On the occasion of Kano’s 50th anniversary, there cannot be a more befitting tribute than to revaluate the problems leading to the collapse of the city’s manufacturing sector that have almost caused irreversible de-industrialization at this tumultuous moment in the history of the Kano state, Nigeria and the world. This is important because whatever anybody is thinking now the question of disappearing industries should be of utmost concern to the people and government of Kano and, by extension, northern Nigeria as a whole. To start with, I have to state that the collapse of industrial production in Kano is only a test case for northern Nigeria. Indisputably, Kano has for centuries been the economic nerve center of the entire western Sudan. Industrialization was of course one of the goals of development vigorously pursued by the first generation of northern leaders in the postcolonial era. According to a carefully planned scheme, Northern Nigeria would have become industrialized by 1980 based on a milder form of “free enterprise economy”. In fact, in almost all modern societies industrialization is always considered to be the key to any social transformation agenda.
Many documents and economic blueprints have attested to the desire of the earlier visionary leaders to embark upon a vigorous scheme of industrialization of the North, which is paramount considering the wealth of human and natural resources concentrated in different locations of the region. One such document is the 1962 consultant report submitted to Hon. Michael Audu Buba, Minister of Trade and Industry of Northern Nigeria regional government by a London based consortium. The consultants were none other than Industrial and Process Engineering Consultants and Sir Alexander Gibb and Partners. In the document which was titled Industrial and Economic Survey of Northern Nigeria 1962, detailed economic survey as well as mapping of industrial processing zones was thoroughly articulated. The report mentioned that the technical team of experts doing the mapping had spent nothing less than four months travelling to all parts of the region in order to have a first hand encounter with economic prospects and suitability of locations for the building of industries across the length and breadth of the region. But that’s beside the point.
The beauty of the report lies in its systematic approach to both economic endowments and the inestimable gains that would have accrued to society with the establishment of assorted industries upon which the main raw materials could be sourced locally. The report is divided into four parts. To wit: the Nigerian economy, industries based on local raw materials; industries based on imported raw materials; general administrative factors and public services. Most importantly, agriculture is identified as the cornerstone of northern Nigerian economy. The broad classification of industries and services was disaggregated into textiles, milling, tanning, leather footwear, sugar, fisheries, tobacco, cement, asbestos, building materials, starch, glucose, bags, timber, sawmills, boat building, fruit canning, meat processing, iron and steel, brewing, metal ware, fertilizers, printing and writing paper, printing, paint, soap, plastics, water supply, electricity supply, railway, road transport, inland water transport, air transport and telecommunication. That document is still worth scrutinizing as the basis of any future industrial plan in northern Nigeria, any day.
Undoubtedly, under the mega regional socio-political structures Kano is seen as a very critical hub of northern Nigerian economy and industrialization. But even before the establishment of colonial administration, the history of Kano has given it an edge over and above other ancient Hausa states. Kano enjoyed and is still enjoying some degree of uniqueness amongst its peers that historically evolved along with it in Hausa land. Kano’s standing in the eyes of the world is a testimony to its economic viability. In its historical annals, Kano has to its credit over one thousand years of continuous existence despite wars, upheavals and tribulations. The ancient city has distinguished itself as one of the most important centers of the famed trans-Saharan trade. Until recently, the camel caravans used to be an exquisite sight along the streets of the city. In fact, the long distance trade had singularly nourished and boosted the mercantilist spirit of Kano.
Trade and commerce have from those earlier days become the defining temperament of the old city. Travellers, adventurers, merchants, scholars and statesmen of some consequence have for centuries been trooping to Kano to enjoy its sanctuary, its worldly allurements and its material and spiritual attractions. People come from far and near to the welcoming and accommodating bosom of Kano city. It is also on records that people have trooped to Kano en masse from other parts of Nigeria, Africa, Arabian Peninsula, Maghreb and Europe to blend with the people. This melting spirit has since transformed Kano into a great nexus for cross-fertilization of African and oriental cultures and civilizations. Through the eons, Kano has weathered storms threatening its existence. Kano is a city unlike no other in West Africa. That, to me, is paradoxically the staying power of the city that is flagrantly immured in its self-contradictions.
