By Dr Mahmud Abba
The value of a place is measured not only by its aesthetics but its historical, social and cultural values. The historical and cultural signature of cities determines its classical and modern value.
Cities like Kano are held in high esteem because of their historical significance and in today’s world the nature of and state of a city’s ecology guarantees its health as a city and the well being of its citizens.
Of all the recent destructions and desecration of Kano city’s open spaces and historical heritages, the planned relocation of the Audu Bako Zoological Garden is perhaps the saddest and undoubtedly the most disastrous to the city’s ecosystem.
The latest spate of vandalism started in 2016 with the heartbreaking conversion of the last and the largest two of the 19 city parks and gardens at Kundila and Tarauni quarters into commercial, educational and religious land uses.
Relocation Of Kano Zoological Garden: Decimating The City’s Air Purification
This was then followed by the defilement of the sacred Eid ground at Kofar Mata and the subsequent ruining of the long stretch of more than five-hundred-year old section of the Kano city walls which runs between Kofar Famfo and Kofar Gadon Kaya and around Kofar Ruwa.
The score of wanton destructions of the city’s cherished physical legacies in the name of development finally reached its highest stage when the Kano Zoo was given a death sentence.
The most depressing part of the relocation saga rests in the flimsy justifications of the plan given by the authorities. A highly placed government official was widely reported on Wednesday 25th November, 2020 to have stated that the relocation is needed because the present location of the zoological garden is too noisy for the comfort of the wildlife.
Laughable, isn’t it? Because some few years ago the same government ejected tens of small-scale horticulturalists along the BUK Road section of the Kano city walls, to give space for the creation of multi-million naira commercial plots of land. Okay, the authorities are concerned about the wellbeing of the wild animals, fine. This is impressive, so let all the lions, the elephants, the hyenas, the monkeys and the host of others be transferred to a more conducive location.
However, the botanical garden should be left alone. In other words, all the trees, shrubs, herbs and other forms of floral species existing in the zoo should be left untampered with; since unlike the animals, vegetation cannot be disturbed by the noise emanating from the adjacent areas.
However, the relocation of the zoological centre on the account of disturbances from noise does not even arise. It is scientifically established and practically proven that trees reduce noise in an area.
Anyone can go to the zoo right now and will find out that, in spite of the auto-traffic, commercial and residential noise from the environs, the premises of the garden is not only quiet but tranquil. Because of noise-screening effect of trees, a person inside the zoo will find it hard to believe that he is right in the middle of Kano metropolis. So what noise are we talking about? If there are more palatable justifications for the relocation exercise please we are waiting to hear them, but we cannot stomach this one.
Another weak justification advanced by the advocates of the relocation is that the garden is now in the middle of urban residential area, and in view of the recent break of a lion, the zoo presently constitutes a grave danger to the general public. On this, one should ask the following: Is Kano the only city in the world that has a zoo? Definitely no, in fact the five largest zoos in the U.S.A are all located within cities and major towns of the country.
Even in Nigeria, zoos a found inside big cities such as Jos, Port Harcout, Owerri, Maiduguri, Ibadan and major urban districts like Lekki and Ibeju in Lagos and Asokoro in Abuja. Osun-Oshogbo grove, a world heritage area, is located right inside Oshogbo city. There are zoos even within the premises of some Nigerian universities such as university of Ibadan and Gombe state university. Thus the dangers lay not in the location of the zoo inside the city but on poor management practices and substandard safety protocols being observed in the facility.
Going by antecedents, the over 53 hectre zoological garden will be fragmented into tens, perhaps hundreds of residential and commercial plots of land under the mantra of residential land supply and urban development.
Considering the location of the land and similar previous experience, when created the smallest of the plots will roughly value to the tune of 15 million naira. Then which category of the citizenry do you think is going to benefit from the ‘allocation’ of the plots? On one hand there are the masses; primarily the low income petty-traders, artisans, labourers, messengers, classroom teachers and civil servants.
On the other hand are the top politicians, their families, friends and clients, contractors, business magnates, traditional and religious leaders as well as top civil servants. Because social equity and justice are nowadays aliens in our cities, the category of the public to benefit from the ‘allocation’ is obvious.
Then what other reasons are there for the removal of the recreational centre? Evidently there are no acceptable ones. These justifications were just given by those within the corridors of power on the conviction that even on weak evidence, majority of the people will be quick to see the dangers of the continued existence of the zoo in the locality; because people usually give more weight to evidence that supports their perception, no matter how wrong it is, than evidence which contradicts it.
Therefore there was a deliberate and sustained effort by the authorities to tarnish the image and dent the reputation of the zoological garden just because they want to grab the land on which it is standing.
Part of the genesis of this problem is our narrow perception of the concept of physical development. The authorities believe that to achieve physical development every available open space must be converted to building.
Do they forget that every city in the world is made up of three major physical components namely; structures, networks and open spaces? Are they turning a blind eye on the numerous social and ecological services being provided by the zoo?.
As the largest green area in the metropolis, it serves as a major urban flood water sink thus an important recharger to the city’s underground water reservoir. It is also the main carbon sink of the metropolis, a biodiversity hotspot, a repository of endangered plants and animals; the last biological sanctuary in the desert of humans and buildings. The garden provides an avenue for relaxation to thousands of residents of the city. It is also a centre of social interaction amongst the multi-ethnic, multi-cultural society thereby promoting cultural integration and social inclusion in the city.
Our prayer is that the people of Kano should rise up and ensure that the botanical garden stays. If we fail to do that, in some years to come, there will be a heavy price to pay. As teachers, we have done our part and we hope posterity will be fair to us.
Mahmud Abba, PhD
Department of Geography,
Bayero University, Kano
28/11/2020
