Kano’s biggest market, Sabon-Gari goes digital

The biggest market in Kano State, Muhammadu Abubakar Rimi Market in Sabon Gari, has launched a digital studio for database capturing of traders operating in the market.

When completed, the exercise will capture all the relevant information of all the traders in the market and enable it compete with all its global counterparts in terms of e-commerce by displaying all their available wares to prospective buyers online.

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Speaking during the launching of the facilities in Kano, the State’s Commissioner for Commerce, Barrister Ibrahim Mukhtar, said the innovation will help in  improving security, budget and planning, as well as placing the market in the global sphere.

Mukhtar said: “Nowadays, you can be in Nigeria and sell your goods to any country in the world, meaning that your income, customers and even revenue generation will be increased and the government will also be proud of this market.

“This kind of innovation, the issue of internet, you have to go with time.

“If you don’t follow time and this technology, it will be very difficult to catch up with time, and you’ll be left behind in terms of development, and Sabon-Gari maybe somewhere else, God forbid,” he said.

The commissioner also said the project is in line with Governor Abdullahi Ganduje’s policy of changing the face of business in the state, adding that it just started with Sabon-Gari before other markets in the state also follow.

Barrister Mukhtar added that the project had so far been successful, adding that he’s expecting all the traders in the market to come and register.

“Let there be cooperation from the traders so that they will be part of the exercise, have their data and information captured and they will benefit from it,” the commissioner added.

Similarly, the Managing Director of the market, Alhaji Uba Zubairu Yakasai, said the project was prompted by the way traders were gradually moving towards e-business, especially during lockdown.

Yakasai also said the project would help check illegal businesses in the market, especially in the area of selling illicit and fake drugs in the market.

Daily Trust reports that the project targets registering all the shops in the market to enable buyers from all parts of the world access goods in all the shops and even transact without necessarily physically going there.