Today’s edition of the Make Nigeria Better series takes us to Katsina State one of centres of armed banditry in the country that has been inappropriately named the Home of Hospitality

Ayo Akinfe

[1] Katsina is another one of those states that will make you despair. It is 30th in the Nigerian human development index, has a low literacy rate, has a high number of out-of-school children and due to the rampant unemployment in the state, its youths are signed up to banditry gangs which carry out kidnappings, armed robbery and acts of terrorism

[2] All this is despite the fact that Katsina is the only state in Nigeria to produce two elected presidents. It should serve as an example of good governance and how a state should live at ease with itself. Katsina has a cultivable 2.4m hectares of land out of which 1.6m is under cultivation, leaving land area of 800,000 hectares, equivalent to one third of the total cultivable land available for investment. This state desperately needs a public works programme and the widespread opening of factories

[3] Now, modern day Katsina State did not always used to be a basket case like this as the cities of Katsina and Daura were seven of the original Hausa City States. They were centres of commerce where the trans-Saharan trade route terminated. It is time to revive such commerce. Daura and Katsina should be thriving market cities with lively bazaars that attract customers from Niger Republic, Chad, Mali, etc. Anyone who has been to the Mexican border town of Tiajuana will understand what I am talking about

[4] Katsina State is the fifth most populous state in the country, meaning that it has the manpower for an industrial programme. I would like to see its 24,192 square kilometre territory converted into large scale industrial prairies that grow sudan/sahelian crops like cotton, millet, sorghum, dates, gum arabic, guinea corn, cow peas, groundnuts, etc in massive quantities. I want to see the Katsina State government create state-owned farms to employ their youth.

[5] Its urban centres like Katsina, Daura, Bakori, Funtua, Musawa, Malumfashi, etc should all be huge industrial estates that convert all these cash crops into finished goods. Why is Arewa Textile Mills for instance not thriving in Katsina State today?

[6] During its hey day as a Hausa City State, Katsina was an important Islamic centre. Its Gobarau Minaret is an important building that attracts pilgrims. Why has the Katsina State government not turned this into a major tourist attraction? They should expand it to the level of the Taj Mahal and build hotels, restaurants, bars, amusement parks, etc around it

[7] Katsina State also has a large number of cattle herdsmen. Can someone please explain to me why the state government has not deemed it fit to open the Katsina State Cattle Ranch? Maybe open it in a central area like Matazu and build an accompanying rail link to the facility. This ranch should be built into a whole town with veterinary clinics, schools, police stations, a technical college, abattoirs, etc. It should be linked by rail to cities like Katsina, Kano, Kaduna, Abuja, etc

[8] Maybe it is just the historian in me but I know that nothing spurs development like large, powerful empires. I long for the day when we will have a united West African empire that can compete with the US, China and EU. For now, that is not on the horizon but we can at least step up cross border trade, build railways links to cities like Niamey, Algiers, Tripoli, Bamako, etc. Katsina State will always be at the centre of such a programme as it currently has eight roads that lead to the Republic of Niger and is effectively Nigeria’s link to the Sahel

[9] Katsina is another Nigerian state that gets a lot of sunshine, especially in its far north. This should make it one of the epicentres of solar energy in Nigeria. Several of its northern local government areas like Katsina, Daura, Kaita, Mashi, Mai’Adua, Jibia, Zango, Baure, Batsari, Dutsi, etc, should all be home to mega solar farms. Katsina City should then be home to one of the world’s largest solar panel manufacturing plants

[10] Katsina State also has large deposits of metallic and iron-metallic minerals. These include kaolin, asbestos, gold, uranium, nickel, chromite and silica sand. Where on earth are the processing plants to convert these raw materials into finished goods?