What is the state of infrastructure development at the Yusuf Maitama University?
The Yusuf Maitama Sule University issue, we inherited a number of mega capital projects. In fact, just last week, I was able to complete the latest, that is, Yahaya Gusau work. Yes, we completed it. Others were completed a long time ago. The ones initiated and executed by Malam Shekarau, abandoned for over ten years.
When the previous administration came, it did not even look at it for four years. So, only lizards and rats were there. That one too, I am the person that put it to use in the last two years. Hydro electricity,which we inherited, work is still going on at Tiga and Chalawa dams. The Tiga dam is about 95% completed while Challawa is just 20% due to some technical issues here and there.
Meanwhile, as I lay this foundation, it is to show you that we inherited many capital projects; some have been completed, some are ongoing, some are still on going at a slow rate due to financial problems. But I assure you we will complete them during this tenure.
Those two faculties of the university at the permanent site that are still lagging behind are not due to lack of interest. We introduced free and compulsory education, which is heavily loaded including financial commitment, because of increase in enrolment and other infrastructure improvement. So, that has affected tertiary education. In fact, lower education has affected higher education as a result of financial commitment. I think that is the reason
What is your stance on the current discussion on the issues of judicial and local government autonomy?
The independence of judiciary and the independence of local governments, you even forgot one, the independence of the legislature, if I can add it for you. Let’s start with the judiciary. We have no problem with the independence of the Judiciary, in fact, the Judiciary is independent. You can even win an election and they will cancel it. If they are not independent, how can we agree if they cancel our election?
As a governor, you are serving, you don’t know what will happen tomorrow. You sleep well and wake up in the morning and you find out that you are no longer a governor. Is there any independence that supersedes that one? Their only issue is that of financial independence.
Here in Kano State, we have no problem with that. We have been paying the judiciary what they are supposed to be paid. They have also acknowledged that we have been paying what we are expected to pay. So, we have no problem with that.
The local governments too are independent. We conducted free and fair elections at local governments. We always give them what is due to them at the local governments but sometimes we have joint projects. So, they too are independent. We believe in the independence of these bodies.
A lot has been said about the Almajiri integration in the state, yet, the first set of pupils is yet to graduate. What is happening?
Almajiri issue is a real problem. It’s a big problem. What we anticipated was a decision by the northern states government to have the same legislation preventing the movement of school age children from one state to another. But we have not succeeded in that. Kano State, being a commercial nerve centre of the northern part of this country and commercial nerve centre of some West African countries, we have children from all over the northern part of this country and from Niger and from Tchad.
We established three mega schools for the Almajiris. We have completed the admission, but the children that we decide to take back to their respective states, sometimes they come back even before our officials come back, because the corresponding states have not taken the issue as seriously as we have done.
So, it is an issue that we have to go back to the drawing board. To be frank with you, with the amount of insecurity all over, we are handling the issue with care but our enrollment is on and it will be open.
We have over three thousand Almajiris. Some, we have taken back to their neighbourhood schools, the indigines of Kano. So, the only problem we have is the Almajiris coming from other states, whom we embarked on returning back to their states but it’s an issue we cannot say we have succeeded. But since we have the political will, we’ll match on.
Your government recently announced converting 5000 civil servants in the state with education qualification, what is so far the outcome?
We have appointed an Implementation Committee and it is working on that. I think your answer is short, because you are on it asking about the genesis.
Recently, the issue of secession has become a national issue, what do you advise to keep Nigeria as one indivisible entity?
People, who are urging for splitting the country, calling for secession, of course it’s a democracy, but I’m confident that Nigeria will continue to be one indivisible country. I don’t want to comment on those, who are calling for the split, because they are young people, who did not experience the civil war and I am happy their elders are also making the same comments.
So, Nigeria will continue to be one and there is confidence, because just last week, Ohanaeza Indigbo revealed a resolution that they are not behind the Biafra project, they are behind the unity of Nigeria. That is very encouraging and we are hearing it from an important regional association.
Also, the Arewa Consultative Forum, of course is behind one Nigeria and has not been advocating for the fragmentation of Nigeria. Afenifere also made a resolution that they are behind one Nigeria, they are not behind those who are calling for the split of the country. The same thing with the National Coalition of the Middle Belt People, they too say they believe in one Nigeria. So, who else will succeed in splitting the country?
