Kano, Chinese company sign $600 million deal on textile hub

Kano State Government has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a Chinese firm, Shandong Ruyi Technology Group of China, to establish a $600million Textile Industrial Park in Kano.

Shandong Ruyi is China’s leading innovative technology textile enterprise, and the planned multi-million dollar investment in Kano will be its biggest in Africa, upon completion.

The agreemen,t which was reached at the Company’s headquarters in Joining, Shandong, China, was not only anchored at cementing the industrial relations between the two countries but engender economic prosperity in Kano.

A statement signed by the Director General, Media and Publicity, to Kano State Government, said the Secretary to the State Government, Usman Alhaji, and the company’s chairman, Yafu Qiu, were said to have signed the agreement on behalf of Kano and the Chinese firm respectively.

According to the statement, Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, who spoke shortly after sealing the deal, said the business opportunity when actualised will be the biggest Foreign Direct Investment in the state in recent time.

Ganduje, who is currently on working visit to China, informed his host that Kano has put in place facilities for textile clusters across its 44 local government areas.

In anticipation of the park’s take off, Ganduje was said to have requested the Group to visit the state to ascertain the readiness of his government to partner with the Chinese company.

He said: “I thank you for the invitation to visit one of your factories and from what I have seen in your production line, your facilities are world-class. “One can only imagine the number of jobs that would be created, and the value that would be added to our economy when your plant commences operation in Kano,” Ganduje said.

He assured the company that his administration would create the enabling environment for the smooth take off of the project, adding that government is taking steps to ensure that Kano became the number one destination for investment opportunity not only in Nigeria, but in the West Africa sub-region.
Responding, the Ruyi Group Chairman, Yafu Qiu, said the investment agreement entered with Kano state government is to hasten growth and support global development in Nigeria.

Yafu, who considered significant the visit of the governor to China to personally officiate the signing of the MoU, expressed confidence on the commitment and successful implementation of the project.

According to the Chinese industrialist, “Ruyi company would also look at the possibility of executing a solar power project specifically for the Textile Industrial Park, and we also have the desire to collaborate with the government towards enhancing the capacity of its on-going Hydro Power project at Tiga and Challawa.”