The idea of industrialization is not new to Kano. During the heydays of trans-Saharan trade in the 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, the robust mercantilism associated with Kano had witnessed corresponding developments in traditional manufacturing industries, technologies and mass production of goods. As early as the 18th century, the guild system that was deeply rooted as dominant system of economic production in Hausa land had already started witnessing vertical and horizontal integration processes of production, distribution and marketing of goods and services before the rupture caused to its natural flow by forces of colonialism. Local cottage industries in the area of leather products, textile, pottery, weaving and dyeing used to robustly dot the city’s landscape.
The enterprising spirit identified with the people of Kano is said to have come from deep-seated penchant for progress and development. This could be seen in the attempts of the movers and shakers of business in Kano to give a go at industrial production in addition to its commercial prowess. The concentration of cottage industries in the city in the pre-colonial Kano had everything to do with the emergence of Kano as the most important terminal of trade and commerce in the Sahel region of West Africa. It then made it much easier for colonial economy ran by European companies to have a smooth ride in Kano, even though serious attention was also paid to other towns and cities of northern Nigeria. Colonial administrators were determined to maximize economic exploitation of Northern Nigeria. In any case, middlemen from Asia and Levant Arabs as well had since been mediating the transition from the old mercantile system to a newer modern system of production and distribution, including the proliferation of automated, machine-based manufacturing system in Kano metropolis and its peripheral environment.
However, there is thus a serious contention by experts like Kabiru Isa Dandago on reasons for the epileptic start off in modern industrial production in Kano. In a book titled Beyond Slogans: How States Hold the Ace for Nigeria’s Industrialization Kano is likened more to a trading and marketing economy than anything else. He argues that in its economic disposition, Kano is commercially rather than industrially oriented, especially when compared with other manufacturing centers of Nigeria. All the same, Kano has made giant strides in industrialization and the modern industrial production of goods and services. As recent as 2015, a more systematic doctoral study of industrialization of Kano was conducted by Muhammad Abubakar Liman at Ahmadu Bello University Zaria. The titled of the study is A Spatial Analysis of Industrial Growth and Decline in Kano. The analytical aspect of the study looks at factors that led to the collapse of manufacturing industries in Kano.
Among other issues militating against sustainability of industrial production is policy. Structural Adjustment Policies imposed by military President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida had indeed dissipated manufacturing sector in Nigeria. Other experts like Yakubu Aliyu also believed unfavorable policies were deliberately fashioned by the federal government of Nigeria to undermine industrialization progress of some sections of Nigeria. In particular, the democratic dispensation of President Olusegun Obasanjo was noted for that bias. These divergent views have clearly made it difficult to assess either the collapse of the manufacturing sector or de-industrialization processes outside the usual common knowledge problems like epileptic power generation, conducive investment climate and creaking infrastructure. Daily Trust of August 21, 2011 has also published a rejoinder by Kabiru Tsakuwa titled “Re: Kano’s empty pride” in which it attributed the decline of manufacturing sector in Kano to the collapse of Kano economy among other things.
No matter how we want to view the situation, decline in manufacturing in Kano is posing grave social challenges in the area of economic growth and employment opportunities. Despite the noise about transition to knowledge economy, no developing nation would survive the uncertainties of the global system without a respectable industrial based economy. Kanoonline.com has on March 4, 2008 posted a rejoinder to the bid by the Leadership Newspaper to organize a conference under the theme: “De-Industrialization of the Northern Nigeria – A way out”. In the posting, it was authoritatively reported that Sharada Industrial Layout, which used to boast of over 1000 industries, have virtually all of them under lock and key due to the deplorable turn of events as a result of structural reforms in Nigeria, and the dawning realities of neoliberal globalization. There is thus no way in which Nigerian industries can survive the flooding of local markets by cheap products from China under the terrible conditions of production in places like Kano, Kaduna and other parts of northern Nigeria.
Similarly, no independent local industry can compete favorably with multinational corporations and their manufacturing outposts in developing countries under the stringent free trade terms designed by the WTO. Under the neoliberal order, it requires a lot of guts on the part of political leadership and social cohesion on the part of the citizenry as well for developing countries to muster the courage to resist the stranglehold of the global system in some key sectors of the local economy. But it is not entirely impossible. Although Abubakar Rimi and Ibrahim Shekarau have embarked on some initiatives to redress the problems associated with industrial production, but the economic downward spiraling has proved to be very deep. Whatever the case, local industries would not survive the global economic onslaught without internalizing the rules of the game through careful planning, developing effective mechanisms for market survey and, above all, investing in research and development component of manufacturing outfits.
Mr Liman is professor of Comparative Literature and Popular Culture at Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Nigeria