In fact, I made a call to these regional associations, since they all believe in one Nigeria, let them come together and fashion out our diversity, identify our differences, identify our similarities and ensure that our diversity, which is our source of problem and a challenge; they should convert the challenge into an opportunity. It is possible.
So, these regional bodies should meet and find out how they can convert our differences into opportunities for the unity of this country. Some of us believe our diversity is a blessing. Individual ethnic nationalities have some inherent trends that if properly harnessed will take Nigeria forward. All that we require is that we should respect our differences and convert our challenges into opportunities.
Your administration has initiated some projects in the state like Daula Hotel, Cancer Treatment Center and the Economic City. How can these projects be completed during your tenure judging by the crisis of continuity?
You said we started mega projects. I think maybe you don’t seem to understand the history of some of the projects. Some of them that you have mentioned are under PPP. So, it is not solely a state government project. But when you are talking of the Cancer Treatment Centre, 95% of the equipment is on the ground, multi billion naira equipment.
But some of the work only stopped for two weeks during the Covid-19. If you care to go and check,there is always work going on there. We believe by December or the first quarter of 2022, the Centre will be commissioned, because 95% of the equipment is on ground and the construction work is on.
Daula is under PPP, the contractors are also going at high speed. You know at the foundation level, that is where you spend a lot of time, because of the nature of soil and so on. But if you go there, I think you will see how work is going on.
We have a five star hotel there replacing the Daula Hotel. We have a shopping mall there and other sites and services, which are all handled by private individuals and the Kano State government has its own share of the hotel. Then if you go to the Triumph, the site for Triumph, the building has been demolished.
The structures that are coming up are for a modern bureau de change market.
If you go there, you will see some work going on. Also at the Shahuji, where we demolished one building, which was about to collapse and we were advised by engineers. It was built by the previous administration but it was poorly constructed, so we had to demolish it.
With the PPP project, if you go there you will see a number of projects, a complex, commercial market is already there and we started to do a flyover and even a tunnel. So, that one too will be completed by the Private Sector. That one is not a project that is purely a government project. So, we assure you, those which are purely government projects we will be able to complete them. In fact, we have not even started a mega project, the Muhammadu Buhari Rotary Interchange, which our engineers went round to find out how they manage traffic and how they will come up with modern designs to manage traffic jams. They came up with a beautiful design. We have already awarded the contract. The vice-president is coming and we will lay the foundation. We are finishing that project within fifteen months once it is started.
We are seriously calculating and it will be finished in this tenure. So, we assure you that we will finish most of our projects. For the ones that will not be completed, governance is continuous, we inherited some, some people will also inherit from us. But I believe it will be few but it is not our fault anyway to leave an uncompleted project, because governance is continuous.
What is your take on rotational presidency?
You mentioned presidential candidates and zoning, the candidates will be determined by the delegates when the time comes.
With the complexity of Kano’s politics, how do you intend to resolve the succession battle?
On the issue of politics in Kano, there are so many governorship aspirants in the state and for the House of Representatives and also Senators. So, complex in Kano, how do I tackle the problem? Well, looking at the antecedents of the governor, his political dexterity, he too is complicated, complex in politics, so time will tell and the issue will be solved democratically.
Recently, your counterpart from Katsina, Governor Aminu Masari said, he would retire from active politics in 2023, are you going along the same path?
You said the governor of Katsina Aminu Masari said he will retire from active politics in 2023, but I don’t know whether he is tired or not tired. But you want me to tell you whether I will retire as well. Well, I’m not tired anyway. But whether I will resign or not, time will tell. But I can tell you that I have been in politics since 1978. So, even if I retire, I think my ears are on what is happening.
What qualities are you expecting from the person that is going to succeed you?
You asked which type of quality I will look for in my successor. When you finished your question I said in Hausa “No za ka yiwa wayo?” (You think you can deceive me?). After praising me for not showing priority, you are coming from the backdoor so that if I mention the qualities you will compute the qualities with the individuals, so, it will be the delegates that will do that.
On the issue of pensioners in the state, the situation in the pension house is pathetic. Former governor Malam Ibrahim Shekarau said he left N9 billion, when he was leaving office. But today pensioners don’t have the confidence that they will get their gratuities in the next three years after retiring. What plans do you have for pensioners in the state before the expiration of your tenure?
