‘Our goal is to re-invent Kano as a leading centre of culture & commerce in Nigeria’  

What is the strategic thinking behind the administration of Governor Umar Ganduje?

Like we all know ‘He who failed to plan, has planned to fail’ my state governor His Excellency, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje is one individual that is very focused, and very meticulous in execution of his plans. Immediately I assumed the office of the state commissioner for Planning and Budget, the first thing he made me to understand was that effective planning is the key in whatever his administration will be embarking upon, especially now when things are extremely very hard in the country as a result of the current downward movement in the price of crude oil at the international market, a such this trend has made strategic planning very imperative in governance. One of the recommendations contained in the charge he gave me was that we as government in our planning must focus on policies and programmes that will have the desired impact on the wellbeing of the people of the state. In order to mitigate the effect of the declining revenue from the federation sources, he said we need to boost the internally generated revenue capacity of the state to ensure that the state do not suffer, and to buttressed the seriousness attach to his matching order, he inaugurated a high power committee to examine how to boost the revenue from the IGR source, this committee comprises of eminent individuals drawn from various sectors, technocrats, and people from the academia inclusive, the outcome of the work of the committee, led to the setting up of an implementation committee which look into the recommendations of the initial committee, and came out with an action plan which the administration is now implementing, apart from this, in the area of planning, His Excellency made it clear that apart from the issue of declining revenue from the federation account which required that the state plan properly, there is the need to build a solid revenue base from IGR, and he projected that in going forward the state would be financing its budget with about 70percent to 80percent from revenue from the IGR sources, you can see that in our budget for this year our focus on IGR was higher than it is from Federal sources, and apart from that, the Government has focused on cost reduction, which is premised on the thinking that even if you boost your IGR and your cost is still high the benefit will be eroded; that is why cost saving started, and Kano State was the first state in the federation that reduced its ministries from what they were in the past to 14, we merged the ministries, and streamlined their activities to ensure that cost are reduced. His Excellency had reduced his own salary, that of his deputy, and all the political appointees in the state by 50percent that was another area of saving cost, and it may interest you to know that none of the new political appointees has been given new vehicles, so all the vehicles that were given in the past were refurbished, and given to the new appointees in all the ministries, going further too now, there is an on-going biometric exercise in the state, checking to find out that all the civil servants that are said to be on the payroll are real people, and not ghost workers, we are doing this because we find out that the size of our workers salary was going up, and we are committing the bulk of our collections from the Federation Account to servicing salary, so we are very optimist that by the time the biometric on the payroll is concluded only real human beings, who are civil servants will be on the payroll, and the system is done in a way that all the civil servants, their data which include their date of birth, the date which they joined the service, are captured, so that when the person is due for retirement his profile will be automatically moved from Payroll to the Pension, and even the pension roll is being subjected to payroll screening to ensure that only genuine pensioners are getting paid as and when due; all these are areas of cost-cutting that has reached a level where savings are being made, in addition to boosting the IGR that enables the government to continue to discharge its responsibilities to the good people of the state, despite the downward movement of the economy. We found that among the states of the federation, Kano remains among the few that have not failed to pay salary regularly, it is one state that its civil servants are paid as and when due because of the prudency, and pro-activeness of the governor.

The vision of His Excellency is to ensure that Kano State stands out as a point of reference in the federation, and also to ensure that agriculture becomes the driving sector of the state’s economy, and he also wants to see that education is given to all the people that are supposed to be in school. He also desires to see that the population of the state is healthy, and that the environment is kept clean, and safe for the people of the state, so by and large in the end government is desirous of leaving a legacy of state, that is functional, where the populace are healthy, educated and vibrant, and an economy that is based on self-sustenance, able to provide the jobs that are needed, and food is available on the table of every indigene of the state, and a situation whereby the state can feed the whole country, and beyond.

I believe you have moved round Kano, and you can see for yourself that all the projects started by the last administration which His Excellency was part of, have not stopped, the projects are being completed, and commissioned almost on a weekly basis; some of the projects that started before the last administration and were abandoned are being completed; for instance, in order to ensure there is health care available for everybody, there is a particular hospital at Zoo Road for children started under the former administration of Ibrahim Shekarau, it has been completed, you can attest to this, what remains now for the hospital to become functional are installation of facilities, and fittings which are coming in from overseas. Another hospital for children which is in Giginyu area of the metropolis, designated for children is also being completed. Looking at urban infrastructure, you will agree with me that Kano State is far ahead of most other states in the Federation, even Abuja, cannot push the state aside, judging from what has been achieved in this area. If you come to Kano at night the streets are well lit, which has greatly assisted in the management of security in the state, and the streets are also now very clean and neat, the building of infrastructure has provided jobs for many people in the state. Coming back to healthcare, it is during the regime of Governor Ganduje that Kano State was declared polio free. So far, it is now over a year that the state has been certified free from new outbreak of Wild Polio Virus (WPV), it is also under the regime of Governor Ganduje that 44,000 people were given free eye treatment, some people were given eye glasses, some were operated upon, while others who were almost blind, had their sight restored, the beneficiaries of this free eye treatment initiative were people who ordinarily were unable to access the treatment due to financial reason. Coming to agriculture, since the coming in of the administration of Governor Ganduje, emphasis has been placed on the development of irrigation facilities across the state, in order to facilitate farming which is one of the main areas of competencies of the people of the state. Farmers, especially, the wheat farmers benefited from a N100 million loan for seed, and implement purchases; the beneficiaries of the loan extended to the wheat farmers have been linked to buyers of the commodity, and we are glad to note that the wheat that is produced in Kano is one of the best in the world. So empowerment has been given to the wheat farmers, and by the next harvest, wheat importation will be history in the state. Kano State is also known for Rice production, and our rice farmers have been given necessary support, and full backing, and if you look around the farms, it will amaze you that huge hectares of farm land have been put under cultivation, and all the people involved have been empowered, with market made available. If I go on, you will see that even in the area of women empowerment, His Excellency has done a lot in providing empowerment to ensure that our women who are the backbone of homes, and society, are supported. Towards this end, government has facilitated the provision of N2 billion credit facilities for mostly women operating in the micro, and small scale sub-sector of the economy, and for this funding, 60percent of the money is set aside mainly for women.

What are the key drivers of the state’s 2016 budget?

This year budget happened to be an interesting budget, it is bigger than all the budgets we’ve had in the past, and it is coming at a time when resources are really shrinking. If you look at what is coming in for the state from the federation account, compared with over the years what we were getting, it is now about 40percent, yet our budget is larger than what it had been in the past, what is responsible for this? It is simply because, from day one, His Excellency,  knew the need of the people of the state having been part of the previous government, and the wonderful work done by his predecessor, former governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, and he also has his own desire to leave a legacy of wonderful projects, and he believed that the development achieved in Kano city should be extended to the rural areas, so that the state can achieve an inclusive development. His first focus was that the achievement recorded in the urban areas should be replicated in the rural segments of the state. If you look at the budget, the bulk of it goes to infrastructure; roads are being extended to rural areas, where rain has been making it difficult to access farm lands, and the roads are being opened up, and connected so that produces can be transported quickly to urban areas for sale. In addition to that, education got the second highest allocation; as you know a large percentage of our young people are not in school, so the governor wants them in the formal school system, there are some of them that are out of the formal education sector, and some in the Islamiyya, and Koranic education system, this the governor wants integrated into the formal school system, so that they can benefit seamlessly. More classes are being constructed, teaching aides provided, hostels to be provided, and provision being made for seamless transition from basic education to secondary education, and to tertiary education.