Tag: Kano

In an era when some states were lavishing their oil windfall on frivolities, the Kwankwasiyya administration in Kano spent its allocation judiciously. It is therefore surprising that a newspaper in its March 1, 2016 editorial declared the Kwankwasiyya administration’s 100 Pilot Scholarship Scheme as a programme embarked upon “to gain cheap political point”. The paper could have reached out to understand the rationale behind such a policy, but it did otherwise.

The Kwankwasiyya administration should be praised for its achievements, more so in a country, where political office holders treasury with reckless abandon. Of particular note, are its achievements in the education sector, within a four-year span.

Between 2011 and May 2015, the Kwankwasiyya administration focused on education, providing free lunch and two sets of uniforms for new intakes, in primary schools, and constructed Kwankwasiyya classrooms that are still standing. Teachers were trained and retrained; salaries and allowances were paid by the 25th of every month. These initiatives, among other, mobilised parents to enroll more children resulting in a leap in enrollment figures from one million in 2011 to over three million in 2014.

Secondary school education also received its fair share of overhaul as over 230 secondary schools were established, including 47 technical colleges and 44 schools for Islamic studies spread across each of the 44 local governments. The government also recruited teachers, giving priority to their training and retraining in order to boost pupils’ performance in WAEC and NECO.

To enhance tertiary education, it established the North West University in 2012 in addition to the first state University of Science and Technology Wudil that was established in Kwankwasiyya’s first tenure in 2001. Twenty-six capacity building and manpower development institutes were also established. The administration sponsored Kano State indigenes to study in other Nigerian private universities (412 in Al-kalam University in Katsina State; 250 in Igbinedion University, Edo State; 300 in Bells University and 200 in Crescent University, both Ogun State and 25 in ABTI University, Adamawa State). Besides, there was another programme for sponsoring students to state and federal Universities. All these were done for a reason – to empower the youth and take them off the streets so that they could be useful to themselves and the society in future.

The masterstroke of the Kwankwaso administration is its sponsorship of over 2600 Kano State indigenes to study in some universities in 14 countries to sharpen their skills.

Among them are 400 secondary school graduates sponsored to study medical science courses. 250 of them are young women being trained as medical doctors.  Furthermore, the administration established two Schools of Nursing and Midwifery in Madobi and Gezawa, and three other health-related institutions. The administration also sponsored 50 qualified Nurses to study B.sc Nursing Education in Egypt. The students were expected to return and teach in health-related institutions.

The administration did all this because of its resolve to make Kano and its indigenes better. So, how can anybody think that the 100 Pilots project was ill-conceived or poorly thought out?

The Kano State Pilots project was initiated with the best of intentions. A lot was put into it before it came to fruition. Initially, when the scheme came up, 100 secondary school pupils were short listed as the best candidates for the scholarship scheme. But the government insisted on university graduates, from other fields. The rationale behind the scheme is not for the beneficiaries to return home to work. Rather, it was to expose and give them the opportunity to access world class education; build their capacities and broaden their contacts. It was a long time plan so that in future, Kano would have specialists in every sector, with Nigeria, hopefully, sourcing for its manpower from the ancient state. Therefore, signing a bond with the beneficiaries of the Kwankwasiyya Pilot Scheme does not arise, as the aim was not to have the beneficiaries back in Kano to practice as pilots. Their training and that of others in similar schemes was to empower Kano State indigenes to become employable internationally, to be sought after, from every nation of the world. Many of these beneficiaries have got jobs abroad; some have been given foreign scholarships to pursue Ph.Ds. These scholarship schemes were executed without loan from any financial institution or development agency locally or internationally.

Remarkably, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso still gives attention to matters central to Kano development as evident in his chairmanship of  the Senate Adhoc Committee on Aviation where he discovered that there is a dearth of trained and experienced manpower in the industry. During this assignment, he made a case for the100 Kano pilots and other young pilots and operational personnel. He recommended a review of the required flying hours for new pilots alongside other stringent regulations hindering young aviation personnel’s progress.

Kwankwaso also intervened in the case of the 25 marine engineering students of Kano State who returned to Nigeria after completing their Higher National Diploma in South Shields New Castle, United Kingdom, but could not proceed for sea time training, for over nine months. Through his efforts, the students have now gone for their sea time training.

• Spikin is Media Assistant to Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso