The 34th Kaduna Trade Fair opened last Friday with six countries participating.

They are Mali, Niger, Senegal, Turkey, Egypt and Pakistan. They had already set up their stands, showcasing wares such  as fabrics, jewellery, agro-products and household materials.

Alhaji Awwalu Makarfi, the First Deputy President, Kaduna Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, said that more countries were being expected.

“We also have a sizeable number of Nigerian industries participating”, he said, and expressed optimism that the fair would be successful as adequate measures had been taken to address the security situation which affected the turnout of participants in 2012.

“As you will recall, last year, the chamber postponed the 2012 fair three times before we were encouraged by our stakeholders with adequate funding, to hold it at later date contrary to the official fair date.

“In 2012, we ran the trade fair at a loss which had become a major bottleneck in organising this year’s fair.”

Makarfi assured participants that the chamber had adopted measures to curb any security threat.

He urged exhibitors to abide the rules of the fair as defaulters would be sanctioned.

Meanwhile, hundreds of applicants and students thronged the fair ground in search of temporary jobs.

The Tide source  observed that most of them were ladies aged between 18 and 30. They expressed the hope that they would be engaged as sales representatives.

One of them, Miss Joy Luka said: “it is an opportunity to make some money in the next 10 days instead of staying at home doing nothing”.

Another respondent, Wale Johnson, a student of Kaduna Polytechnic, said he was hoping to make extra money to augment his study allowance.