That Kano State is changing is no longer news. It’s a trite. That Governor Kwankwaso is working is not only a statement of fact but an understatement. Kwankwaso is the present day mythical King Midas, who turns around waste to wealth, transforms rubbles to bubbles, theft to thrift, and dysfunctional to functional.
Determination, patriotism and prudence are the linchpins that underpin Kwankwaso’s success, and then draw him accolades from far and near. Predictably, the awards come, day in day out, in torrents, rings of garlands file everyday his neck and a deluge of trophies dotted every space of his office.
The selection of Gov. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of Kano State as the co-winner of the Man of the Year award by the Sun newspapers did not come to most of us as surprise. In view of his unprecedented achievements in the urban and rural renewal, education, healthcare delivery and sports development, one cannot but agree with the editors of the Sun that the award is being given to whom honor is due. In fact, if there is a rating agency or a magazine that measures achievements of governors across the globe, I won’t be surprised to see Kwankwaso winning.
Kwankwaso started his second tenure with stopping theft of public funds by canceling the infamous security vote, purging bogus overheads and wedging frivolous expenditures by MDAs. When compared with the monthly recurrent expenditures of the immediate past administration, Kwankwaso saves up to N500 million every month. It was in recognition of his “sound achievements in public financial management, transparency, accountability and respect for the rule of law” that he received an award from MIS Training Institute of Nigeria in May last year.
Kwankwaso then initiated measures that jerked up the Internally Generated Revenue of the state from N400 million to about N2 billion monthly. In ensuring fiscal discipline, Kwankwaso was able to make capital expenditure higher than recurrent votes (2012: 63% capital, 37% recurrent; 2013 75% capital, 25% recurrent) and achieved up to 85% budget implementation in 2012 and 2013. He is the first governor to achieve 2:1 ratio in favour of capital vote. This and many other indicators therefore prompted the Transparency in Nigeria to select him as Best Governor of the Year in terms of budget discipline.
Education being the focal area of his administration, Kwankwaso ensured that all primary and post-primary schools are rejuvenated, fenced and equipped.
He constructed more than 1,600 classrooms and 800 offices. As a measure to hop up the enrollment level and motivate the pupils, Kwankwaso reintroduced the free feeding and distribution of free sets of uniform for all primary school pupils. The workaholic governor also introduced the establishment of boarding primary schools in each of the Senatorial Zones of the state, converted some abandoned public buildings into standard secondary schools (Governor’s College, GGSS Janbaki and First Lady’s College). No wonder, the National Union of Teachers crowned him Governor of the Year at its 82nd Founders Day in July 2013.
On tertiary education, he established the first and second state owned universities; that is the Kano University of Technology, Wudil (in his first tenure) and the North West University in his second tenure. On foreign scholarship, he has so far sponsored over 2000 students to universities across the world to study Medicine, Nursing, Piloting, Aeronautical Engineering, Pharmacy, and Marine Engineering, etc.
Additionally, Kwankwaso established 23 new training institutes for vocational training and professional development. They include Film Academy, Sports Institute, Institute of Horticulture, Corporate Security Training Institute, Driving Institute, Farm Mechanization Institute, Horticulture Institute, Fisheries Institute, Irrigation Institute, Journalism Institute, Entrepreneurship Institute, Reformatory Institutes Institute, among others. The foregoing achievements obviously captured the attention of Senior Staff Union of Colleges of Education in Nigeria to give him a Merit Award in August 2013 in recognition to his sterling achievements and support to education.
On infrastructural development, three new cities of Kwankwasiyya, Amana and Bandirawo were established with the aim of decongesting the metropolis and providing planned layouts to meet the housing need of the people. The government is also constructing five kilometer dualised roads with drainages and street lights in each of the 44 Local Government Areas of the state. Kano’s superimposing flyover built by Kwankwaso at the city centre is captivating sight. The flyover, which is at about 85 percent completion stage, is the first of a kind in Northern Nigeria. The second flyover, covering more than one kilometer, is already taking shape as construction work takes place day and night.
Under the present administration, over 620,000 indigenes of Kano were either trained and empowered or sourced employment for. This will positively impact on the lives of estimated three million people. As part of his effort to create jobs and boost economic prosperity, Kwankwaso established 44 garment industries, one in each of the 44 LGA of the state. Both lists of the wards and projects are seemingly infinite.
Kwankwaso achieves his goals with finesse and governs with passion, stamina and discipline. I believe if the art of good governance would be co-opted into Ballon d’Or or Grammy Awards, Christiano Ronaldo or Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Bruno Mars and the like may hardly realise their dreams.
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