Kano State governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has appealed to the UK government’s Department of International Development (DFID), under its Growth and Employment in States, GEMS 4 programme, to assist his administration to establish a modern abattoir.
Ganduje said doing so would minimise transportation of live cattle to the southern part of the country, thereby enormously maximising income-generating activities in the state across the value chains of meat, leather and allied products.
The governor, who made the call while receiving the team leader, GEMS 4, Michael Clements in Kano, said the development of the abattoir would provide value addition in leather processing and it would also be worthwhile as the programme could assist the leather entrepreneurs by facilitating export.
He used the occasion to appeal to the head of the GEMS 4 programme to provide tomato farmers in the state with technology-based solutions that would curb produce wastage, lamenting that a huge percentage of the commodity produced in the state was lost, implying lesser income due to lack of preservation and storage proficiency.
Earlier, according to Michael Clements, the team leader, GEMS 4, the programme seeks to empower people to use simple technology and skills to make their business more efficient, profitable and sustainable.
The programme has so far facilitated linkage between 50,000 tomato farmers and Dangote Agro Company, even as it connected 50,000 rice farmers with processing companies, to enable them work together for mutual benefit, Clements said.
Meanwhile, the governor has promised to release the N130 million state counterpart funds to the GEMS 3 programme soon, to facilitate the Systematic Land Titling and Registration and other projects aimed at improving the wellbeing of the people.
The governor gave the assurance while receiving the team leader, William Benthall, saying he was happy that with the programmes’ support, the government had achieved tremendous success in harmonising the state and local governments internally generated revenue.
He was also glad that the programme facilitated the state Investment Promotion Agency law, which was recently passed by the state legislature, aimed at making the state an excellent destination for investments to thrive.
Benthall told the governor earlier that the programme would continue to support the government in Systematic land Titling and Registration, pointing out that it was expected that about 50,000 more plots in Kano would be registered this year, with a potential to revenue accrual of about N250 million.
