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From Ola Muhammad, Birnin Kebbi
The African Democratic Congress (ADC), Kebbi State chapter, has promised to transform the Argungu Fishing Festival and other cultural festivals in the state into viable and profitable ventures beyond mere entertainment.
Director-General of the ADC 2027 Campaign Council, Hon. Sani Tadurga, made the pledge during a press conference in Birnin Kebbi to mark the commencement of the party’s gubernatorial campaign.
Tadurga said the party had realised that the state’s cultural festivals could generate enough revenue to sustain themselves without continuous government intervention.
According to him, Kebbi is blessed with extraordinary tourism assets, including the globally renowned Argungu Fishing Festival, rich cultural heritage, vast water bodies and historical treasures, but tourism remains an underdeveloped economic opportunity.
He said an ADC-led government would change the situation by restructuring the state Tourism Board into a professional regulatory and destination-management institution responsible for licensing, quality assurance, standards, destination promotion and policy oversight, rather than running commercial tourism businesses.
“Our government will create the enabling environment. The private sector will invest, innovate and operate. We will actively attract private investment into hotels, eco-lodges, hospitality, events and tour operations,” he said.
Tadurga added that the Argungu Fishing Festival would be revitalised through public-private partnerships, professional management and global marketing.
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“Our objective is simple: Turn Kebbi’s tourism assets into jobs, investment and sustainable revenue without making government the operator,” he said
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He maintained that although Kebbi State was not rich, it possessed enough resources which, if judiciously managed, could transform the state and accelerate its development.
“Today, we have only scratched the surface. At the appropriate time, we will provide cogent evidence. This campaign is not about Abubakar Chika Malami alone.
“This campaign is for the mother watching her child waste away, the young graduate without a job, and the farmer who cannot reach his fields. It is about the farmer who wants to farm in peace. The parent who wants a functioning school.
“The patient who wants a functioning hospital. The young person who wants a future. The citizen who wants to know how public money is spent.
“Malami will run a peaceful, issue-based and people-centred campaign. We will contest for every vote in every polling unit, every ward and every local government. No community will be taken for granted.
“The time has come for accountability. The time has come for competence. The time has come to rescue Kebbi.”
Also speaking, the Director of Strategic Media, Research and Policy Analysis of the ADC in the state, Abubakar Bello Abdullahi, said the party would partner with corporate organisations to reposition the Argungu Fishing Festival as a major source of internally generated revenue (IGR) and make it more profitable than it has been in the past.
