On dwindling commercial activities in Kano
It is no longer a secret, the setback being suffered by commerce, trade and industrialization in the Northwest in general and Kano, Katsina and Kaduna, in particular, in many decades. The development is not only causing unprecedented hopelessness in hundreds of thousands of unengaged youths, but collapse of thousands of small and medium scale businesses, […]
It is no longer a secret, the setback being suffered by commerce, trade and industrialization in the Northwest in general and Kano, Katsina and Kaduna, in particular, in many decades.
The development is not only causing unprecedented hopelessness in hundreds of thousands of unengaged youths, but collapse of thousands of small and medium scale businesses, and hundreds of large scale players in the three sub-sectors of the economy referred above.
Attributable to fall in volume of sales due to lack of money in the hands of cross-section of the public, multiple and extortionate taxations, mortgaging the region’s industries to Southerners who buy them up and deliberately render them no longer functional, and alleged persecutive and fault finding tendencies of the Customs, Police, EFCC and the Immigration, who practically make the major players no longer active, resourceful and expanding their frontiers and opening new ones, which should have created opportunities for our women and youths to engage in profitable businesses, that way saving them from temptations, to join their criminal peers. Consequently, the region is today worse off, at a time the South is resurging and even breaking grounds in the three sub-sectors, leading to exponential employment opportunities, greater peace and harmony, and above all improved and sustainable welfare and security.
With the Customs Service fastidiously and ridiculously breathing down the neck of importers, calling legitimately imported goods contraband, just as an excuse to extort both money and some of the items, often resulting in rendering the business men and women bankrupt or out of business, and by extension and implication, affecting adversely many souls hitherto earning a living under them.
The Immigration Service is not any better in its own way, militating against smooth running of the three sub-sectors.
The worst is EFCC, which has gone indiscriminately wild, in freezing bank accounts of major players in the private sector, as employers of hundreds of thousands of Nigerians, on grounds of huge funds found in their active accounts, whose history of transactions is supposed to speak for itself. This is in total disregard of the far-reaching implication of frustrating smooth business motions not only domestically but in relating with their foreign partners. More worrisome is the fact that, the EFCC is looking the other way, where many politicians loyal to the ruling political party are living ostentatiously.
How could we reconcile the two?
EFCC should realize that businesses are all about transactions involving small and awesome volumes of funds, which could lead to unimaginable profits or losses. A business man or woman could make profits to the tune of up to one billion naira in one day, just as that person could suffer loss of as much.
The general public opinion about these authorities’ attitudes towards the economy in the North is that, they are perfunctory, corrupt, superficial and totally bereft of sense of patriotism and deep understanding of the implication of taking any measure capable of causing setback for the economy, such the stubborn spate of criminal activities, poverty, diseases and general insecurity.
We plead with President Muhammadu Buhari, to develop the habit of going extra mile to boost the northern economy, by making it truly competitive with the South.
There is no better way to boost Security and Welfare of our people, as well as douse the tension already taking the dimension of discontentment, which may lead to insurrection.
Aminu Saad [email protected]