Sani: Cost-cutting, Other Austerity Measures Aiding Kaduna’s Growth

*Reveals slash in salaries, suspension of expenditure on official perks

Deji Elumoye in Abuja

Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State has disclosed that his government’s cost-cutting measures have assisted his state achieve significant infrastructural development despite financial constraints.
He also said his administration’s focus on addressing the crisis of out-of-school children, through the determined investment into upgrading the education system, has yielded reduction of out-of-school children by 300,000 within six months.

Sani, who made this known yesterday while speaking with journalists at the State House in Abuja, after a meeting with President Bola  Tinubu, said the state government has implemented austerity measures, including a ban on purchasing new vehicles for officials and reducing allowances for commissioners, advisers, and the governor himself, who now receives half salary monthly.
According to him, these measures have enabled the administration to focus on essential services, including education, healthcare, and other infrastructure development, notable among which are upgrading of schools, healthcare facilities, and critical infrastructure, such as roads and bridges.

He said: “Yes, we embarked on a very serious adjustment, like you are aware, we made it clear that we need to reduce the cost of governance in Kaduna State. To date, we have not bought a single vehicle for any government official in Kaduna State. That’s really helped us.
“We’ve reduced the allowances of all our commissioners, advisers, even my humble self, receiving half of my salary since I became governor of Kaduna State, and I’ve not had a single new vehicle as a governor.
“So we tremendously reduced the cost of governance and that’s the way to go if we really want to address our problems and improve on major areas of education, healthcare infrastructure.”

The governor said the state has reduced the number of out-of-school children in the state by approximately 300,000 over the past six months, following massive investments in educational infrastructure.

According to reports by the Kaduna State Bureau of Statistics, Kaduna is estimated to have 768,739 out of school children at the basic level of education (Basic 1 to 9)

Sani detailed the state’s educational achievements, which include the construction of 62 new secondary schools and 2,340 primary school classrooms, alongside a strategic teacher recruitment drive.

He also spoke on the judicious application of the state’s meagre resources to develop infrastructure for the people of the state.

His words: “I informed him that in the last six months, we have reduced the number of other schools to the tune of about 300,000 because we built about 62 secondary schools in Kaduna, 2,340 classroom in primary schools, we have employed teachers.

“We have also been able to reconstruct, remodel and equip about 12 secondary healthcare centers in Kaduna State. Not to talk about the 62 roads we are constructing, totaling about 700 kilometres across Kaduna state. Some of them have been completed and commissioned, some are still in progress.

“We’ve already also bought about 100 CNG buses in Kaduna State, which we are also calling on Mr. President to come to Kaduna to commission for us. All these are in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of Mr. President,” he said.

Sani said he was at the State House to brief the President on situation of things in his state, especially as it relates to security, which he said has greatly improved.

According to him, “This is just a routine visit to see Mr. President and brief him on the situation in Kaduna, generally and of course, we had a very fruitful discussion with Mr. President.

“I briefed him about the situations in my own state, particularly state of security, which you aware that we are making a lot of progress. In the last few months, we have not had any major security problems in Kaduna.

“I also briefed him on the situations in regard to governance generally, and some of the challenges we are facing and some of the progress we’ve made in areas that are very critical in Kaduna.

“We have had a very robust collaboration with security agencies in Kaduna State. We also increased the level of synergy between the security agencies, government and other relevant stakeholders that have been helping the state in terms of intelligence gathering and sharing.

“So for me, we made it clear that security issues is the responsibility of every citizen of Kaduna, not only the security agencies, and that has really helped us to address the problem.

“I was in Birnin Gwari last month, and of course, I was informed by the Emir that in the last few months we have not had a single incident of insurgency or banditry in Birnin Gwari local government,”he said.