₦airaland Forum

jmaine: Kindly lists such reduction with verifiable evidences, after such will I commend him . . .

Yet, you haven't told us how you "think" Kwankwaso will magically turn around our enormous national budget recurrent expenditure when he takes over.

Kano State governor Rabiu Kwankwaso, insisted that only aspirants, who believe in the development of Kano will step into his shoes at the end of his tenure in 2015. In this interview, he speaks on the progress his administration has made in Kano. AUGUSTINE MADU-WEST bring excerpts:

As governor of one of the most populous states in the federation, what must have informed your decision to embark on the massive training of women?

Women are very important to us in the country as mothers, that is why we decided to take the issue of women and youths very seriously in the state. Most of the ongoing training programmes, as well as those in the pipeline are geared towards youth development. First and foremost, it should be recalled that these women and youths supported us during the 2011 general elections and for this reason; they deserve all our attention.

I am also sure that you are aware that once you train one woman, you have trained the community because they have their children, husbands, neighbours and so on. That is why we are focusing on women empowerment; women, by experience are even more reliable than the men folk. For example, if you train men, unless you re-orientate their attitude, many of them may decide to spend the money or support extended to them on something else and I am happy to say that based on reports, all the previous sets, are doing well in their various localities. And that is why we feel very much encouraged. Initially, we were training 20 per set, but now we have graduated to the capacity of an institute to train 600 women, all of whom are accommodated for one month, well fed and trained in the area of poultry management, while some religious clerics were often invited to teach them religious morals, focusing on how to live with their families and neighbours. And I am very delighted that we have recorded some successes.

What is the significance of such training and how will it impact positively on their future?

It would go a long way in enhancing development in the country. Yes, it follows, once you train them, many of them will in turn employ a lot more people and we always encourage our young men never to queue up for employment but rather to be employers of labour and we are succeeding, as most young men and women in Kano today were offered employment but prefer setting up their own businesses. That is what is important. Unlike when we came on board, everybody was looking for an offer of employment from the state government, but now, we have changed the trend, offer them capital, including rented accommodation, where they can start their individual businesses, including the provision of tools and equipment necessary for the take off of the business and we are satisfied that we are taking them to the river to teach them how to fish but not to give them fish to eat.

 Some critics think that your even distribution of the dividends of democracy is a way of mobilising support for 2015?

Let’s wait for the time to come, but however people tend to believe that politics is a dirty game, I never believed that for once. I am in politics not because I have no job. In 1991 when I voluntarily retired, I left the civil service when all my colleagues were opposed to my decision but I have a target in life. But I must confidently submit that by all standards, I among those who have crossed the line. So whatever we are doing, we should count ourselves as those who are very fortunate in this country, for it is our responsibility to support others to cross the poverty line. It’s not an issue of 2013 or 2015, the issue is that these people have decided to put the ball in our court to elect us when we least expected, particularly from those who are very far away from us, people were not expecting us to win election in 2011 when we have no state or local government, even our government in Abuja was not sure because there were so many bad stories surrounding them but at the end of the day, we won the election. They went to the tribunal, Appeal Court, Supreme Court, no one judge at the three levels ever contemplated that we didn’t win the election, so this is payback time. Do you want me to go to sleep and leave these boys and girls on the streets of Kano doing nothing when I believe that this country has got enough resources to make all of us comfortable? It has nothing to do with 2015 but the fact of the matter is that we are not sleeping, we will not sleep, we are paying back; all our 22 institutes, including the universities are producing, all are either moving to their permanent or temporary sites, we are making progress.

I am happy that things are happening in Kano, with people seeing the results. Most of what we are doing today, I have done them during my first tenure, but at that time due to so many sentiments in this state and in this country, people were probably not appreciative but for now, they are seeing and are appreciative. At times, when we are installing interlocks on the walkways, people will say that this is not what we want but rather food, so also is the street lights, which they often express their dislike, including the provision of water. Now, all that have changed, people are now agitating for what they want, that is what politics is all about. So we will continue to support our young men and women, as well as the good people of Kano State. We want to see and witness a good and developing society, people, who have got the right attitude, we are not just training them to give them chickens but to also impact the right attitude on them because most of our graduates from the universities and polytechnics and Colleges of Education are always in search of government jobs. We have to change that practice as we want to reduce the size of government to a corner, we want to reduce the flamboyance of people in government and that is why we are taking all the necessary steps, as well as working around the clock that before 2015, we will imbibe the right attitude on our people in the state.

