Governor Nasir El-Rufa\u2019i of Kaduna state on Friday said that the state<\/p>\n
government, Bank of Industry, business tycoon Aliko Dangote and some
\nstates will acquire the Peugeot Automobile Nigeria Ltd (PAN).<\/p>\n
El-Rufa\u2019i who said this during the state\u2019s special day at the ongoing 37th
\nKaduna International Trade Fair, named the other states as Katsina, Kebbi
\nand Jigawa.<\/p>\n
He said a proposal to acquire the majority shares of the company had
\nalready been submitted to Assets Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON).<\/p>\n
According to him, the step is part of efforts to revive ailing industries
\nin the state to provide huge employment opportunities to the teeming
\nunemployed youths in the region and Kaduna State in particular.<\/p>\n
He said that PAN, a critical partner in Kaduna State industrial history,
\nhad gone down from assembling 90,000 cars per annum to merely 200 a year.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur hope is that when we acquire the majority share of the company, we
\nwill restructure it to operate to full capacity of assembling between
\n90,000 and 100,000 cars yearly.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have the support of PAN as well as the government of France in this
\ndrive.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are determined to bring back all industries related to Peugeot
\nestablished in Kaduna as part of plans to ensure that every youth in
\nKaduna State has something doing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The governor added that his administration had created more than 120,000
\njobs in nine months, \u201cbut it is not enough; we have to work harder
\nconsidering the number of unemployed youths in the state\u201d.<\/p>\n
He added that plans were underway to revive textile industries in the state.<\/p>\n
He said that Kaduna used to be the Manchester of Nigeria because of the
\nconcentration of textile industries in the state.<\/p>\n
He, however, said that all the textile companies had closed down except
\ntwo that were operating skeletal services.<\/p>\n
\u201cKaduna State Government is committed to the revival of not only the
\ntextile industries, but the entire cotton, textile and garment value chain
\nin the state in our development strategy,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
El-Rufai also said that as part of effort to revive the agricultural
\nsector, the state government would soon enter an agreement with a company
\nto enable the state become a poultry hub in sub Saharan Africa.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are also making arrangement with another company to establish the
\nlargest fertiliser storage facility in the country in Kaduna to ensure
\nthat our farmers have access to fertiliser.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe commissioner for commerce is currently negotiating with a foreign
\ncompany that is interested in establishing a fertiliser plant in Kaduna,\u201d
\nEl-Rufa\u2019i said.<\/p>\n
On mining, the governor said that artisan miners would be organised into
\ncooperatives to streamline all mining activities in the state to tackle
\nillegal mining.<\/p>\n
He commended the organisers of the trade fair, the Kaduna Chambers of
\nCommerce, Mines, Industries and Agriculture (KADCCIMA), for bringing
\ncaptain of commerce and industries to the state.<\/p>\n
He promised to work with KADCCIMA to ensure a better outing in the 2017
\nedition.<\/p>\n
President of KADCCIMA, Dr Abdul Bello, said that the fair\u2019s theme,
\n\u201cPromoting solid minerals sector for sustainable economic development,\u201d
\nenabled stakeholders to brainstorm on the way forward due to current
\neconomic challenges.<\/p>\n
Bello added that the theme was deliberately chosen to complement and
\nsupport the genuine aspiration of the current government for a robust
\ndiversification of the national economy.<\/p>\n
NAN reports that the trade fair which began on February 25, will end on
\nMarch 6.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Governor Nasir El-Rufa\u2019i of Kaduna state on Friday said that the state government, Bank of Industry, business tycoon Aliko Dangote and some states will acquire the Peugeot Automobile Nigeria Ltd…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43952,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n