With a population of over nine million people and daily influx of thousands for commercial and other activities, markets in Kano City are bedevilled by many problems, many of which have spiraled out of the confines of the markets.

For instance, Kano ranks very high among states with the problem of drug abuse in Nigeria, which many have tracked down to the proliferation of patent medicine stores in the capital city thereby leading to uncontrollable access to drugs.

Arrests of fake drug dealers by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in Sabon Gari Market (Yankura Market formally Abubakar Rimi Market) are common in the state.

This is along with several other clampdowns by the police, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), among others.

Congestion inside the markets because of inadequate roads and encroachment on the available road networks close to the markets most times causes gridlock.

The Kwari Market (textile) and Singer Market (flour and confectionery) both in the heart of the city, just like the Sabon Gari Market, are major centres of congestion.

However, congestion, gridlock and other problems associated with activities in these markets may soon be issues of the past for Kano City if the words of Mohammed Aliyu, the Implementation Board Chairman for Kano Economic City (KEC), are anything to go by.