N100bn public investments wasting away in Kano

Kano state, northern Nigeria biggest commercial city, is at the moment wasting away an estimated sum of over N100 billion as a result of policy inconsistency in the execution of some key social and economic enhancing projects initiated in the state in the past 17 years.

The over N100 billion public investments were initiated by previous administrations in the state, now being left completely abandoned or outrightly unattended to by the government of Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje.

Experts said the financial cost of the projects wasting away in the state is equivalent to the amount which is accruable to the state in eight years from its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), source.

Before the lockdown imposed on the state as a result of the prevailing Covil-19 pandemic, the state was generating an average N1 to N1.5billion monthly as IGR, but the recent outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic has pushed down the state monthly IGR collections to about N500 million.

BusinessDay observed that the projects are wasting away because of policy inconsistency and lack of political will on the part of the incumbent Ganduje Administration in the state to complete the projects that were initiated to address some of the major social challenges confronting the state, such as unemployment, and the massive housing and other infrastructural deficit being experienced in the urban and rural areas of the state.

One of the projects was the Kano ICT Park initiated by the Ibrahim Shekarau administration in 2010, which is to be housed in a 12 Story building constructed initially by the state government to house the ‘Kano State Investment and Property Company (KSIPC), which was converted to house the Park.

According to a source in the State Ministry of Finance, overN5 billion was invested by the state into the IT Park project, with the exit of the Shekarau administration from power, despite the sum invested the succeeding administration former governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso canceled the project and converted the building housing the project to a temporary site of a state university, he created.

Prior to the abandonment of the IT project, the then state commissioner for Science and Technology, Bashir S. Galadanchi had announced that the project was on the verge of take-off, with an agreement for the deployment of the IT infrastructure on a Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis had been signed with global IT companies, such as Google and others.

Galadanchi had assured the local and foreign investors participating in the Park that the building housing the project was ready for occupation within the next two or three months and that the formal commissioning was to hold before the end of the year 2010.

Similar projects that are presently wasting away is the 21 Development Institutes established by the administration of Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso that are situated in different parts of the state, designed particularly, tackle the mounting challenge of joblessness among young persons in the state, which facts gathered from the state ministry of finance, indicated has gulf more than N20 billion before it was abandoned.

The Institutes, includes, Agricultural Skills Acquisition Institute, Poultry Institute, in Danbatta, Farm Mechanization Institute, Fishers Institute, Livestock Institute, Institute of Horticulture, Film Institute, which is all situated in Baguda, a settlement 50 kilometer outside the state capital.

Others are: Kano Journalism Institute, Kano Sport Institute, Institute of Hospitality and Tourism, Kano Corporate Security Institute, Gabasawa, Kiru Reformatory Institute, Informatics Institute, Kura, and Institute of Post Basic Mid-Wifery, Gezawa, and Kano Chinese College, Madobi.

Before the handover of power by the Kwankwaso administration to the incumbent administration over N20 billions of public fund has been injected into the institute project.

Another project, currently wasting away in the state are the three housing estates-‘Kwankwasiyya City’ situated in Ungogo Local Government Area of the state, and two other ones, ‘Amana City’, and ‘Bandirawo City’ sited along the kano –Kaduna Highway which was also initiated by the Kwankwaso administration.

In the 2014 financial year alone, over N27 billion was expended by in the state government for the completion of the various categories of houses built to bridge the accommodation gap, particularly, for low-income earners in the state.

On the spot checks conducted by BusinessDay on Thursday, indicates that most of the houses at the estates have been completed, but the succeeding Ganduje administration has refused to necessitate actions that will ensure that the houses are put into any economic use.

The other abandoned project in the state, was the 5 kilometers each road project started in each of the 44 local Government Areas by the former governor Kwankwaso which has gulf over N25 billion, but has been left unattended to Ganduje administration since coming to office five years.

There is also the 6.7-kilometer ‘Wuju Wuyu Road project being constructed on the ‘Jakara River’ inside the Ancient District section of the state capital, also initiated by the Kwankaso Administration which has engulfed over N8.5 billion being cost of construction work, and payment of compensation, but has remained abandoned by the Ganduje administration.

Commenting on what was described as the continuing wastage of public fund by the governments in the state, Sani Aliyu, a public affairs analyst says the on-going development as very disheartening and embarrassing to the people of the state.

Sani stated that the over N100 billion invested in those projects is equal to about 9 months of the state`s monthly revenue allocation from the Federation Accounts.

Kano, Nigeria`s most populous state with an estimated population of over 12 million, before the national lockdown as a result of the Covid-19 incidence, is known to be receiving about N10.9 billion including VAT monthly from the Federation Accounts.

Experts are worried that the state has continued to waste resource when the state`s economic indicator has put poverty rate is at 67 percent, one of the highest in the country, while the unemployment rate has also increased to about 25 percent.