19th June, 2023
By Aminu Garko
The Kano state government intends to reconstruct the original Kano city walls with material from numerous demolitions in the state.
Governor Abba Yusuf stated this after inspecting ongoing demolition sites in Kano.
He stated that the police and members of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) had already been assigned to protect demolition sites against scavengers.
“We went round the city to inspect the various demolished sites. We have decided to use the debris of the demolished sites to rehabilitate Kano city walls to preserve history, beautify the state and make it site of attraction as a national monument,” Yusuf said.
Yusuf urged the people of the state to continue to follow the law and to report any suspicious movements to security officials so that they can be dealt with quickly.
Kano’s ancient city walls were defensive walls built to protect the Kano people. The wall, considered “West Africa’s most impressive monument,” has stood for nearly 800 years. It was built between 1095 and 1134 and completed in the mid-fourteenth century.
Sarki Gijimasu (r. 1095-1134), the Kano Chronicle’s third king, set the groundwork for the wall’s construction.
During the reign of Zamnagawa in the mid-14th century, the wall was finished before being enlarged in the 16th century.
According to historians, the then-General-Governor of the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria, Fredrick Lugard, claimed in a 1903 report about the Kano Walls that he had “never seen anything like it in Africa” after seizing Kano with British soldiers.
The walls were initially predicted to be 30 to 50 feet tall and 40 feet thick at the base, with 15 gates encircling them.
NAN
