For over five decades, Kofar Wambai watch market was one of those markets in Kano that was bubbling with business activities.

People from all the six geo-political zones came to the market to buy their wrist watches, table and wall clocks. When the market was at its peak, it used to be difficult for the shop owners most especially on Saturdays and Sundays to control their customers. Buyers from all over the country trooped the market for the watches.

The market had maintained its position as the biggest watch market in the whole country up till around 1998 when the market began to show signs of decline. The sight of locked up shops at the Kofar Wambai watches market in Kano, with shop owners sitting under the shade of their shops chatting, could perhaps be a pointer to the fact that business activities have declined in that market in recent times.

One of the traders who spoke to Daily Trust, Alhaji Musa Ibrahim said watch business has gone down by over fifty percent in the market. Ibrahim attributed the causes to the collapse of the Aminu Kano International Airport, the advent of the handsets and the current financial crisis, "the collapse of our airport here in Kano which has resulted in the transfer of businesses to Lagos port is the main cause of our problem. Apart from that, the coming of the handsets couple with the current financial crisis brought a decline in the watch business," he said.

According to him, before the collapse of the Aminu Kano International Airport their importers found it easier to clear their good because of low tariff, but with the transfer to Lagos the cost of clearing the goods and transporting it to Kano had added to the cost of the watches. He added that the cheaper a good is cleared and transported the cheaper the commodity would be at the market.

He further noted that clearing and transporting of goods from the Lagos port had led to the high cost of watches in Kano, so that those who were coming to Kano to buy watch now prefer going to Lagos because it is cheaper there, "now the market has been transferred from Kano to Lagos, everyone is going there to buy his watches," he lamented.

While commenting on the effect of handset on the watch market, Ibrahim said the coming of handsets has affected their business because, according to him many people have stopped relying on the watch to know the time; instead they rely on their handsets.

He described the trend as worrisome, saying many of their traders have been edged out of business, with others changing to other petty trades. He further explained that the current economic crisis has impacted negatively on their business, "before this crisis I know of a person who used to buy wrist watch for any new dress that he sew, but now he is unable to buy even one instead he uses the handset to know the time.

Daily Trust observed that some of the shops at the watch market hung dresses instead of watches. Those that still have the watches on display were either glued to the business for lack of alternative or have started another business in addition to the watch business.

Further investigation by Daily Trust revealed that despite the drastic fall in the watch business, wall clocks still sale in large quantity. The reason according to Alhaji Ibrahim was the fact that people still buy wall clock for their homes, offices and as a wedding or birth day gift, "the market now is more on the wall clocks than the wrist watch. People still buy wall clocks either for their homes or offices, and they also buy it to give friends and relatives as wedding or birth day gift," said him.

Asked if they have ever received any assistance from the state government to revive their business, he opined that they have not receive anything from any government, "we are just hearing that government has been assisting in boosting businesses in the state, if it is doing that we don't know because we have not receive anything," he said.

He however stated that if the Aminu Kano International Airport could resume full operation he was optimistic that their business would be fully revived and Kano would reclaim its position