The second term of Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of Kano state has indeed recorded admirable achievements, the most visible being the construction of three overhead bridges in Kano metropolis. Located along State Road, Ibrahim Taiwo Road and Murtala Muhammed Way, the bridges have remarkably given a brand new look to the ancient town.
Other achievements of the governor include the establishment of the Northwest University, the new Kano Geographic Information System (KANGIS), the construction of three housing estates named as Kwankwasiyya, Amana and Bandirawo, as well as oversea scholarships granted to hundreds of students for postgraduate studies in various fields including medicine and for training as pilots and in other disciplines.
However, important as these Kwankwasiyya projects are one would have appreciated them better if accountability was the official watchword. A blow-by-blow account of the cost of each project should have been given not only for the sake of transparency but carrying the people along. Invariably, state governments have the notorious habit of not accounting for capital projects, and conventionally the people do not question them on such issues.
Without doubt, these projects have gulped billions of Naira. Disclosing the estimated cost of the three ‘mega cities’ when the former head of Interim National Government, Chief Ernest Shonekan, commissioned Bandirawo City on February 23, 2015, Governor Kwankwaso said about N45 billion was expended on them. Save for a few off-the-cuff remarks I think he has hardly ever revealed what was actually spent on the Northwest University, the three overhead bridges, or any other capital project for that matter.
One recalls however that when President Goodluck Jonathan addressed a rally in Kano in April last year and accused the governor of squandering the N255 billion allocated to the state’s 44 local government councils from June, 2011 to the time he spoke, Kwankwaso pointed to the new university and other education projects as what he did with the money.
Apparently, he considered the monthly statutory allocations to the state as grossly insufficient for the projects, hence the need for him to dip his hands in the LG funds. But as later events proved, even doing so did not satisfy him as the government found it necessary to liquidate several assets belonging to the people. These include hundreds of housing units in GRA quarters (known as GPs) in Kano metropolis, and several mansions and properties situated in Lagos, Abuja, Kaduna and Kano.
Inside sources said over 700 of the GRA and other official houses were sold to senior civil servants and some political associates at an average cost of N25 million. Even if the houses were 700 in number, the amount realized would be about N17.5 billion. Needless to say, however, after paying the deposits most of the civil servants could not pay for the houses and had to sell them and move out. Despite the huge amount realized from the sale of the GPs, the government again announced in an advertisement in the Daily Trust of April 17, 2014 that it had appointed a consulting firm, Acnover Investment Limited, to undertake the sale of 19 “properties located in Kano, Abuja, Kaduna and Lagos… to interested members of the public.”
The properties include “Kano House” in Abuja; the Liaison Office at No. 13, Waziri Ibrahim Crescent, Victoria Island-Lagos (then said to be a hotel); Plot 122B, Bishop Oluwole Street, VI-Lagos; an estate of 12 3-bedroom houses at Gwarinpa-Abuja; the Liaison Office and other houses in Kaduna, and seven warehouses in Kano. Each of the properties was valued and its price given for interested buyers. The sum of over N7.37 billion was realized from the sales. With about N25 billion realized from the GPs and the 19 properties, one would have thought that the governor should not have bothered himself about the council funds. That he did so was to the dismay of the dummy chairmen and concerned citizens.
Furthermore, despite these audacious decisions with wide implications another advertisement in Daily Trust of February 10, 2015 announced the proposed privatization of “44 Garment Industries and 37 Micro Finance Banks” to entrepreneurs. No valuation of these properties seems to have been done this time, but it is obvious that more billions of Naira is expected from them.
Now, if you consider the state’s statutory allocations for four years (plus internally-generated revenue), the bulk of the N255 billion diverted from the councils, N25 billion made from the sale of GRA quarters and other properties across four major cities in Nigeria, not to talk of the sale of the garment industries and micro finance banks, it is logical to assume that well over a trillion Naira has purportedly been spent on the projects.
Granted that all bona fide citizens of the state are pleased with the physical development achieved, but certainly not at the monumental cost that is far above what is on ground. My suspicion was also aroused by the surreptitious manner in which these assets were sold without the knowledge of the generality of Kano people. I am yet to ascertain whether the state’s House of Assembly actually endorsed the sales.
I am also irked that the magnificent “Kano House,” built in Abuja (the federal capital, where most other states have similar houses named after them), has probably already been sold off just like that, barely four years after its completion and commissioning by the previous government. Likewise the famous Lagos liaison office, acquired since the First Republic and which for years had been of immense benefit to Kano citizens who visit Lagos.
The sale of these common assets, purportedly for the purpose of executing these projects, was obviously done without due consideration given to the socio-economic implications of the action – if not now, certainly in the future. I shudder to think what would be the fate of the people in times of need as they may have no valuable assets to fall back on for succor. No one prays for a rainy day, but it is a fact of life that it does come. Besides, the sales would deprive the people of the economic security and rest of mind that the mere knowledge that they have such possessions gives.
The foregoing is indeed a pathetic story that could agitate the mind and raise many questions: How many assets of the people have to be sold on account of these Kwankwasiyya projects? How much of the proceeds realized has actually been spent on the projects? Are the projects really worth the huge amounts being claimed to have been spent on them? Why were the deals done in a hush-hush manner? Why is Kwankwaso bent on liquidating our assets during his second and last tenure as governor?
Muhammad wrote in from Kano. <aumo21@yahoo.com>
