Vice President Kashim Shettima, has inaugurated a multi-billion Naira Centre of Excellence Building at the Bayero University Kano (BUK).
The structure which houses a world-standard postgraduate school was constructed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
There are two separate five-storey buildings in the complex, with one consisting of 190 well-furnished single hotel rooms, and the other housing two modern theatres, classrooms and offices of the Banking and Finance Faculty, estimated to have cost N15 billion.
Speaking at the commissioning on Monday, the Vice President, represented by his Special Adviser on Economic Affairs, Dr Tope Fasua, described the facility as rightly located considering Kano’s position as a renowned commercial centre in the country.
“Central Bank of Nigeria’s Centres of Excellence is nationally conceived to house world-class postgraduate schools focused on business and finance. What is more fitting than one of these being sited in the great City of Kano, which has traditionally been known to be a centre of business, trade, commerce and finance over centuries,’’ Shettima said.
“The buildings look well-appointed and so long as finance remains relevant and critical to the development of nations, so long will these projects be relevant. I also understand the eagerness of the Vice Chancellor and the management of the university to start utilising these facilities and to prevent dilapidation due to unuse.
“Some of Africa’s largest markets are in the City of Kano. The Dawanau market is reputed to turn over an average of N5 billion on a daily basis in commodity trade and serves West Africa as a whole. The African Continental Free Trade Agreement has already kicked off and Nigeria needs to fill her own space therein.
“Some of Nigeria’s remaining thriving industries are resident in Kano still. Kano is not only about commodity trade, even though this city houses perhaps the highest density of warehouses in Nigeria.
“It is, therefore, hoped that the activation of this magnificent Centre of Excellence will add considerable value to the already established status of Kano State, Northwest Nigeria, and Nigeria as a whole.
“I am hopeful that through the research work that will take place in this centre, the horizon of commerce, banking, finance, and trade, will be expanded and that Nigeria can begin to consolidate her position as a hub for value-addition, industrialisation, and even the harnessing of the new vista of artificial intelligence, machine learning, nanotechnology, and other arcane innovations that are changing our lives positively the world over,” he stated.
Responding to questions from newsmen after the commissioning, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Sagir Adamu Abbas, expressed appreciation for such an edifice to have been placed at the University.
“These two facilities will go a long way in assisting the university, Kano and Nigeria because the two buildings are meant for finance, economics and other social sciences.
“It is going to boost research, it is going to boost the economy of Nigeria. We are going to put them to use so that they contribute to national development.
“We are not privy to the cost implication of the facility because when we requested for the facility we were just requested to show the site and that was done. We have not seen how much it cost but we have taken the value.
“After the two edifices have been handed over to us, we have taken the value of the two facilities and the two will now cost more than N15 billion,” Adamu said.