The Park had a section for buses, trucks, trailers and other small cars. The Market behind the Park has had about 272 unoccupied stores for over 15 years. However, about 15 warehouses are still functional as trailers usually offload and load goods from the warehouses.The Kano Park and Market, created 30 years ago, served as a park and market for traders and travellers from different parts of the country and neighbouring countries like Chad, Niger, and Cameroon.
The secretary of the National Union of Road Transport Workers Maiduguri Kano Park branch, Ibrahim Adam Shuwa, pleaded with the State Government to look into the issues affecting the Park, aside from the lack of roads, water and proper sanitation.“If the state government can help enforce the law establishing the park and market and make the necessary renovations and construction, I am certain that it will revive the park and market”, he said.
Abdullahi Musa, the secretary National Association of Road Transport Owners Kano Park and Market branch, corroborated Mr Mohammed’s statement on illegal parks. The office is located within the premises of the Park and Market area. However, this reporter observed that the building is a shadow of itself, the fence holding the entrance gate had collapsed, the glass in the windows and doors is no more, some are patched with cartoons while others only have metal frames.The paint on the walls is faded, and only two pieces of old furniture are in the manager’s office. A messenger who works in the office has no chair; he sits on an old table.
“I was surprised when I noticed that some of the stores were occupied by young girls who either ran from home or had no home to stay, some of them as young as 16-19 years old, engaging in prostitution, and I kept wondering if they have parents”, said Mr Anjili. The Kano Park and Market is not only known as an area where young lads frolic in booze and ecstasy, but men of the underworld use the Park.Borno State Police Command paraded 78 suspects for murder, burglary, and stealing handsetsThe suspects were arrested in 14 communities, in the Maiduguri Metropolitan Council and Jere Local Council of the state; some were from Kano motor park and Market.while trying to transport a large cache of ammunition out of Maiduguri from the Kano Park and Market.