The Kaduna State Government has said that it had attracted about $3bn dollars in domestic and foreign investments and would continue to do more.

Governor El-Rufai made this known in Kaduna on Tuesday when he received a delegation led by Alhaji Suleman Aliyu, the President, Kaduna chamber of commerce, industry mines, and Agriculture at the government house on a courtesy visit.

According to him, we are very proud to work with the chamber of commerce as well as our investment promotion agency working closely to make Kaduna a very attractive place for investors.

The governor also assured of the state government’s support to the Kaduna chamber of commerce, industry mines, and Agriculture( KADCCIMA ) in its preparation for the upcoming 23rd Edition of the Kaduna International trade fair slated for February 25 to March 5th, 2022.

He reiterated his government’s commitment to making Kaduna safe for business and a cosmopolitan city that would make everyone feel safe to live, work and invest.

While commenting on the request for the provision of security, El-Rufai said that the government would support the request for a robust security provision for the upcoming fair.

He also said that all roads leading to Kaduna would be provided with adequate security during and after the trade fair so that the event would not be affected by any incident of insecurity.

“Insecurity is a problem. We are going to do the best we can in collaboration with federal authorities that have primary responsibility for that,” he said.

According to the governor, the state government would continue its engagement with the organized private sectors to implement the four day work-week that the state government started in 2022 in the public sector.

“We do not want to legislate anything without adequate consultation and an adequate transition period for the organized private sector.

“But effective this week the public sector in Kaduna would work for only 4 days, we have increased the working hour by one so that we gain another four hours from the loss of Fridays, which are half days, so we are not losing much.

He said they would also work out details that would impact schools, to increase school time by one hour, while teachers would give extra homework to students in other to keep busy within the three-day weekend.

The health system has made similar adjustments to meet up the required time, the governor observed.

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He said the adjustment will not affect salaries or allowances “we just believe that people should rest more and have time for families and for other informal business activities”.

El-Rufai added that such would aid in raising their productivity significantly. “It is an experiment, we will monitor it and see how it goes.”

Earlier in his remarks, Alh Suleiman Aliyu the president of KADCCIMA, said the purpose of the visit was to express their profound appreciation for the support they had been given over the years and to assure of the chamber’s maximum cooperation to the present administration at all times.

He announced that the theme of the 43 edition of the fair would be “re-strategising the Nigerian economy for global competitiveness”.

According to Aliyu, the theme was chosen to align with the efforts of the Nigerian government in revamping the dwindling fortunes of the economy so that it can compete favourably with others globally.

We have been in contact with some foreign companies who are willing to participate at the 43rd edition of the fair, he said, adding: ” These companies are from Egypt, Pakistan, India, Morocco, Bangladesh amongst others”.

“This year’s fair is coming at a time the entire countries are facing security challenges. This is indeed a very big task confronting us in hosting this year’s fair”, the KADDCIMA president said.

He told the governor: “We anticipate your supporting us with adequate security in and around Kaduna, in view of the anticipated participants and visitors to the trade fair.”

TheStar