Kano. Nigeria. March 29. Various shots of the emir and thousands of
horsemen riding through the streets on the festival of Eid-el Kabir
Sallah. March 27: Boys climbing trees. Various of horses assembling by
mosque. Emir looking on. Musicians playing. Horses charging. Various
shots of participants standing by. Musicians playing. March 28. Various
of horses and horsemen parading around arena during the main durbar to
celebrate the festival of Eid-el Kabir. Sot: Taryn Jerling. March 30:
Exterior of Emir's palace. Emir and courtiers walking. Courtier playing
trumpet. People queuing to see Emir. Set up of director of tourism, Imam
Ahmed Zubair. Sot: director of tourism, Imam Ahmed Zubair. Set up of
tourism marketing manager, Marjorie Kersten. Sot: new tourism marketing
manager, Marjorie Kersten. Street scenes. Sot tour operator, Vince
Ighile. Various shots from Kurmi Market. Sot: Dutch tourist, Marketeers
selling rocks which are pounded into stone for pots. Various shots of
man making clay pots. Various shots of women inspecting finished pots.
Exterior of the Kofar Mata dye pits. Various shots of employees working
at the dye pits. Various shots of band playing. Various shots of
audience. Various shots of dancers. Various shots of band playing.
Audience. Various shots of dancers. (JO KEARNEY)

00.03 Celebrating the Islamic festival of Eid-el Kabir in Kano, northern
Nigeria.


00:08 The streets are ablaze with colour as thousands of highly
decorated horsemen ride through Kano to mark the 10th day of the 12th
month of the Islamic calendar.


00:15 It's known as the month of the Zhul-Hajja (THUL-HAJJA), when
Muslims traditionally make a pilgrimage to Mecca.

00:21-22The annual festival dates back to the early 19th Century - and
is one of the highlights of the year.



00:30 Such is the popularity of the event that spectators need to arrive
early to get a good view. Every available space is taken.


00:40 It's the first of a four-day long extravaganza.


Horsemen make their way to the ground outside the Emir's palace. It's
early morning and already the temperature's 30 degrees.


Most of the horsemen learn their skills from their forefathers. But the
Durbar is open to anyone.


00:57 The guest of honour is the Emir of Kano, the regional Islamic
spiritual leader.


1:01 LEAVE GAP FOR MUSICIANS


1.07 It's traditional for village and district chiefs to charge towards
the Emir as a sign of respect. They travel so fast that standing
anywhere near the horses can be treacherous and spectators are advised
to keep well back or risk being run down.


The colour isn't just confined to the horsemen. Young men in bright
costumes turn out to pay their respects to the Emir as well as
performers and musicians.


1:28 LEAVE GAP FOR MUSICIANS


1:37 The main durbar, the Hawan Daushe, takes place on the second day.
It's the highlight of the festival, with more than five-thousand
horsemen taking part.


01:50It was first staged in honour of the Emir's favourite aides who due
to ill health could not participate the previous day.


01:57In the past, the Durbar attracted tourists from all over the world.



02:03But Nigeria's long history of military dictators, particularly that
of former leader Sani Abacha, has seen a dramatic decline in numbers.


02:13Foreign visitors these days are confined mostly to expatriates
living in the area.


02:19But with the death of Abacha last year, and the handover to a
democratic civilian government on May 29th, there are hopes that the
tourist trade can be rebuilt.


02:30 Kano, once Nigeria's top tourist destination, is hoping to cash in
on this - with the Durbar set to be the lynchpin of any marketing
campaign.


02:41Tourists who have had a chance to watch the Durbar have given it
their seal of approval.


2:48 SB: Taryn Jerling, British tourist
"It's magnificent, the colours from gold to silver to orange and the
children participating, as well as the older men, emirs and everything.
It's wonderful."


2:59 One of the chief attractions of Kano is the Emir's palace - and
it's possible for visitors to get an individual audience with the Emir.


Anyone wanting one simply needs to write to the palace ahead of their
visit and their request is likely to be granted.


3:16 LEAVE BREAK FOR MUSICIAN


3:24 The Emir is very much the man of the people, holding daily
audiences with locals and tourists alike.


3.31-33 Ordinary people come pay their respects, to voice a grievance or
ask advice.


His colourful entourage include senior councillors, special advisers and
village heads.


3:46 Kano's tourism director believes Nigeria has as much to offer as
Kenya and Tanzania.


3.51 SB: director of tourism, Imam Ahmed Zubair
"Tourism in this country is not given the desired recognition, not only
tourism you find that the image of Nigeria that is sold overseas is..
..people are sceptical, they don't want to come to a country which is
ruled the military personnel because of the dictatorial nature of the
military power. But with the transition programme, we think and we
believe that there is going to be a change, people are already accepting
the new political arrangement."


4.28 Kano Tourist Board has now recruited a marketing manager to help
promote the region.


4.33 SB: Marjorie Kersten, new marketing manager
" What I try to do is to get more tourism going in Kano. I try to
create a liason with the western tour operators and to organise package
tours for the Western market in order to get them to see the beautiful
country of Nigeria."

4.47 Kano was once an important city on the trans Saharan camel route
and a centre of trade and learning.


5.3It is steeped in history and culture - with much of the old town
dating back 800 years.


Although there is modern developments, many people still live in
traditional mud houses.


5.5 But despite the attractions, Nigeria has been labelled the most
corrupt and crime ridden country in Africa - a claim most Nigerians
refute.


05:13 SB: tour operator, Vince Ighile
"Nigerians have a bad reputation outside the country because we had
military rule for such a long time and that was more or less like a
prelude for people grouping us as being corrupt and whatever names that
we had, and now that we are moving to a more democratic government I can
test to that that in a very short while people are going to have a very
different opinion about us."

5:41 One of the highlights of the old city is Kurmi Market. It's said to
be the oldest souk in Africa, it's narrow winding streets filled with
the aroma of herbs and spices.

5.55 SB: Dutch tourist
"You love it or you don't. It's like that, it's pure Africa, and for me
I love it, so let them come and see it for themselves."

6:06 Since the oil boom of the mid 1970s, Nigeria has relied heavily on
oil to the expense of other sources of revenue. Traditional industries
and agriculture were largely abandoned.

When oil prices plummetted, the Nigerian economy - with little else to
rely upon - floundered.

But Kano, which was not as reliant on oil as the south, still has
flourishing local industries such as pottery, and cloth making.

Many date back to the time when the region was one of the most active
commercial centres in Africa.


These dye pits are believed to be the oldest in Africa, dating back to
the 15th Century.

Natural dyes made from ash, indigo, plants and limestone are still used
today, together with traditional methods.

06:57 Little has changed over the generations for these employees, who
use age-old designs for the fabrics, which are exported throughout the
region.

7.11 Nigeria's culture isn't confined to history, architecture and
crafts. It's famous for its music and dance.

7:18 This West African country has much to offer, but if it is to get
tourists beating a path to its door, it will have to go all out to
improve its appalling image abroad.

7:31 Not only is hundreds of thousands of dollars needed to promote the
country to foreign markets, a huge amount of money is needed to
modernise it.

7:44Years of endemic corruption and underspending have devastated
Nigeria.

7:50 Kano State tourism board is taking the initiative, but without any
financial backing from central government it can't achieve much alone.

7:58Yet those who are prepared to come to Nigeria will be in for a warm
welcome.