Plans have reached advanced staged by the Kano state government to ban street hawking across the metropolis, Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso has revealed.
He made this known during the presentation of training certificates and empowerment support of N30, 000 each to 952 street hawkers at Kano Government House on Saturday.
The governor stated that the aim was to ensure sanitize the streets, ensure safety of the hawkers and formalize their trades in line with global best practices.
Kwankwaso explained that when the ban on street hawking comes into force, any apprehended hawker will be charged to court, pointing out that the measure will help in discouraging obstinate street vendors.
In this regard, the training of the selected 952 street hawkers was carried out by Industrial Training Fund through the Office of Special Adviser to the governor on Metropolitan Affairs, even as about 170 places were selected and designated as business points for the trainees.
Kwankwaso said the state government had spent N266, 858,000 on training and empowering the hawkers, who are mostly youth, adding that taking them off the streets was a measure of protecting their lives from imminent danger and building hope in their future.
In his speech, the Director General ITF, represented by Mrs Juliet C. Onaeko said the hawkers were trained on GSM fault tracing/maintenance and CD production/marketing, saying this indicated the commitment of Kwankwaso government in human development and poverty eradication.