The Daura Local Government Council in Katsina State has appealed to the State Government to reconstruct the Daura central market to boost its economic activities and revenue base.
TBI Africa said Alhaji Danladi Mai-mai, the council’s Supervisory Councillor for Revenue, made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Daura on Monday.
He said the current revenue being realised from the market was between N100,000 and N105,000 weekly, attributing the low collection to lack of inadequate shops and makeshifts where traders could display their goods.
He expressed optimism that when the market was reconstructed would attract a projected revenue of more than N500,000 weekly.
“We also call on the government to renovate the Daura central motor park by constructing water ways and administrative offices to make it more attractive generate more internal revenue,’’ he said.
The councillor cautioned members of the local chapter of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) and the National Road Transport Owners Association (NARTO) to desist from conveying passengers and goods by the road side.
He described the situation as dangerous as it was capable of jeopardising the security of the passengers and their property, noting that such sharp practices also affected our revenue negatively.
According to him, the council has allocated 200 plots of land to interested traders in the market free of charge to enable them construct shops and makeshifts with a view to expand the revenue potentials of the market.
“We would be collecting N50 from them every week and N500 annually as revenue,’’ he said.
NAN reports that the Daura central market was being patronised by traders from all over Nigeria and the neighbouring Niger Republic.
Meanwhile, the councillor has inaugurated a special crest for commercial motor cyclists for easy identification, saying the initiative will further promote security and peace of the area.
According to him, the council has provided 2,000 units of the identification crest for distribution to the cyclists at affordable rate.
