A Year of Silence: Kano’s Transport Reform Still on Hold Despite 2024 Dialogue

 A Year of Silence: Kano’s Transport Reform Still on Hold Despite 2024 Dialogue

By Tijjani Sarki – Good Governance Advocate & Public Policy Analyst

Zawaciki, Kano | June 27, 2025

It has now been 385 days since the 2024 Kano State Transport Policy Dialogue concluded with optimism, ambition, and bold commitments. From June 5–6 last year, the grand Coronation Hall echoed with visions of a transformed transport system modern, inclusive, and fit for a growing urban economy. Experts, officials, and citizens dared to believe that change had finally arrived.

Yet today, Kano’s streets tell a story of inertia;

Kano, the commercial heartbeat of Northern Nigeria, faces a quiet crisis,a transport system in disarray. Chaotic intersections, unregulated tricycles, illegal parking hubs, and markets spilling onto roads are no longer isolated issues they are daily realities. What should serve as infrastructure for growth has become a stage for disorder.

Despite its strategic importance, Kano lacks a coherent, policy-driven framework to manage urban mobility. Institutions like KAROTA remain under-resourced,untrained and overburdened, unable to enforce order or plan for sustainable growth.

This is no longer just about traffic jams, noise, or urban chaos. It’s about lives lost, opportunities missed, and the daily indignities citizens endure. Mothers struggle to reach hospitals in emergencies. Workers waste hours trapped in gridlock. Students miss life-defining exams. Our failing transport system made worse by the unchecked spread of commercial tricycles has become a breeding ground for phone snatching, daylight robbery, and other criminal activities. 

On top of this, the unregulated movement of overloaded trucks, heavy-duty trailers, and other large vehicles at all hours of the day worsens congestion, causes accidents, and often brings entire routes to a standstill. What was once a mode of convenience has turned into a symbol of disorder and danger.

This systemic failure is not only stalling our economy but also chipping away at our safety, dignity, and quality of life.

The Light That Left the Vow

The 2024 Dialogue, opened by Deputy Governor Comrade Aminu Abdussalam and headlined by Minister of Transport Senator Sa’id Ahmed Alkali, was a landmark event. It produced over 20 technical papers, panel discussions, and the formation of a 30-member Technical Working Committee charged with crafting a comprehensive transport policy within one month.

Since then, silence;

Where is the policy draft? Where is the public engagement? Where is the action?

This lack of follow-through undermines public trust and jeopardizes the credibility of the very institutions tasked with reform. The public vendors, students, artisans, and elders continues to suffer the consequences of this inaction.

Commending Ongoing Infrastructure Efforts:

In the midst of this policy vacuum, however, commendation is due to His Excellency Governor Alhaji Abba Kabir Yusuf for his administration’s ongoing road construction and renovation projects across the state. These physical investments are crucial first steps toward restoring connectivity and easing congestion. Roads are the backbone of any modern transport system, and these upgrades can serve as a foundation for broader reform,if integrated with policy, regulation, and institutional strengthening.

We urge that these commendable infrastructure efforts be aligned with a formal, enforceable transport strategy one that regulates vehicle movement, prioritizes public safety, and ensures lasting impact through systemic improvement.

A Call to Action: From Dialogue to Delivery

We now call on the Ministry of Transportation and Honourable Commissioner Ibrahim Ali Namadi to provide a transparent update on the policy process. This is not a courtesy,it is a civic duty.

To civil society, academia, media, and citizens: the time for quiet expectation is over. Let us demand clarity, accountability, and momentum. Let us insist that the promises made become the policies delivered.

Great cities are not built by chance, but by choice. Kano must move forward

Kano is not a city meant to crawl  it is meant to lead, to inspire, to rise. But no city can rise on rickety tricycles or through the silence of institutions that should speak and act. Our destiny demands more. 

We must build a transport system that reflects our ambition, respects our culture, and unlocks our full potential. As John F. Kennedy once said, “America is a great place for transportation it’s the lifeblood of our economy.” The same truth holds for Kano, a modern city cannot move forward without moving its people forward. Let us, therefore, choose progress over inertia and vision over neglect.

Transport is not just about roads and vehicles, it is about vision, equity, and hope. It is time for Kano to move  boldly, and without looking back.

A year has passed. We cannot afford to lose another.Kano must move and move forward.

We are watching. We are waiting. And we will not forget.

Tijjani Sarki

Good Governance Advocate & Public Policy Analyst

Zawaciki, Kano | June 27, 2025