How about continuity and sustenance of the Kwankwassia philosophy and ideology, which you have entrenched in the system?

I am also concerned about continuity but let me assure you that we have so many people at very high level of government, who share these with us; who will think the way we are thinking about government and people. I will have no difficulty in choosing the right person to support when the time comes but let me stress that the ball is in the court of the government and the people of Kano. If people appreciate what we are doing, our philosophy, if it is good, then it is good, they will support us. If they want the old system, where people were sharing money, where people think there are so many categories of classes, like the first and second classes, which normally goes into the drain, I think the Kano people will decide but what is important is to have the right calibre of people in government.

If you have been following our development in Kano, you will realise that from 2001 when we came on board, there is no special allocation for us from anywhere, but what we did right from the beginning was to block areas of wastages and on the other hand improve our internally generated revenue. These were the most important two aspects and of course the way and manner we are running government is such that we are saving money for good projects and programmes as you have witnessed today. There are so many areas that we have blocked. When we started, we were saving more than N500 million every month, if you multiply N500 million by 12, it will amount to N6 billion, it is more than the cost of the flyover bridge at Kofar Nasarawa. So every year I can construct one flyover, just savings from overhead cost. We are functioning better than we inherited. Also, I told the pensioners, who are receiving N135 per month that it is not acceptable, even without their seeking an upward review, I voluntarily increased the minimum pension from N135 to N5,000 minimum, up to the highest paid pensioner in the state, which amounts to about N80 million in a month.

Back to the issue of sustainability, which is causing some people sleepless nights, it will be addressed by the voting pattern of people, who share this ideology and that is why we always tell our people that you can’t form any party without ideology, just come together and say we are friends, let’s just form a party, there has to be an ideology. We have to know what the leaders believe in and that is why we are always propagating the Kwankwansiyya’s ideology for all of us to work together to ensure sustainability.

What do you think Kano people will derive from your trip to Dubai and Kuwait respectively?

What prompted me to embark on the tour was my genuine concern about Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA). We have written letters to Abuja on more occasions than not on airlines that are interested in landing in Kano. I am sure you know all the airlines, ranging from Emirate, Ethiopian to Turkish Airlines, which have expressed interest in flying to Kano but for obvious reasons, we are having some challenges, particularly from Abuja for the government to give approval. Also, we have showed some members of the National Assembly some of the documents. The Minister of Aviation was in Kano last month, promising that by the end of March, Emirate Airlines will start flying to Kano but to date, we are yet to see them. I made a follow-up in which I stated that the ball is in the court of the Ministry of Aviation, as no airline can land in Kano without their approval, so we are still waiting and it is only in Nigeria, where people are willing to come and for whatever reasons they are not allowed to come.

What they are simply asking for is approval to land in Kano. For now, I am still communicating with some relevant officials in Abuja and I also took time to visit Kuwait with the invitation of the ambassador, held three stakeholders meeting with the Kuwaiti Finance House, which have expressed interest in working with us, especially on the 44 micro-finance banks that we established. They have been monitoring what the state government has been doing and we had an agreement for them to visit Kano as soon as possible and see what we are doing. Also, we reached an agreement that they will assist us in the training of the staff of the finance houses, as well as accepting to participate in the investment itself. We also have investments in Kuwait, amounting to billions of dollars and I believe that it is very good for us. Kuwaitis are also interested in real estate and other areas of investment and they intend to come to Nigeria before the forthcoming Ramadan.

jmaine: Am not disputing it but what is the percentage of such in the overall recurrent budgetary dilemma ? . Not supporting the profligate spending by govt officials though.

Jmain: Another woeful failure again. Yet you will be among the lot calling the current FG all manner of vile names you have in your dictionary . . .

For enphasis on the questions i raised . .Read the excerpt from Sanusi below . . .



http://www.punchng.com/news/sanusi-to-fg-sack-50-of-civil-servants/

So will you advise your Kwankwaso to tow HRH Sanusi Lamido radical approach of cutting down the civil workforce by 50% while incurring the devastating wrath of the populace that will ensue ?

careytommy: Jmaine, you no suppose reply some post. see the funny response this guy gave. How does creating 'enabling environment' reduce the civil service population.
His answers suggests kwankwaso created the environment that has made kano a commercial nerve ..lol nothing person no go hear.

