Muhammad Garba
Recently, I commented on the embarrassingly poor and unacceptable budget performance of the Kano state government during the first three quarters of 2025.
My reaction followed a budget performance analysis by the online platform Solacebase, which highlighted a troubling negative trend at a time when the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) government continues to boast about its achievements.
Unsurprisingly, officials of the government responded defensively. The Commissioner for Planning and Budget, Musa Sulaiman Shanono, attempted to defend the government in a radio interview but could neither justify the poor budget implementation figures nor provide any credible explanation for the failure.
Even more unfortunate was the reaction from Haruna Hudu Doguwa, Commissioner for Water Resources. Instead of addressing Kano’s longstanding water challenges, evidenced by a mere 13 percent capital performance after spending just N2.7 billion out of his ministry’s N21.1 billion allocation, he chose to respond with personal attacks against me.
Such behaviour is unbecoming of a senior public official and underscores the administration’s failure to focus on governance.
With over two years in office, it is imperative for the NNPP government to buckle down and address these systemic deficiencies.
Whether the governor is unaware of the situation or misled by subordinates, the reality is clear. Kano is retrogressing despite receiving substantial federal allocations, with no commensurate improvement in the living conditions of its citizens.
When Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje left office in 2023, he handed over a Kano State visibly transformed by years of sustained construction and institutional reform.
Massive flyovers, newly built hospitals and schools, expanded road networks, and improved mass transit systems stood as tangible evidence of an administration that prioritized infrastructure, service delivery, and long-term planning.
Two years on, however, many of those gains are being stalled, reversed, or repackaged under the current administration.
What was initially framed as a commitment to “restoring due process” has, in practice, translated into abandoned projects, weakened institutions, and the politicisation of public assets.
Today, Kano grapples with worsening water shortages, idle schools, fragile healthcare delivery, and a growing perception that development is being sacrificed for political expediency.
The Ganduje administration pursued an ambitious and deliberate agenda to modernize Kano’s infrastructure and expand access to education, potable water, healthcare, mobility, and good governance.
Yet within months of the change in government, several flagship projects were halted or quietly reversed.
Perhaps the most striking example is the Kano City Urban Water Project, arguably the state’s most ambitious urban water intervention.
Initiated under the previous administration, it secured US$75 million from the French Development Agency (AFD) to provide safe, potable water to over 1.5 million residents, with 63,500 household connections and more than 27 kilometres of new distribution pipelines across Kano Municipal, Fagge, Nassarawa, Gwale, and Dala local governments.
The project also included the rehabilitation of the Challawa and Watari waterworks, institutional reforms at the Kano State Water Board, and improvements in billing and revenue collection—measures critical to long-term sustainability.
Upon assuming office in May 2023, the new administration initially showcased the project as its own. However, it soon became clear that all negotiations, agreements, and financing arrangements had been completed prior to the handover.
Once the full financial obligations, including counterpart funding and long-term debt servicing, became apparent, the government quietly withdrew. Today, a project ready for implementation remains in limbo, leaving millions without reliable access to clean water and threatening Kano’s credibility with international partners.
Education has suffered similar setbacks as the planned upgrade of Sa’adatu Rimi College of Education to a university, a strategic move to address teacher shortages and modernize training, was reversed, disrupting accreditation processes and wasting years of planning and public funds.
The Mega Secondary School along New Court Road, intended as a flagship model for public secondary education, remains locked and unused, its facilities steadily deteriorating.
Equally concerning is the sidelining of the Yusuf Maitama Sule Centre for the Advancement of Democratic Politics and Good Governance.
Established at the historic residence of the late elder statesman, Alhaji Yusuf Maitama Sule, the centre was conceived as a hub for research, democratic dialogue, leadership training, and a museum preserving Kano’s political heritage. Its abandonment is widely regarded as politically motivated and deeply wasteful.
The story repeats itself across transport and healthcare. Kanawa Mass Transit buses, introduced to ease congestion and provide affordable mobility, were withdrawn, repainted in party colours, and repurposed primarily for conveying female students.
While promoting girls’ education is commendable, politicizing the transit system has reduced access and increased costs for daily commuters.
Healthcare delivery has suffered too. The Professor Hafsat Ganduje Cancer Treatment Centre, the North-West’s premier state-owned oncology facility, was commissioned in February 2023 but remained locked and unstaffed well into 2025.
Only after sustained public pressure did the current administration announce plans to reopen it alongside the Muhammadu Buhari Specialist Hospital.
Other initiatives, such as the proposed Nutrition Centre for treating Moderate and Severe Acute Malnutrition at the former Asiya Bayero Paediatric Hospital, were quietly abandoned following unfounded claims that the facility had been sold.
Similarly, economic and industrial projects, including the Triumph Publishing Company relocation, power generation from Tiga Dam, and the Kano Economic City at Dangwauro, have been neglected, with stalled operations and lost investment opportunities further eroding public confidence.
Every abandoned project represents more than wasted resources; it is a broken promise to the people. Kano’s greatness has always been built by leaders who understood that development is a collective mission, not a partisan trophy. Continuity is not complicity, it is maturity.
The human cost of political discontinuity is immense: water shortages cripple households and businesses; idle schools and hospitals waste scarce resources; jobs disappear; and investors hesitate in an environment where policies shift with every election. Ordinary citizens ultimately bear the burden of partisan governance.
Kano must embrace continuity as a principle of governance. Inherited projects should be protected, completed, and evaluated on merit rather than political origin.
Transparent reporting and active citizen oversight can restore trust and ensure public funds serve the genuine interests of the people.
True development must outlive politics. Progress belongs not to any party or personality, but to the people of Kano.
Garba is a former Commissioner for Information and Internal Affairs, Kano State, and Chief of Staff to the former APC National Chairman.
