DIGNITY DIES AT THE MOTOR PARK: A Cry for Justice in Kano's Transport Sector

 DIGNITY DIES AT THE MOTOR PARK:

A Cry for Justice in Kano's Transport Sector

By Tijjani Sarki 

Good Governance Advocate and Public Policy Analyst

17th July, 2025


Kano State  the proud heartbeat of commerce in Northern Nigeria  is bleeding from the inside. Its once-organized, respected transport system has crumbled into chaos. What used to be a symbol of structure and movement is now a wasteland of neglect, filth, and human suffering. It is not just a crisis of infrastructure, but a betrayal of public trust a betrayal that should make every leader in the state lose sleep.


Today, a visit to any major motor park in Kano does not just evoke disappointment it breaks the spirit. From Kofar Ruwa to Naibawa, Unguwa Uku to Mariri, Dorawar Na’Abba to Rijiyar Zaki, Mallam Kato to Hadejia Road  the scenes are the same, unbearable squalor, disorganization, and a total collapse of basic dignity. There is no pride left. Not a single motor park in Kano can boast of clean toilets, potable water, shaded seating, or organized, regulated transport. Not even one.


How did we get here?


Years of hollow policies and endless relocations have left commuters stranded and abandoned. What development are we talking about when there is no functional space left for the everyday man to board a vehicle in safety and dignity?


Kofar Ruwa Motor Park  once relocated from the historic Tashar Kuku the former location of Triumph Publishing House  is now a picture of disarray. Naibawa, shifted from Kofar Nasarawa to give way to the  Investment House, now the Northwest University City Campus yet nothing was done to improve the park that remained. And Unguwa Uku Motor Park laughably branded “international”  is anything but. Here, passengers sit on bare floors, crouch under rotting roofs, and sometimes use their own shoes as cushions while waiting endlessly for late, poorly maintained vehicles.


This is not transport. This is humiliation.


Where is the Ministry of Transport? Who is watching? Who is responsible for this systemic rot? Or have we thrown the people of Kano to the mercy of touts, thugs, and greedy, unregistered drivers who prey on passengers without regulation, without shame, and without consequence?


There are no restrooms worthy of use. There is no clean water not for drinking, not for ablution. Commuters are forced to buy dirty water from hawkers or go without. The risk of disease is everywhere, Mothers with children, Elderly people with frail bones, Students, Market women, The poor. The sick, All enduring this daily horror in silence while those in charge either do not see, or worse, do not care.


Let us speak plainly, Kano’s motor parks have been overtaken by fear, filth, and lawlessness. Miscreants, masquerading as “park operators,” rule the spaces. Passengers are insulted, exploited, and in many cases, robbed of their hard-earned money. The air is heavy with vulgarity and danger. People trade food under unsanitary conditions, surrounded by flies, faeces, and noise. This is not transport. This is a disgrace.


This is not normal. This is a crisis.


Your Excellency, Alhaji Abba Kabir Yusuf, I write this as a concerned citizen and as a follow-up to my earlier article of 27th June, 2025  written to mark one year since the Kano State Transport Dialogue. Since then, nothing has changed. The dialogue has gone quiet, while the suffering has only grown louder.


Kanawa believed in your vision. We still do. But we cannot survive on hope alone. We are calling on your leadership  now, urgently to act. To listen, To intervene.


Declare a state of emergency in the transport sector.


Launch a bold, comprehensive reform of our parks. Build with dignity in mind. Provide toilets, Provide water, Build shaded areas, Register every operator, Regulate the touts, Remove those who do not belong  even if they sit in government offices. Hold the Ministry of Transport to account. Replace those who are failing. The people of Kano have waited long enough.


Let this not be another cry ignored. Let this not be another article filed away. Let it be the beginning of action. The beginning of change. For the mother who stands in the burning sun with a baby on her back. For the sick man searching for a clean place to sit. For the child going to school. For every single soul who just wants to move from point A to B without being humiliated.


Until then, Kano’s motor parks will continue to stand as ugly mirrors reflecting not just our broken infrastructure, but the deeper wounds in our governance.


Enough is enough.


Tijjani Sarki

Good Governance Advocate and Public Policy Analyst

Writing from Zawaciki, Kano.

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