Nigeria’s former president Olusegun Obasanjo will join hordes of investors to the 38th Kaduna International Trade Fair scheduled to take place between February 24 and March 6, 2017.
“We were with him in December and he has confirmed his availability for Monday edition of the trade fair,” Garuba Salawa, director-general, Kaduna Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture. (KADCCIMA), told BusinessDay.
The theme of the Kaduna International Trade Fair is, ‘Promoting Public Private Partnership as Panacea for Accelerated Growth and Development’, and is targeted at bringing together the private sector and the government to ensure that both actors collaborate to build major infrastructure.
At a press conference held in Lagos, Muheeba Farida Dankaka, president of Kaduna Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, which is organising the fair, assured participants that Kaduna is the safest place in Northern Nigeria.
According to Dankaka, investors will be coming to Kaduna from outside Nigeria to explore opportunities in the state, stressing that the recent tension that enveloped Southern Kaduna has been doused.
“There is more than 200 kilometres between where the Southern Kaduna incident happened and the venue of the trade fair. Besides, the Federal and the state governments have been able to douse the tension,” she said.
Suleiman Aliyu, second deputy president of the chamber and chairman of the trade fair organising committee, said the promotion of the public-private partnership will go a long way in reducing Nigeria’s addiction to oil and gas, adding that it has become evident that Nigeria cannot muster the resources to meet its huge infrastructure needs.
“Nigeria has huge infrastructure challenges. Recent reports suggest that the country requires between $12 to $15 billion annually for the next six years to meet its infrastructure requirements,” Aliyu said.
“It has become evident that the government alone cannot muster the resources, hence the involvement of the private sector is not just desirous but necessary. It is no wonder, therefore, that majority of infrastructure projects currently underway at both state and federal levels are powered by PPPs,” he stressed.
He said the ten-day event also incorporates a quiz for secondary school students from 19 Northern Nigeria states, adding that local and foreign investors will participate. He said the chamber is in close contact with ministries, departments and agencies at federal and state levels, as well as with Nigerian missions abroad to ensure greater participation.
