and as such, whatever can be done to ameliorate the suffering and improve the economy of the people is a welcome development.
Today, Kano lies prostrate and without dignity; it has been like this for a long time now. Enveloped by an incubus of snarling befuddlement as it is dragged towards a benighted terminus, the State has become a metaphor for how to exist (without really living) in a federation of supposedly equal partners. It twists and turns piteously in subdued pain and neglect. There is an unvoiced gnashing of teeth and a bitter forbearance. Denuded, ridiculed, swindled and roundly scandalized on all fronts by an elaborate pretense at a political leadership and self-serving elites that have been to its detriment for far too long, Kano is at best a metaphor for nominal and fraudulent citizenship. Its gifted, energetic and bold youths are forced to scavenge around the fringes of morality and legality.
In this context, the Emir of Kano, Lamido Sanusi, Kano elders, and business tycoons like Alhadji Dantata, Alhadji Aliko Dangote and Alhadji Bua, in conjunction with the state government via the Kano Chamber of Commerce, Trade and Industries have a date with history. Aliko Dangote, GCON is Africa’s richest man with an estimated net worth of US$ 14.1 billion, according to Forbes magazine. It is rather surprising that Aliko Dangote, renowned globally for his philanthropic eccentricities has been blindsided by the fact that there is really nothing happening in his home state to warrant serious national human, economic or political traffic in that direction. To whom much has been given; much is expected.
Now is the time for Dangote, Dantata and other illustrious son of Kano to stand up and be counted. They have the necessary resources to develop the Kano dry port and they can do so under a Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) arrangement. In other words, the port can be developed by whoever is willing, able and available to put down his money for it. Yes, the builder will fund the project and then later recover the money by operating the port. It is those using the contiguous inland port facility that would eventually pay for the cost of building it; and it will not be handed over to the Kano state government, until the number of years stipulated as adequate for the builder to recover his cost, along with the accruing profit.
Investment in the Kano Dry Port from the look of things is a worthwhile venture. Huge return on investment is assured. And the state is hugely blessed with enterprising marketers who import and export goods and services which hold greater promise to transform the dry port into a more viable one. Added to that, 70% of all north-bound imports are from Kano. Besides, it has closer proximity to the border which can also be another advantage for exports. So taking all these and many more advantages into consideration, investors have no cause to fear or hesitate investing their money as the Kano dry port has many comparative advantages over the rest.
It is equally worrisome and many are finding it difficult to understand why Kano State government has so far refused to do the needful and tap into this economic gold-mine which is one way of moving the economy away from oil as disclosed by the Executive Secretary of the NSC. This is quite unfortunate.
The lack of group cohesion among the Kano people themselves, the curse of poor strategic group leadership, the political incompetence of past and present Kano leaders and an emergent attitude of presumptive preeminence by most Kano elites and public office holders of today, have taken their toll. That is why Kano and the people now bleed from all pores. Yes, Kano is bleeding and it is a shame that its illustrious sons like Dangote, Dantata and Bua are hiding their heads in the sand.
Worse even, Kano Governors from Rabiu Kwankwaso to Abdullahi Umar Ganduje have demonstrated an embarrassing proclivity to revel in the ceremonial aspects of their job; rather than actually doing the job for which they were elected. But the misfortunes of Kano are much more than its do-nothing governors and elite. Many of them are self-inflicted. But, over and above all these; stand in bold embarrassment, the sustained diminution of a State of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, through deliberate indifference and the political illiteracy of its own ruling elite.
Kano political and business leaders face a clear choice. They can stay on the path of increasingly extreme inequality, where poverty continues to rise while wealth in the hands of a tiny elite spirals. Or they can choose another way: towards a more prosperous and equal Kano State that invests in and respects the dignity of all its people. Generations yet unborn will surely judge people like Dangote, Dantata and Bua accordingly if they allow this economic opportunity to slip away.