Kano Spends N1.9bn on Local, International Scholarships 

By Ibrahim Shuaibu in Kano

Kano State Government has so far spent the sum of N1,874,261,573.80 as Special intervention for tuition and upkeep allowances for 61,989 students of the state in local and international tertiary institutions..

Speaking to reporters on Friday in Kano to dismiss the claims by the Opposition, the State Commissioner for Information, Malam Mohammed Garba, insisted that no Kano student under Ganduje-led administration had been sent home due to non-payment of their tuition and upkeep allowances.

According to him, currently, the Kano State Government was sponsoring over 61,989 students both locally and internationally, adding that the State Government’s special intervention was for 10 months.

The current administration inherited the scholarship scheme  from the immediate- past Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso administration, which was characterised by huge debt profile and alleged discrepancies in the award of the scholarship scheme, which involved the use of Consultants.

On accreditation, Garba explained that when the current administration came on board, only two out of 57 courses were accredited, a situation that compelled the state Government to pay the National Universities Commission (NUC) N213 million for proper accreditation of the courses  at Kano University of Science and Technology (KUST), Yusuf Maitama Yusuf University and Kano State Polytechnic.

Garba disclosed that the State Government’s monthly wage bill for the over 151,448 employees, excluding the Judiciary and the two state-owned Universities stood at N9.2 billion, amounting to N110.4 billion annually.

However, he said the State Government generates between N1. 5 and N1.6 billion monthly against its projected target of N2.5billion, which it assured of achieving by next year, all things been equal.

Despite the current financial challenges confronting most states in the country, the state Government had not reneged in the prompt payment of salaries of civil servants in the state as at when due.