Kano Government, Ex-Commissioner Trade Words Over 2025 Budget Performance

Former Kano State Commissioner for Information and Internal Affairs under ex-Governor Umar Ganduje, Comrade Muhammad Garba, and the Kano State Government have traded accusations over the performance of the 2025 budget.

Garba, who is also Chief of Staff to the former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), described the budget performance of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP)-led administration in the first three quarters of 2025 as “embarrassingly poor and unacceptable.”

In a statement, he said a recent online budget review placed the state’s capital budget performance between January and September 2025 at below 40 per cent, warning that the figures exposed “the gap between the administration’s public rhetoric and its actual delivery.”

On the water sector, Garba alleged that despite the Kano State Water Board receiving N5.6 billion for capital projects, it “did not spend a single naira within the same period,” a situation he described as “a shocking dereliction of duty in a state battling acute water scarcity.”

“It is tragic that a government which declared a state of emergency on water supply has failed to invest even one per cent of the Water Board’s allocation,” he said.

Garba added that the abandonment of the Tiga Hydropower Project in favour of continued power purchase from KEDCO meant the government was “paying millions of naira monthly for electricity possibly for personal benefits of some actors.”

He also faulted the education sector performance, stating that although the government allocated the highest share of the budget to education after declaring a state of emergency, “the results have been a monumental disappointment.”

He claimed that the Ministry of Education recorded 32.2 per cent capital performance, while the Ministry of Higher Education achieved only 7.7 per cent.

“Local schools remain underfunded, overcrowded and poorly equipped, while completed projects like the Mega Secondary School along Court Road have been abandoned,” he said, describing also the government’s overseas scholarship programme as “political patronage rather than genuine education reform.”

On health, Garba alleged that only N7.9 billion out of N65.7 billion capital allocation had been utilised by September 2025, warning that “failure to fund primary healthcare and water infrastructure is costing lives,” especially in view of recurrent cholera outbreaks and high maternal and infant mortality.

He also criticised ongoing road projects, saying, “The surface scraping and overlay projects being celebrated are haphazard and have created traffic chaos,” and questioned the credibility of the proposed N1 trillion budget, arguing that “when a government cannot implement even half of its approved budget, proposing a trillion-naira budget becomes nothing more than a political performance.”

However, the Commissioner for Water Resources, Umar Haruna Muhammad Doguwa, swiftly dismissed Garba’s claims as “selective, politically motivated and misleading.”

“It baffles me to read the recent statement by Muhammad Garba making several false allegations on the credible Abba-led administration’s 2025 budget performance,” Doguwa said in a press statement.

According to him, “budget releases are phased, not done in a single cycle, and many capital projects only took off fully in Q3 and Q4.”

Reacting specifically to the water sector claims, Doguwa said the NNPP government inherited “massive power debts to KEDCO of over N2 billion” from the previous administration, which crippled water pumping stations.

He also challenged the narrative around the Tiga Hydropower Project, stating that it was “left at about 70 per cent completion without a functional evacuation line and could not power any water infrastructure.”

He said the present administration has since commenced practical interventions, including “rehabilitation of major water works at Tamburawa, Challawa and Watari, procurement of 10 new high-capacity raw water pumps, and prompt payment of energy bills and treatment chemicals to ensure steady water supply.”

On education, Doguwa said Garba ignored the fact that “over 1,000 basic education facilities are currently being constructed or renovated across the state,” while more than 12,000 teachers have been recruited to address shortages. He added that overseas scholarships form “only one component of a broader education reform.”

The commissioner also countered the health sector allegations, saying “over 70 health facilities are currently under upgrade or reconstruction,” and that budget utilisation reflects procurement processes “not neglect.”

On roads and infrastructure, he insisted that projects were not cosmetic, noting that “major roads in Kano metropolis and key LGAs are under full reconstruction with drainage and culverts, not mere overlays,” adding that traffic diversions were temporary.

Defending the trillion-naira budget proposal, Doguwa said it was driven by “expanded revenue through blocked leakages, restored IGR channels and federal grants,” stressing that “the 2026 budget is a development strategy, not a political stunt.”

He concluded that Garba’s comments were “the usual opposition rhetoric that ignores context, exaggerates figures and refuses to acknowledge ongoing reforms,” urging the public to rely on full-year budget assessments.