The N9 billion left by the Malam Shekarau administration, the Ganduje administration did not meet that. The Ganduje administration met some N4 billion of pension but as loan with the housing scheme. They were given the houses. The pensioners were given the houses, and the houses are costly. Up till now, they have not been sold. Before he left, he even gave out some of the houses to some institutions, some to individuals. So we didn’t meet any money for the pensioners. So, that is one issue you should understand.
The second issue is that we don’t have enough income like Malam Ibrahim Shekarau had or Kwankwaso had. Some states are even finding it difficult to pay salaries. Some are owing the government’s salaries. So, it’s due to financial problems that we are having. But I am assuring you that it is due to financial problems.
Sometimes we had to revert to the former salary scale used before the improvement of the salary scale. You can see the problem that we are facing. But you know we cannot borrow money from banks and pay pensioners or pay salaries. We borrow money from banks for capital projects, because some will be revenue generating while some will be of benefit to everybody.
So, that is the situation. We are praying and we are committed to improving our revenue generation. But even this is very difficult, because of the general economy of the nation. So, we will try and see how we can assist. Those who can sell their houses, the pension is an agency, they have enough houses, which they can sell but I assure you, even if they sell the houses, the houses will be consumed by the liabilities.
What plans do you have for female inclusion in politics come 2023?
Gender in politics. We will introduce some measures. First of all, we will make sure that the application forms will be free for women. Also, we will have dialogue with some stakeholders to allow women to participate actively and be allowed to win elections. We tried during the local government elections, but you know local government elections are local. We tried but chairman; I don’t know whether we even have a councillor.
So, we decided to appoint women in our councils since they couldn’t break through the elections. And even during the 2019 election, there were some young women, who contested for the House of Representatives. We tried by trying to convince the men to allow them to contest. They were not able to get the tickets. So, I decided to engage them actively and they are working very hard and probably will go back to the ring. But we appreciated their efforts and that was why we rewarded them with good appointments.
What measures will you put in place to give access to journalist, when they seek data or information from the state?
On the issue of data sourcing from the commissioners, I think this is for the Information, when you are looking for information and data from the commissioners and the advisers, I think this should not be a problem. If you are looking for information, contact your colleague the commissioner for information. Any information you need, any data you need, any commissioner you want to access, I think there will be a way for you to do that. If there is any difficulty about that, the commissioner should bring it to the Executive Council.
What is the current stage on the issue of Light Rail introduced by your administration?
We have signed an agreement contract with EEC for the construction of light rail in Kano State. We have applied to the federal government. The Chinese Bank has approved the loan for the project. The federal government is working with Chinese government on an agreement that will be signed between the federal government and the Chinese government. The issue will soon be tabled to the Federal Executive Council after which it will go to the Senate. I believe by the end of this year, everything will be on the ground for the start of the light rail project in Kano.
Kano is a mega city. We are trying to introduce a mass transit system in cooperation with the light rail. Just at the last executive council meeting, we approved N2.5 billion for the purchase of buses through PPP. Then we identified some routs, which will be designated for the mass transit. So, the light rail is on course and it’s one of our big dreams that we want to actualise. But you know it cannot be completed within one tenure. It’s a long process. All what we require is to lay the foundation, start the project and coming government will complete it.
On sports, how do you plan to enhance and strengthen the Kano Pillars and second, is it true that you are a fan of Manchester United?
Kano Pillars have ten marches. We have been on top and we are going to maintain our position. There are certain things that I cannot tell you and there are certain things that I can tell you. That is the secret of, even in elections, if you asked how you win the elections not everyone can tell you.
First of all, we have been donating buses. The Kano Pillars have three luxurious buses. Two were by individuals and one was by the state government. That is a kind of encouragement and also, all other logistics. We want to double our efforts with our logistics so that they can maintain the lead.
Yesterday, as we were handing over one bus to the Kano Pillars, they scored one goal in Kaduna but it was cancelled. Then finally it was a draw 0-0. But we maintained that position, which allows us to be on top. So, I assure you that we are conscious of the progress of the Kano Pillars. We will do all that it takes to ensure that they succeed. We will come on top.
You asked me about my team, whether I belong to Manchester United or Kano Pillars. Mind you,Ganduje Babes are also on line.
