20th August, 2024
By Arome Attah
Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf came to office with a huge mandate and great expectations from the Kano people as the state chief executive elected with the highest number of votes in the Nigeria’s 2023 gubernatorial elections. Indeed, the very overwhelming mandate signified the belief by the very politically enlightened people of Kano State in the ability of Abba Yusuf to bring about a positive change in their social –economic circumstances. However, rather than allow him to immediately settle to begin to deliver on his promises to the people, the opposition in the state decided to distract the governor with legal obstacles with the result that the better part of Abba Yusuf’s first term in office were spent in navigating the legal obstacles.
Nevertheless, he kept his eyes on the ball and in the past one year, the people of Kano have not regretted entrusting their mandate to the only New Nigeria’s People Party, NNPP Governor in Nigeria. Abba Yusuf’s focus, resilience and determination not to let the people of Kano down in face of adversity was recently recognized by This Nigeria Newspaper with the conferment of the Most Courageous Governor of the Year Award for providing exceptional leadership to the people of Kano on him.
As noted that by the publishers of the newspaper, Governor Yusuf’s resilience and grace stood out even in the face of the numerous legal and political challenges he has had to endure in the one year he has been in office. Analysts say the publishers of the newspaper are spot on in their choice of Governor Abba Yusuf for the award. But Yusuf, or Abba Gida Gida, as he fondly called, has not just been resilient against the well-crafted plot to deny the people of Kano their mandate.
He has also been determined and focused in his resolve to deliver dividends of democracy to the people of Kano as the true beneficiary of their huge mandate.
Thus, in the past one year and a few months that he has been in office, Kano has witnessed improvements in its social-economic fortunes as the Governor implement various schemes to meet the demands of the people with emphasis on human capital Development, skills acquisition, empowerment of the youth and women, and promoting high-level manpower advancement. While it will be difficult to capture the strides of the Governor in this short article, but we will try to touch some of the major strides of the Yusuf’s administration in Kano, if not for anything, but for the sake of posterity.
In the basic education sector for example, where the Governor inherited over 4.7 million pupils sitting on the bare floor to learn, lacking in basic tools for learning with many schools in need of urgent rehabilitation. Therefore, it was not a surprise that one of the first initiatives of Governor Yusuf after assumption of office was to flag off the distribution of over two million educational materials to basic and post-basic schools in the state.
The Governor complimented this will building of new classrooms, laboratories, and modern libraries across schools in the state. He also lifted the financial burden of parents when he took over payment of registration fees for the Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE) for Kano Students. In addition, the Governor reduced tuition fees by 50 percent across all Kano State tertiary institutions to further make higher education accessible to Kano Students at universities, polytechnics and colleges. He also approved the released of 72 million naira for the accreditation of 68 courses at Kano State Polytechnic while 26 tertiary institutions established by Sen. Kwankwaso’s administration and abandoned by Ganduje’s administration were brought back to life.
Like a true disciple, Governor Yusuf further wowed the hearts of the Kano people when, like a true disciple, he decided to revive the foreign scholarship scheme of one of his predecessors, benefactor and the national leader of his party, Musa Kwankwaso. In one fell swoop, the governor doled out foreign post graduate- scholarships to over 1000 Kano indigenes who are now pursuing advances degrees at institutions of learning in various parts of the world.
The administration extended support to Kano State natives studying in tertiary institutions in various states with financial support for their registration fees. In the area of empowerment, Governor Yusuf initiated the monthly empowerment initiatives for women and youth, under which N50,000 grants are given to beneficiaries for investment in their Small and Medium Enterprises. Well over 5,200 women from all 44 local governments have benefited from the programme so far.
Aware that the Government cannot provide jobs for all unemployed people in the state, the Governor has also embarked on bringing back the 21 skills acquisition institutes centres in the state to life for the purpose of imparting skills in various trades and enterprises to the young people of Kano.
Governor Yusuf has also disbursed a total of N11 billion to thousands pensioners in the state to defray the humongous accumulated pension debts he inherited while he took office to the delight and relief of the pensioners and their families. The Governor also stopped unnecessary deduction from salary of workers and retirees while ensuring the workers get their salaries the 25th of every month.
Key among his interventions, especially in the health sector include the revocation of sale Hasiya Bayero Pediatric Hospital by his predecessor. The hospital has now been renovated and it is providing free care for children in the state. Many hospitals in the state have undergone similar rehabilitation. Also, the Yusuf administration has initiated rehabilitation of the many dilapidated roads he inherited when he assumed office in the state.
Aside approving of 3.6 billion naira for the expansion of Zaria road, Governor Yusuf embarked on the construction of 5 kilometer roads in the 44 local governments of the state as a way of providing relief to the people.
Yusuf has not left out the less privileged in his programmes in the past one year. He has implemented programmes to give succor to the people, especially in the face of bitting effect of fuel subsidy removal and spiraling inflation rate. Aside distribution of free grains to the less privilege, the Governor has also given out fertilizer, agricultural inputs and equipment to farmers in the state to boost food production. For Yusuf, it has been one year of correcting the rot and placing Kano on the pedestal of growth and sustainable development.
No doubt, the opposition going by recent events in Kano has not relented in the bid to distract the Governor. But with his resilience and the solid support of majority of the people, the horizon continue to look very bright in Kano as Yusuf continue to steer the ship of the commercial nerve centre of the Northern Nigeria.
Arome Attah is Abuja based analyst and media consultant
