2017 NBA CONFERENCE
The Kano State Investment Showcase event, held as part of the 2017 NBA Conference in Lagos, was an eye-opener to those who were not familiar with the state’s profile and its enormous endowments. It was these endowments that the government under the leadership of His Excellency, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje had come to advertize, along with the generous incentives it was offering prospective investors and tourists in the state.
The event, chaired by Nigeria’s former minister of national planning, Dr. Shamsudeen Usman, featured presentations and slides highlighting the state’s unique selling points – notably its vast arable landmass; its agricultural and industrial potential; its well-earned reputation as a historic commercial hub, not just for northern Nigeria, but also for the west and central African regions and the Sahel; as well as its teeming population and skilled workforce.
The speakers also highlighted the government’s investor-friendly interventions in key sectors of the economy, designed to make the “Centre of Commerce’ (as Kano is often referred to) give Lagos, the ‘Centre of Excellence’ a run for its money. The innovative Kano International City project was held up by the various speakers as a key plank in reviving the commercial and creative dynamic of a state that once boasted the groundnut pyramids and the hides-and-skins and the textile industries of the past – thanks to the prolific output of its farmers and other stakeholders up and down the value chain.
One of the highlights of the showcase event was the speech by the Emir of Kano and the former governor of Nigeria’s central bank, Mohammed Sanusi II, who cited many examples from the phenomenal rise of China from a poor, agrarian backwater about four decades ago to the global economic juggernaut it is today – and the lessons Nigeria must learn from that country’s experience if it is to be competitive in today’s marketplace of goods, services, information and ideas. He enumerated the actions that country undertook, especially in the wake of the reforms initiated by the late Chairman Deng Xiao Ping in the 1970s and ‘80s to free up private enterprise within the framework of state control – reforms which continue till date, with the recent efforts to revive the historic Silk Road, among other innovations. Emir Sanusi urged prospective investors, both local and foreign, to take advantage of Kano’s attractions as a centre, not just of commerce, but also of history, education, traditional industry and culture.
The session came to an end after a brief but lively interactive session which bordered on issues like security and access to formal education, especially for the girl-child, among others.
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