The administration of former governor of Kano State, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje spent over N20 billion on 111, 687 indigent students for overseas postgraduate scholarship in 14 countries, five private universities, the Nigerian Law School and other Nigerian universities from June 2015 to March 2023.
Former commissioner for information and internal affairs in the administration, Malam Muhammad Garba, stated this in a statement he issued against the background of the claim by the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) that Ganduje had not paid foreign scholarships in his two-term of eight-years in office.
He said the amount covered tuition fees, upkeep, accommodation, air ticket, among others, adding that it was earmarked for students of post graduate foreign scholarship in India, Malaysia, Egypt, Cyprus, China, Turkey, Uganda, United Kingdom, Togo, Ireland, Gambia, Ukraine as well as internal universities.
Garba said available records indicate that in addition to the above, the former administration also sponsored 50 lecturers from its two universities and other tertiary institutions for their doctorate degrees in French prestigious universities under a programme jointly carried out between the French and Kano State government.
The commissioner pointed out that over N600 million was also spent on the joint tuition-free post graduate scholarship between the state government and the French Embassy in Nigeria.
He said it was unfortunate that the present government in the state was laying claims to the success of the foreign and local scholarship, while it left a burden of about $28 million and over N6 billion respectively, of which the Ganduje administration had settled more than 80 per cent of it.
Malam Garba stated further that the post graduate students were sent in three batches to top-ranking universities in France and some European countries, mostly to study science related courses.
The commissioner further stated that the Ganduje administration re-introduced the payment of scholarship allowances to indigenous students attending Nigerian universities and other tertiary institutions, which was completely abandoned by the Kwankwaso administration between 2011 and 2015.
He added that under the scheme, the sum of N865.4 million was disbursed as scholarship allowances and provision of logistics for the payment exercise to indigenous students in the five emirates across the 44 local governments of the state.
The commissioner said the former administration also reviewed upward by 50 per cent scholarship allowances to the students.
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