The Dean of Dangote Business School, Bayero University Kano, Prof. Murtala Sagagi, says there are currently over four million jobless people in Kano due to poor development agenda of successive governments.
The Dean disclosed this in a paper he presented at a forum organised by Kano Concerned Citizens Innitiative (KCCI) on Saturday in Kano.
“The inability of politicians, communities, academicians and other relevant stakeholders to collaborate in comprehensive strategies for economic development and prosperity of the state has made the state to remain backward.
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“Over 500 industries are currently shut down in Kano due to lack of consensus for development and effective implementation of government agendas and policies,’’ Sagagi noted.
He said that in spite of the efforts of government to revamp the agricultural sector, more needs to be done to revitalise it especially through comprehensive transformation of farming methods.
According to him, the state has done nothing yet to set the agricultural sector in the right direction.
In his speech, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, advised the Federal Government to review its policies on agriculture and industries to provide enabling environment for job creation.
According to Dangote, the Federal Government should also intensify efforts on power generation, lamenting that most industries collapsed largely due to inadequate power supply.
Dangote noted that although government alone cannot meet the jobs needs of all citizens, it was necessary for it to create enabling environment for people to engage in self-employment.
Earlier, Chairman of KCCI, Alhaji Bashir Uthman-Tofa lamented that Kano state currently remains backward and called on all stakeholders to put heads together to rescue the state from current slide.
He noted that not only has Kano lost its status of being the commercial centre of the North, its industrial hubs have remained shut.
Uthman-Tofa, therefore, called on key stakeholders to wake up and salvage the state from its present predicament of collapsed economy, unemployment and lack of investment.
In his remarks, the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammad Sanusi II, frowned at the current condition of the city wall which have been encroached into with corner shops being constructed.
The Emir urged Dangote and Uthman-Tofa to urgently find a way of rebuilding the city walls because of their historical significance.
Sanusi also spoke on the high rate of drug abuse in the North and its attendant consequences on peace and stability of the region.
He said rampant drugs addiction was a result of mass poverty, broken homes, high divorce rates among others.
He also explained that the Kano Emirate Council had set up a committee which came out with suggestions on how to tackle the issues of divorce and abandonment of women by their husbands.
“The Emirate Council is working to present a bill to the state government for the state assembly to enact a law that will enforce the responsibilities of the husbands on their wives and children,’’ Sanusi said.
![Rev. Fr. Anthony Odiong, a US-based Nigerian Louisiana Catholic priest, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday for possessing child pornography, according to law authorities. The suspect is reportedly accused of many other cases of sexual assault. The Waco, Texas, Police Department announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday that officers detained Father Anthony Odiong in Ave Maria, Florida, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service. Waco police announced in March that they had received "credible information" about a sexual assault allegedly committed by Odiong in Texas in 2012. “During the subsequent investigation, a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered,” the police said. The priest was apprehended in Florida by the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force. The Waco Police Department said that he will be extradited to Texas. Odiong had previously served in the Archdiocese of New Orleans before being removed as priest in December of last year due to controversy over homilies in which he claimed, among other things, that the Catholic Church was being taken over by "the gays." At the time, the priest was also accused of abusive behaviour; a Louisiana lady claimed in U.S. bankruptcy court that Odiong had committed both financial and sexual abuse against her. Prior to joining the New Orleans Archdiocese, Odiong served in at least two Texas parishes. On Tuesday, Waco police stated that during their sexual assault investigation, "the presence of other survivors was revealed." “Multiple women have come forward to tell similar experiences as the sexual assault survivor who reported the initial allegation,” the police department said. “Survivors’ experiences ranged from sexual assault and indecent assault, more commonly recognised as groping, and financial abuse, with some survivors experiencing every element of Anthony Odiong’s manipulation.” The police said they “believe there may be more survivors, and we wish to speak with anyone who [has] had similar encounters” with the priest. The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a brief news release on Tuesday noting Odiong's arrest in Florida. The archdiocese “encourages anyone with any information to contact law enforcement,” the release said.](https://chronicle.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ezgif-6-4730550ede-450x300.jpg "Is Anthony Odiong still a priest after life in prison sentence over rape?")