Aduragbemi Omiyale
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, has appealed to the Kano State government to provide an enabling structure for the protection of infrastructural projects of the federal government in the state.
Mr Amaechi made this appeal last week when he visited the Governor of Kano State, Mr Abdullahi Ganduje, alongside executives of the Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) and the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC).
He said it would be painful for the government to source funds from different areas to put these projects in place only for them to be vandalized as it is being experienced in some parts of the country when where rail tracks are stolen.
The Minister said in July 2021, the work will commence linking the Kano-Kaduna route by rail, a month after the Lagos-Ibadan rail project would have been commissioned for the movement of cargoes.
Mr Amaechi, who visited the state to commission the NSC’s North-West Zonal Office and as well take an assessment of the ongoing Dala Inland Dry Port, said that because of the economic viability of the state, the opening of the zonal office and the Inland Dry Port when completed would boost business activities of the state, adding that it will also encourage import and export even though there are no rivers in the state, avenues are in motion on how maritime activities will also be brought there.
“We are here because we want to see how far you have gone with the Dala Inland Dry Port because between now and July, we would start work on the Kano-Kaduna part of the rail and when we’ve linked the Kano rail to Kaduna and linked Ibadan to Abuja, then we have addressed the problem of movement of cargoes,” he said.
“We have to learn how to manage cargoes that come to Kano, as you know, we are also linking Kano-Maradi, so Kano will be the hub for the railway sector with a major station in Kano, it will be able to control the volume of human traffic in Kano,” Mr Amaechi said.
In his remarks, Mr \Ganduje expressed delight over siting of the Zonal Office of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council in the State as the state was the economic hub of the north and siting of these here will further of engendering commercial activities in the State.
He said that based on the population of the State, the volume of import and export was very high noting that Kano has the highest vote during elections and the highest seat at the National Assembly, hence he would put on a structure on ground to ensure that the Dala Inland Dry Port is completed and put to use.
Ganduje assured that with the Aminu Kano International airport and the trans-border businesses between Kano and other neighbouring countries, the Dry Port, the proposed Kano-Maradi and Kano-Kaduna Rail line if realised will further boost the economic nerve of the State.
