Parents of 154 fresh graduates who were sponsored by Kano State to study in India have lamented the untold hardship inflicted on them by the immediate past administration of Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso who abandoned them and refused to pay their tuition fees.
Speaking during a reception organised by the state government in honour of the graduates who just passed out after gaining their masters from India on Tuesday, a representative of their parents, Muhammad Mustapha, recounted how Kwankwaso’s administration abandoned them abroad.
He, however, hailed Governor Abdullahi Ganduje for coming to their rescue by clearing all the backlog of the debts as well as ensuring that the students graduated without problems.
Ganduje revealed that last year the state paid N2.7 billion for the tuition and other fees of her foreign students despite the economic recession in the country that forced some states to recall their students on government scholarship abroad.
He reassured that the government would maintain the foreign scholarship for beneficiaries because of the importance his administration attaches to education.
Ganduje, who lamented that the state’s allocation from the Federal Government had dropped by two-thirds, said himself and all political appointees in the state, now receive half salaries and allowances, to save money to address issues in critical sectors like education.
“Therefore, this administration would do all it can to sustain and finance the foreign based students to complete their studies, through efficiently managing the little we receive form the federation account as well as money accruing from internal revenue,” he said.
Ganduje advised the graduates and others on scholarship not to allow mischievous politicians to use them against his administration, reiterating that the fees paid by the previous government for their education was from the public treasury not anybody’s personal pocket.
“Nobody did a favour to you by paying for your studies in the first instance. We, that sustained the scholarship, did so with public funds; it is not a favour. We also studied under government scholarship so what is the big deal about it?” the governor queried.
He commended the graduates for showing understanding to the state’s financial situation as well as for appreciating made different challenges with little earnings, compared with what obtains in the past years, promising to help secure jobs in public and private sectors.