We’ve Transformed Infrastructure, Education, Health – Kano Govt

Kano State government has attributed the strides it has recorded in infrastructure, education, healthcare delivery and other sectors to strong collaboration and support from the federal government.

Key members of the Kano State Executive Council (SEC) gave this indication while addressing journalists during the Presidential Media Team tour of government projects in Nigeria’s North-West in collaboration with the Governor Hope Uzodimma-led Renewed Hope Ambassadors.

Receiving the team led by the special adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, the Kano State commissioner for Information and Internal Affairs, Ibrahim Waiya, said apart from support, federal government projects such as the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano superhighway were impacting the lives of the people.

According to him, the Zaria- Kano (Section Three) stretch of the road has reduced travel time ‘to and fro’ the State to other parts of the country and boosted economic activities.

“This is a federal road that is very important to us in Kano.

We are a major beneficiary and pleased with the progress of the rehabilitation, which is nearing completion. Commuters can now travel more smoothly, even at night, particularly along the Dawakin Tofa axis into Kano,” Waiya said.

During a team and journalists’ visit to some projects, the commissioner for works, Marwan Aminu, said that, through increased federal allocations and internally generated revenue, the Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf-led administration initiated legacy infrastructure projects.

Aminu stated that the present administration initiated the soon-to-be-completed multi-billion Naira Dan Agundi and Tal’udu flyover bridges to ease traffic congestion in the nation’s centre of commerce.

“The multi-billion Naira flyover here in Dan Agundi is one of the most notorious junctions in Kano because it has a lot of traffic congestion. So His Excellency, in his wisdom, has decided to construct this multi-billion-dollar flyover.

“Here we have three-layer flyovers. We have an underpass which is dedicated to the Bayero University (BUK) road. So now, any traffic on the BUK road has been completely relieved. Then we have one coming from Gidan Murtala to Sharada. Anyone on this corridor will have to use the flyover to get to and from. Then we have the existing ground level, which connects to the Atiku Abubakar road.

“By the time this flyover is completed, we are sure that we are going to solve over 80% of the traffic congestion here in Kano. This flyover is going to be completed by the grace of God this month, May, Inshallah,” he stated.

The works commissioner also said Tal’udu is one of the notorious junctions in Kano, and that with the construction of a partial cloverleaf flyover, the state government has solved about 80% of the traffic congestion in the area.

For his part, the commissioner for environment and climate change, Dr Nura Hashim, said the Jakara–Kwarin Gogau–Zungeru drainage project, initially initiated by the state government but now taken over by the federal government, will address the hazardous environmental challenge around the surrounding 10 communities.

“This place used to be that open and with so much littering around this area. If you’re talking about sanitation levels, they’re very poor. And people living here always get exposed to malaria and other related environmental diseases.

“His Excellency has started this project at the tune of about N7 billion, which the State lacked the necessary resources to complete this whole project, because it reached up to the extent of 6.7 kilometres, and what we have been able to do now is one kilometre.

“So that prompted His Excellency to write to the President, requesting the President’s intervention, to see what the President can support Kano with. Luckily, President Bola Tinubu approved the tune of N47 billion to complete this project from this point where we are now, up to the end of this drainage system,” he added.

In the health sector, the commissioner in charge, Dr Abubakar Yusuf, said among other initiatives, the renovated Hasiya Bayero Paediatric and Muhammad Abdullahi Wase Specialist Hospitals were addressing the challenges hitherto faced by the people.

Yusuf noted that the 80-bed capacity paediatric hospital had been well equipped and was providing “free services to all the children that come here, including drugs as well as any laboratory test that is required, is given to them freely, as well as the medications that they require.”

He also said the 230-bed capacity Wase specialist hospital, which hosts four main specialities, including obstetrics and gynaecology, internal medicine, paediatrics, and surgery, is being rehabilitated to world-class status.

Under education, the commissioner, Dr Ali Haruna Makoda, said the challenges hitherto facing the sector, such as dilapidated structures, poor funding, inadequate teachers, low enrollment, and out-of-school children, are being tackled head-on.

“The sector faced neglect for almost a decade. That was what even prompted the governor, as a matter of urgency, to declare a state of emergency in the education sector.

“Part of it in 2024, he allocated a lion’s share to the education sector – 29.75%; in 2025, he allocated 31.5% to the education sector; this year, out of a total budget of N1.4 trillion, the Ministry of Education is taking 30% of the total sum. So the quantum of this is over N430 billion, which is set aside for the sector.

“So you can see across 484 wards, not even 44 local governments, wherever you stepped in, you must have seen and discovered the project we are undertaking in the education sector. We renovated a lot of schools. The total enrolment for the basic and post-basics is over 4,900 million pupils.

“Apart from that, we also distribute instructional, teaching and learning materials every year. We recruited more than 18,000 teachers across the State, and the exercise is also ongoing.

“The study by UNICEF, globally, Nigeria is taking 20% of out-of-school children-we are taking the lion’s share (7.5%) of that. So you can see, the figure is over 989,000 for out-of-school children. We recently constituted a committee of out-of-school children to ascertain the exact number, so we can gather the data we need to plan effectively for out-of-school children.

Addressing journalists at the Kafin Chiri Dam, the lawmaker representing Kano South senatorial district, Sen. Kawu Sumaila, commended President Tinubu for approving N95 billion for the renovation of three abandoned dams in the area and other ancillary projects.

“The dam was abandoned for almost 40 years, even though this place was constructed 40 years ago. But after Mr President saw reason in our request, he graciously approved N95 billion for the entire Kano South Senatorial District, to be allocated to three dams, rural roads, and farmers’ empowerment. This is one of the sites.

“This work is Asiwaju’s initiative, and this is a new dam where they will draw the water to the downstream. Even the dam was rehabilitated under this administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

“Mr President injected almost N15 billion to do the dam and opening areas. There is a downstream, the downstream is over 16 kilometres, where people will come and do dry and seasonal farming,” he added.

In an interview with journalists, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Community Engagement (North West), Abdullahi Tanko-Yakasai, thanked Tinubu for coming to the rescue of North West in terms of infrastructure, agriculture, education, health and all other sectors that affect the lives of people in the zone.

Tanko-Yakasai particularly acknowledged the federal government’s intervention in the Jakara–Kwarin Gogau drainage project through ecological funds, following the initiative of the Kano state government.

“We thank President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for coming to the rescue of the Kano people because of this erosion control, which has been bedevilling this State for decades.

“We thank the President for bringing this gigantic project to Kano State. Not only in Kano state, as we are going, but you will also see other gigantic projects as we have started from Kaduna and are going all around the North West states to see the federal government projects.

“We thank the governor of Kano state, too, because we have seen a lot of state projects being embarked upon by his administration. So this is going to show that the state government is aligning with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Tinubu,” he stated.