From Maduabuchi Nmeribeh, Kano
Kano state Governor, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje has hailed President Muhammadu Buhari for making the Kano Dry Port project a reality 50 years after establishment and abandoned by successive administrations.
According to him, “Kano has been dreaming for the Dry Port for the past 50 years. And it has become a reality during the administration of our President Muhammadu Buhari.”
He praised the Minister of Transport, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi for facilitating the project.
The Governor thanked President Buhari for the, “good and kind gesture for making our state, Kano, the real commercial nerve centre for the North and some West African countries.”
He said the state government has constructed 3 to 4 kilometres of road down to the Dry Port, putting in place a perimeter fencing as well as providing constant water and electricity supply to the Port.
He said in appreciation of what the Federal Government has done, “the Kano state government reciprocated by diligently carrying out its assigned responsibilities towards the actualisation of the Inland Dry Port, by constructing access road to the Dry Port and other basic infrastructure, as required by the federal government Guidelines on Inland Dry Ports Development.”
On the Shippers Council Zonal office, the Governor commended that, “The initiative of the Council in citing its North West Zonal Office in Kano couldn’t have been more well thought out, considering your corporate statutory mandate as the Port economic regulator…the status of Kano as the Northern Regional Commercial Hub with the largest concentration of importers and exporters in the region.”
However, Amaechi revealed that, the establishment of Dala Inland Dry Port, in Kano, was an effort of the federal government that was aimed at bringing shipping and related services to the doorstep of consumers, particularly those located in the hinterland.
He made the revelation during the commissioning of the North-West Zonal Directorate Office Complex of the Nigerian Shippers Council, in Kano, adding that, “I therefore implore the good people of Kano and its environs to put to optimal and beneficial use, the Dala Inland Dry Port, when fully completed.”
Describing the state as a commercial nerve centre, the Minister said, “Kano has been well known as the centre of commerce since the advent of Trans-Saharan trade that spanned the desert of North Africa down to the West African coastal region.
“The location of Kano as an industrial hub makes the city, the commercial centre linking most parts of Northern Nigeria by air and land. The vast agricultural dams in the state support the growth of agricultural crops for both domestic and international markets.”
Assuring further that, the vision of the Federal Government was to re-engineer the state economy by providing modern technology driven critical transport infrastructure that would strengthen the nation’s logistic value chain and also support the development of the non- oil sector.”
The Minister earlier paid a courtesy call to the Governor and the Emir of Kano, Aminu Ado Bayero.
Afterwards, he proceeded with his entourage and the Governor to the site of the Dry Port located at Zawachiki, a few kilometres away from the city, for inspection to see for himself the level of progress so far made.
