Text of Inauguration Address by His Excellency Alh. Abba Kabir Yusuf,
The Executive Governor of Kano State on the Occasion of his Swearing–In Ceremony on Monday May 29, 2023 at the Sani Abacha Stadium, Kano.
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A’uzu billahi minas shaydanur rajeem
Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem
Was salatu was salamu ala Nabiyul Kareem
Our Leader, The National Leader of NNPP, His Excellency Sen. Rabiu
Musa Kwankwaso;
Your Excellency, The Deputy Governor of Kano State, Comrade Aminu
Abdussalam Gwarzo;
Your Lordship, The Ag. Chief Justice, Hon. Justice Dije Aboki;
The Speaker of Kano State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Hamisu Chidari;
The Chairman and Members of the Board of Trustees of the NNPP;
The National Chairman and Members of the National Working
Committee of the NNPP;
The Kano State Chairman and Members of State Executive Council of
the NNPP;
Distinguished Senators;
Honourable Members of the House of Representatives;
Honourable Members of Kano State House of Assembly;
Your Lordships and Your Royal Highnesses;
Members of the Diplomatic Corp;
Our International Guests from across the World;
Distinguished Invited Guests;
My Fellow Good People of Kano State;
Gentlemen of the Press;
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Today, Monday the 29th day of May, 2023 is an unforgettable day in the
history of our dear state. Today is a confirmation that the will of the good
people of Kano State has prevailed. Today, my fellow Kano people, is your
day! The day your Governor that you voted for with over a million votes
is sworn into office. Alhamdulillah.
Let me therefore begin by thanking Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’ala for
making today possible, for making the build up to today memorable and
peaceful, and for making the days and years ahead even more successful
and fruitful in sha Allah. Let me also thank YOU, the good people of Kano
State for your support and cooperation throughout our campaigns, but
most importantly for voting us and ensuring that your votes count. I want
to guarantee you that this victory is your victory, our administration is
your administration. We shall, together work deliberately and
purposefully to turnaround the fortune of our state and improve the
living condition of all citizens and residents.
Let me also place on record my appreciation to our Party, the New
Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, and our Movement, The Kwankwasiyya
Political Movement, the National Executives of our party under the able
leadership of Alhaji Abba Kawu, the State Executives of our party under
the capable stewardship of Hon Umar Haruna Doguwa, and the former
State Executives of PDP under the resolute leadership Hon Shehu Wada
Sagagi for their immense contribution to our successes. I also want to
thank all our Kwankwasiyya and party members, supporters, volunteers
and other nationalist who worked twenty four seven to organize,
strategize, and mobilize all in an effort to make today a possibility. I want
to assure you that your toil will not be in vain. To all the women of our
state (the pathfinders and moral compass of our society), and our
teaming youth and children (who are the hope for our continued
advancement and sustained prosperity), we thank you for your support.
And I want to let you know that your pain is our pain, and I shall deploy
effective painkillers to tackle all your pains.
I also want to thank the business community, the religious leaders, and
the traditional institution not only for supporting us, but also for their
individual and collective roles in ensuring peace and stability in our state.
It is imperative to place on record our appreciation to all our
international guests from over 20 different countries who are here with
us to witness this momentous occasion. We thank you for your support.
And finally, to our father – the father of fathers, our leader – the leader
of leaders, our mentor – the mentor of mentors, the grand commander
of Kwankwasiyya Political Movement, the National Leader of our Party,
the NNPP, His Excellency Sen Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, PhD, FNSE, no
words are adequate to express my appreciation and debt of gratitude to
you, Sir. But in an occasion of this nature, words must be used. Thank
you, Your Excellency. I shall remain the Abba that you always knew.
Fellow Compatriots, today is the beginning of repositioning and renewal
of Kano State. Today marked the continuation of the Kwankwasiyya
administration in our dear state – we shall continue from where we stopped in 2015. We will, by the special grace of Allah (SWT) redress all
the injustices perpetrated in the last eight years. We shall recover and
reclaim all public properties and assets misappropriate, hidden or stolen
and return them to the custody of government. This was a promise we
made during our campaign. And like all our campaign promises, we shall
live no stone unturned to ensure that we fulfil our promises.
Beginning with security, we are aware of the persistent cases of armed
robbery (especially phone snatching), kidnapping, cattle rustling and
other violent crimes being perpetrated on the streets of our towns and
cities. This menace will be confronted and brought to a permanent end
throughout our State. On behalf of the government and people of our
State, I want to register our condolences to the families of all the victims
of this unacceptable crime. We are aware that one of the major factors
that fuels these criminal activities is the consumption of illicit drugs. I am,
today, announcing the formation of a Special Joint Taskforce to Prevent
Phone Snatching and other Street Crimes comprising of teams of law
enforcement agencies and mobile courts that would work together to
clear our streets of these criminals and bring all of them to justice swiftly.
