By Ibrahim Abubakar
In the late 1890s, my great-grandfather narrowly escaped the evil claws of the Mahdi’s hostile and belligerent lieutenant, Rabeh Bn Fadlallah, who had invaded Borno to spread the Mahdist ideology. They sacked the empire’s capital of Kukawa, captured and executed Sheikh of Borno, and enslaved many people. This martial excess sent trembles across the land, and many thought it wise to migrate westward into the Sokoto Caliphate for safety. Among those who migrated to the Caliphate was my great-grandfather, Mamadou. Of its two dozen emirates, Mamadou chose Kano as his refuge.
Kano was the jewel of the Sahel, a centre of trade and commerce with walls 50 feet high and immensely thick, surrounded by a deep artificial gully making it an impenetrable fortress; a marvel to behold! It is this sense of security and opportunity, I believe, that made Kano a desirable place for my ancestors.
During colonial times, Kano increased in its majesty. The British administration modernised trade and industry, built hospitals, schools, and railways and improved the justice system by integrating and superbly implementing strategies that supported the rule of law and ameliorated the superficial old system. Kano’s commercial strategies were carefully designed to produce a positive net economic effect. For example, hide, skin, groundnut, animal feeds, meat and textile were exported to Britain. These export plans were supported by long-term government programmes that continued into post-independence Kano.
According to a World Bank report, Kano State’s mainstay is agriculture. It employs about 60% to 70% of the population producing rice, maize, millet, groundnut, beans, etc. Livestock production is another source of income for the farmers. The industrial output is from oil mills, textiles, tanneries, flour mills, and several others.
As the centre of commerce, Kano handles about 75% of finished goods from Lagos, Ogun, and Oyo industries. These are distributed to all the northern states and the neighbouring states of Niger, Cameroon, Chad, etc. From Kano, the following are exported: semi-finished leather, cotton lint, gum, hibiscus, sesame seeds and other minor items. All of the above have immensely contributed to enhancing Kano’s GDP as one of the highest in the country.
Unfortunately, the contemporary situation is rather bleak. Most of the factories have closed or have reduced their production capacity. Kano had about 30 tanneries producing over 45 million goats and sheep skins for export. In addition, over 7 million cattle hides were processed as finished leather for making shoes and other leather goods. However, there are only a dozen tanneries in production today. As for cattle hides, 90% of it is consumed in southwestern Nigeria as Ponmo or Ganda. In addition, cattle hides are imported from neighbouring countries and Mali, CAR, Sudan, and Saudi Arabia. The last textile to close was Angel Spinning and Dyeing Limited.
It is not a hidden fact that education has crumbled in recent years. Many children in Kano are poorly educated (the lucky ones?) and without a solution in sight. Although I am aware that education has exacerbated globally, for example, my father, 48 years older than me, is better educated in most branches of general learning. Kano is in the top five states in the country with substantial numbers of out-of-school children.
Healthcare facilities across the state are in a deplorable state. For example, the last time I visited the A&E department of a general hospital in Kano, I was sickened by the gruesome sight of accident victims on the floor, literally bleeding to death. In addition, there is an enormous disparity in the doctor-to-patient ratio, albeit not the worse in the country. It is, however, in the top ten states lacking doctors, with a ratio of 1 doctor for every 14,123 persons. To put it into perspective, the UN standard doctor-to-patient ratio is 1:600.
Kano used to be safe. Growing up, very few isolated incidences of theft were heard of in the city. Today, people get robbed in broad daylight. Thieves with sharp knives of all shapes and sizes attack people on the streets to rob them of their phones and other belongings; those who refuse to comply are fatally stabbed without remorse. Rape cases are rising exponentially. This year alone, over 1,300 cases of rape were reported. It is sad to see Kano vitiated.
The Kano of my dreams is the Kano my great-grandfather fell in love with. A Kano where there is opportunity and hope for everyone regardless of gender, ethnicity, or religion. A Kano where I feel safe walking any street at any hour of the day or night. A Kano where women can feel comfortable around men without fearing harassment or misogyny. A Kano with subsidised agricultural products such as fertilisers and an established avenue for creating liaisons with agencies that will be responsible for borrowing funds from the banks of industry and agriculture for the benefit of farmers, and this will increase productivity as well as employment.
Similarly, the Kano of my dreams will create an investment agency to secure funds from the Bank of Industry for the closed tanneries/factories and companies at low capacity. This will enhance business activity and employment. Furthermore, the Kano of my dreams will utilise Tiga Dam power generation to supply electricity to the industrial areas of the state and set a good precedence for the future supply of power to the entire state, either through hydroelectricity, solar energy, or thermal power.
The Kano of my dreams is a Kano where children are given quality education regardless of the social and economic status of the family they come from. A Kano where children do not go around begging for food on the streets. The Kano of my dreams is a Kano where hospitals are abundant, and doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers have all the needed equipment to make their jobs easier. A Kano where the large, proposed sports complex at Kofar Na’isa is turned into a colossal state-of-the-art medical centre to cater for the entire country. A Kano where neighbours assist one another.
I dream of a Kano where the rich invest more in local small-scale industries to boost production and employment rather than holidaying abroad and boosting the economy of the colonial order neglecting their brothers and sisters at home languishing in abject poverty. Lastly, the Kano of my dreams will have excellent and selfless leaders that genuinely care about the advancement of the state and will put in their utmost to see to it becoming the gem that it was, if not better than it was in days of yore. In sha Allah!
Ibrahim Abubakar won the 2nd position in the 2022 “The Kano of my dream” writing competition jointly organised by Muhsin Ibrahim, PhD, and The Daily Reality online newspaper. He can be reached via ibrahimabubakhr@gmail.com.
