About 28 million USD and over N6 billion were inherited as debt in respect of foreign and local scholarships respectively by the Ganduje administration, from the immediate past administration in the state, according to the state Acting Governor, Prof. Hafiz Abubakar.
He explained that the financial commitment covered tuition and other allowances of students sponsored for various courses by the past administration in several universities in about 12 countries as well as unpaid scholarship to thousands of its students in local universities, for four years.
Speaking while receiving the Emir of Kano during the traditional Hawan Nassarawa homage at the Government House in Kano, the acting governor however stated that “the government is proud of such heavy responsibility since it is an investment in education”, assuring that despite financial challenges facing the administration at the moment, efforts are being made to offset the liability.
“Despite our economic challenges, we have earmarked a monthly allocation of N360 million to the state Scholarship Board to settle outstanding allowances to our students and I am sure our students in tertiary institutions will attest to this”, Prof. Abubakar stated.
He also stated that the government is spending N62 million weekly to give food to students in boarding public secondary schools while N70 million is spent in feeding primary school pupils for two days each week, in the state.
This scenario is very taxing for a state whose existing enrollment figure, as at 2015, was 2, 743, 647 pupils with over 5,000 primary schools spread across the state, vis-à-vis dwindling resources and competing demands.
“The original arrangement regarding the feeding programme was for the state government to feed the pupils on Mondays and Tuesdays, the local governments to feed them on Wednesdays and Thursdays while the communities will take charge on Fridays. We are consistently releasing money for our feeding days but the local governments cannot cope because they are finding it difficult to even pay salaries of workers not to talk of other responsibilities”, the acting governor stated.
Prof. Hafiz also announced that huge sums of money have been allocated to the state University of Science and Technology, Wudil Northwest University and the state Polytechnic to enable them accredit their courses, stressing that so doing is a very pivotal commitment which is hardly publicized because not many people realize the consequence of the accreditation.
Regarding infrastructure, he mentioned that so many inherited road projects have been completed while new ones have been initiated within the past 16 months, adding that on-going capital intensive projects like the Murtala Muhammad Way flyover, Madobi junction underpass and the state Independent Power Project at Tiga and Challawa Gorge dams are rapidly gathering momentum.
The burden is to heavy especially in financial difficulty. The gentle and coolheaded Prof /Ag Governor only mentioned the problems and a gentleman stopped there without how the State incur this whole heavy burden.And short of declaring how the Government intend to ease this pain being suffered and caused carelessly. Maturely, I too should be silent on why I called the burden a careless one. Notwithstanding, the current Leadership should that feeding which the pupils hardly benefit from a third of the huge Vote. I reliably sincerely gathered that, this so call feeding program from its start to date is not worth the Funding. The purported huge amount will serve better if diverted to provision of more Classrooms, Chairs, Desks and other learning materials. The Educationists know better. And the two State Universities can a better Institutions of learning in both quality and promising future for the Youth in the State and Nigeria if merged as one. The merger will ease almost everything as to process and development. Accreditation, research and of course anything educational development with regards to the Academics or Students the Single University will top others not only in Nigeria but Africa. Quality is far better than Quantity. For the other projects intended for completion, the State Government should also make quality it’s priority. The Kano fly over though new and nice development to the Capital and State generally should not be least in Nigeria especially in terms of width to allow comfortable and safety for the users. I have seen many fly overs with spacious provisions for the expected (2 Vehicles) going and coming, the junctions, Pedestrians use and even the breakdowns unlike the tiny Kano fly over. This important Murtala Muhammed Fly over need to be more spacious enough as obtained in other Nigerian Cities and World over. This is an appeal which if taken and implemented will gladdened the Citizens of the State and all the would be users of the Fly over. I must however commend the past administration for the beautiful work at Kabuga and Gadon kaya areas.
The burden is too heavy especially in this time of financial difficulty. The gentle and coolheaded Prof /Ag Governor only mentioned the problems and the gentleman stopped there without how the State incurred this whole heavy burden.And short of declaring how the Government intend to ease this pain being suffered and caused carelessly. Maturely, I too should be silent on why I called the burden a careless one. Notwithstanding, the current Leadership should stop that feeding which the pupils hardly benefit from a third of the huge Vote. I reliably and sincerely gathered that, this so call feeding program from its start to date is not worth the Funding. The purported huge amount will serve better if diverted to provision of more Classrooms, Chairs, Desks and other learning materials. Teachers training can also be handy. The Educationists know better. And the two State Universities can a better Institution of learning in both quality and promising future for the Youth in the State and Nigeria if merged as one. The merger will ease almost everything as to process and development. Accreditation, research and of course anything educational development with regards to the Academics or Students, the Single University will top others not only in Nigeria but Africa. Quality is far better than Quantity. Why should a Government in this era, engage a Consultant to secure admission for Students in Foreign Universities ? I believe the Government and the Students stand to benefit with direct contact. The so call Consultants are now holding both the Government and the innocent Students at ransom. The earlier this contract is broken the better. The Financial loss by the Government and the suffering of the Students is too much. For the other projects intended for completion, the State Government should also make quality it’s priority. The Kano fly over though new and nice development to the Capital and State generally should not be least in Nigeria especially in terms of width to allow comfortablity and safety for the users. I have seen many fly overs with spacious provisions for the expected (2 Vehicles) going and coming, the junctions, Pedestrians use and even the breakdowns unlike the tiny Kano fly over. This important Murtala Muhammed Fly over need to be more spacious enough as obtained in other Nigerian Cities and World over. The current plan will be regretted in near future. This is an appeal which if taken and implemented will gladdened the Citizens of the State and all the would be users of the Fly over. I must however commend the past administration for the beautiful work at Kabuga and Gandan kaya junctions .