Kano Won’t Witness Banditry, Insurgency, Ethnic Clashes, Says Ganduje

Ibrahim Shuaibu in Kano

Governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has declared that his state will not witness banditry, armed robbery and ethnic clashes.

Speaking at a Town Hall meeting/presentations of progress reports on his sixth anniversary in power, held in Kano last Saturday, Ganduje said his administration would continue towards achieving lasting peace and stability in the state.

According to him, “As many ethnic groups found harbor in Kano State, that means the state has become a mini Nigeria,” pledging that his administration would continue to uphold the principle of “oneness of Nigeria.”

“We promise that everybody is an indigene of Kano State. No discrimination, no segregation. In the state, we’re enjoying relative peace. It is peaceful. We will continue towards sustaining this peace in a way that there will be no armed robbery, no ethnic clashes, no banditry or insurgency.

“Nigeria is one and in Kano State, we will maintain this principle of oneness of Nigeria, because the state is a mini-Nigeria where everybody is recognised as an indigene,” he said.

Speaking briefly after some of his commissioners presented their reports, Ganduje said his administration has done “extremely well” in the development of education in the state, promising that his administration would continue with the free, compulsory basic and secondary education policy.

He maintained that education in the state is free and compulsory from primary to secondary level, adding that the most important thing is the political will which has been demonstrated.

Ganduje further stated that another challenge is the funding, adding: “We have paid our entire counterpart funding. The UBEC counterpart funding has been paid to the letter running into billions of naira. The federal government has also succeeded in paying its counterpart funding.”

According to him, “The state government also established the Education Trust Fund where five percent of our Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and five percent of the local government funds are channeled into education.”

Also, in health, Ganduje said apart from the Contributory Health Scheme, where civil servants contribute for free medical services, “we also collect five percent of our IGR and five percent of our local government funds to fund the health sector.

“Today, we are sending another batch of 200 youths to Kaduna where they will spend one year. We are taking care of their accommodation, feeding and everything.”

Speaking earlier in his welcome address, the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Alhaji Usman Alhaji, said Ganduje took very seriously the welfare of workers in the state, which culminated into a success story in this last six years where workers salary are paid as at when due.

In party politics, the SSG revealed that: “We have over three million members of APC in Kano which is the highest across the country. This is because our leader, the governor, is committed to the development of the state and our great party.”