Jmain: LOLZ . . . .But the civil service force remains the same na, while gulping the same budgetary amount yearly . . . .

jmaine: I want to assume you are a smart, intelligent and sincere. If you were currently in charge of piloting the affairs of the Nation, how will you trim the "corrupt',"overbloated" civil service even in the face of threats by striking unions e,g ASUU, Doctors e.t.c ? . . .

Over to you . . . .

DOMINUSCREDO: What again mr

Descartes: Tell them that you didn't see me.

DOMINUSCREDO: Who are you calling goat dude?

DOMINUSCREDO: Shatap

jmaine: Appears folks here don't know the FG is burdened by our over bloated civil service force which gulps a whooping 70% of her recurrent expenditure . . . .

So even if a certain clownish Kwankwaso takes over, there is no way he will magically covert this figures to favour capital expenditure.


Meanwhile, can someone please inform the impulsive clown Kwankwaso that the golden silence of the FG over his needless vituperative outburst is making him not appear like a smart fellow.

barcanista: electing Rabiu Kwankwaso should be a task for us all. He's the Best man for the office. With a strong vice like Fashola or Utomi he will set a good standard to be followed.

barcanista: If I tell you that I am not disappointed in NOI then I am the greatest of all Liars.This is a woman that performed brilliantly along With Mrs Nenadi Usman during President Obasanjo era. She has en-mashed herself in the politics of corruption with her concocted bogus statistics that she uses to deceive herself. I blame Jonathan that has allowed himself to supervise the mismanagement of our common wealth. Imagine the same Okonjo Iwaela that helped cleared our debt is the same person that is building more debt. Kwankwaso does not operate "Security vote". I believe Nigeria has the resources to live a more better life that what is obtainable in Countries like Germany. But our leaders are just too greedy and shortsighted. In the words of Professor Pat Utomi (2007). "Nigerians have No business being poor"

VICTORCIZA: he is a lunatic

barcanista: It is only those that don't follow Kano State that won't know the Giant stride of Rabiu Kwankwaso. This is a man that has drastically cut spending in form of wastage. Nothing like Office of the first Lady, Committees upon committees, large delegates to trips etc. [b] 25% of Kano State budget goes to running government while the Masses enjoy the largese of 75%.[b] Unlike FG that use 25% to give the public and 75% to run the Government. The economy of Kano is thriving and it can only get better. This Governor dont joke with corruption, Contract inflation etal. He's one Governor that I admire

Descartes: Am I a threat to your existence on Nairaland?

Descartes: Is that your only problem?

Descartes: Wetin I do.

barcanista: I want Kwankwaso to be APC flag-bearer. Those who are conversant with Kano state Government won't fault his candidacy.

Descartes: Edit post, full of errors.

Descartes: I guess you are not better than him.

Descartes: Are you an Hausa or fulani?

barcanista: Some people are so ignorant

richeso: I no dey believe some people when dem insult some kids in the north but from the way
Youtalk now.. I see sens from those who insult you.


What has he done in the north ?. If you want to know how sh.it your gov is. Make wetin happen
In the noth happen in lagos or any western part. And watch what fashola and tinubu will
Do. You think say dem go seat for chair dey dare GEJ?

This is like a movie of a man of 12 children and wife, fire enter house. Instead of the man
To find immediate solution to quench fire, him dey wait for the king to come him house first
Or send soldiers to him house. Even seat down dey insult his kking while his house is still
On fire. Lol ..he even get enough time to write all this long lines but no time to take some
Steps he thinks the president didn't. Start it everyone including the president will support you
Not seat down and see your children, wife, die like flies.

IGBOSON1: Stop calling these murderous scum 'herdsmen'! They're mercenaries; foreign terrorists that have been brought in by the local boko bastards and their wealthy paymasters to help cleanse the middle-belt of those 'annoying' infidels, and strengthen the hand of Islam in the north! Making the country ungovernable for that Otuoke 'usurper' is just an added bonus!

Gboliwe: Aturu Awusa

Ahuitzotl: [color=#1980BC] There is a strong yorobar notion that Ijebu people are too money conscious even getting into fetish and crumb means....You could be mistakin your Ijebu-igbo gal friend for an ibo girl... [/color]

Ahuitzotl: [color=#1980BC] Ijebu-igbo is not Ibo,demand the truth from your galfriend... [/color]