The Kano State government on Thursday said it would set up additional trade corridors to ease business activities in the state.
The state Commissioner for Commerce, Alhaji Rabiu Bako, said this at the opening of a one-day workshop on ECOWAS Trade Liberation Scheme (ETLS) in Kano.
Bako said that the state government was currently studying the issue of setting up of more trade corridors to minimise difficulty and boost economic activities across the state.
He said that the corridors would stretch through Kano, Katsina, Niger, Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso and the Gambia to attract local and foreign investments and create jobs.
The commissioner also said that the corridor would help in stopping movement of illegal goods, hard drugs, arms and ammunition.
“We are going to set up the corridor because of the historical status of Kano as described by the World Bank group as the fastest growing city in Africa,” he said.
Earlier, the Director ECOWAS Division in Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Alhaji Deji Muhammad, said the ETLS was established to secure greater regional market access and promote industrialisation through export-led growth.
He, however, lamented the consequences of smuggling of goods made within the West African sub-region as parts of the obstacles to the scheme.
Muhammad said the ministry had embarked on a sensitisation workshop to liberalise the trade scheme.
Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje said that the state was participating in two corridors; namely Kano, Katsina and Maradi corridor, and the Kano, Jigawa, Daura and Zinder corridor under the supervision of Nigeria and Niger Joint Commission for corporation.
Represented by his deputy, Prof. Hafiz Abubakar, the governor said that the corridors were created to facilitate trade expansion and to ensure the free movement of goods and services across the frontiers of Nigeria and Niger Republic.
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