Governor
Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano state has that despite the exposure
of Kano citizens to the outside world, especially long-term interaction
with Europeans and Arabs, the people of Kano have not discarded their
culture and tradition.
Thus,
he maintained that they are culture - minded people who traditions and
historical sites entail huge potential for tourism. He stated this when
the Director general of Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation, NTDC,
Mrs. Sally Mbanefo led the management team of the agency to pay him
courtesy call at his office on Monday.
"You
would not see any cultural incursion in Kano because the dominance of
Hausa Language is beyond the borders of the state and that assisted in
protecting the culture of Kano people.
Our
population is the highest in the country and population is part of
tourism attraction because you need the people, you need business, you
need trade and whatever you do, you need people to patronize whatever
you do”, the governor stated.
Kano,
he maintained, boasts of several attractive sites like the over 500
years old Kurmi market, while the Kano Zoological Garden which recently
enhanced and stocked, as well as the new zoo established along Zaria
road are excellent sites for tourism attraction.
He
told the visiting Director General that the state government is willing
to partner any serious investor that want to build a 5 star hotel in
the state to help boost its tourism and commercial potentials, assuring
that the government would give free land for that purpose.
The
governor then invited the NTDC boss to attend the forthcoming Edil
Kabir Durbar in Kano so that she and other dignitaries that would
accompany her would better appreciate the rich cultural heritage of the
Kanawa.
On
her part, the NTDC Director - General, Mrs Sally Mbanefo said she came
to Kano with some investors to see how they could partner with the
government in promoting the state’s prestigious tourism sites, with the
view to contributing to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country.
Mrs.
Mbanefo lamented that although Nigeria is the giant of Africa, it is at
the lowest level in contributing to GDP, which is just four percent,
while countries like Kenya are contributing over 15 of their GDP through
tourism sites attractions.
She noted that Kano Durbar is rated as best in the whole world, assuring that NTDC would do its best to promote it.
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