The Kano State Reformatory Institute, Kiru will be reopened soonest for
the purposes of rehabilitating drug addicts.
In the same vein we shall investigate all cases of political violence that
led to loss of lives and properties across the State in the last eight years.
The infamous case of Alasan Ado Doguwa, who allegedly sponsored the
maiming and murder of over 15 innocent souls in Tudun Wada Local
Government will be pursued to its logical conclusion. The numerous
victims of the Ganduje campaign of violence, using thugs that were being
intoxicated with drugs will not be left unchecked. In order to prevent
future occurrence, a judicial Commission of Inquiry will be put in place to
ensure that the perpetrators and their sponsors are brought to justice and the families of the victims of political thuggery are also entitle to
justice.
We cannot forget the case of one of our respected member and
supporter, Hon Dadiyata, who was bundled in broad day light by
unknown assailant and whisked away. For five years nothing is heard of
him. Kano State Government will take up the case of Dadiyata with all
relevant security agencies in the country so as to rescue him and bring
his assailants to justice.
The destruction that was visited on our education sector in the last eight
years is very disheartening. Arising from deliberate neglect and wrong
policies, the number of out-of-school children in our state has
astronomically increased. The number of college drop-outs has also risen
to a scary height. I want remind the good people of Kano State that
besides ensuring the security of lives and properties of all residents of
the state, our number one priority is Education. Consequently, we will
take these emergency measures beginning from today to rescue our
education system and ensure the enrolment of all out-of-school children:
Our community reorientation committees, CRC, would be reactivated
and continue to function as a vehicle for the implementation of our
basic education agenda;
All the girl-child education buses for transporting girl-child to and
from schools would resume operation as soon as possible. The school
buses that were immorally sold will be recovered and new ones will
be purchased to add to the fleet;
The de-boarding of all girls schools by the last administration will be
revisited in due course;
We will resume our policy of Incentivise enrolment by providing free
uniform, free books and one meal per pupil per day in our primary
schools;
We will commence the renovation of existing primary and junior
secondary schools in the state and make them ideal for teaching and
learning;
We shall resume our policy on the provision of seats (chairs, benches
and desk) and other instructional materials to support learning and
teaching in our schools;
We will build more classrooms in all the local governments to
accommodate new pupils;
We will continue to incentivise girl child education and strengthen the
girl child education with relevant legislation;
We shall recruit and train more teachers and provide incentives for
rural posting;
We shall continue to work with development partners, donor
agencies, Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Tertiary
Education Trustfund (TETFund) and other relevant agencies of the
Federal Government to support our education agenda;
Our policy of sponsoring our best graduates to pursue higher degrees
locally and overseas is hereby restored. In the coming months, the
screening process will, by the grace of Allah, commence.
The 44 Schools of Islamic Studies and 47 Technical Colleges across all
our local governments that were constructed by Senator Kwankwaso’s
administration and which were closed and abandoned by the former
administration, will be reopened, appraised, resume admission and
commence academic activities.
The healthcare system in our state is on its knees begging to be saved.
Years of neglect and maladministration have reached an embarrassing
crescendo that not only hospitals’ lands and funds were being stolen,
even generators that are necessary for the hospitals to function were
being sold. These cruel, immoral and criminal acts will not be allowed
unpunished. While maternal mortality is rapidly increasing, neonatal
death is on the rise and patients on emergency admission are receiving
little or no attention at all, someone has the temerity to misappropriate resources belonging to hospitals! In what follows, I’ll announce measures
to be taken by this administration in respect of these criminal actions. To
commence fulfilling our campaign promises on healthcare, the following
actions are hereby introduced:
The resumption of free maternity services and the issuance welcome
pack to new-borns in our hospitals will be revisited;
To ensure balance distribution of medical personnel and their
availability in rural area, medically qualified civil servants will be
redeployed to hospitals across the state;
Reintroduction of medical outreaches and the establishment of
Mobile Clinics and Ambulance Service (MCAS) in all the 44 local
government councils in the State;
The renovation of all primary healthcare centres across the state; and
The conduct of emergency Needs Assessment of all our general and
specialists hospitals.
Our city used to be the cleanest city in Nigeria between 2011 and 2015.
Today, it is the opposite. Refuse dumps with uncollected wastes are all
over the city. Our streets are littered with all sorts of garbage and nobody
seems to care. Today, a Taskforce on Refuse Disposal, Evacuation of
Drainages and Streets Cleaning (Operation Nazafa) comprising of
different stakeholder groups is approved. In the coming days, I will
officially launch a state-wide campaign with self-help groups to drive the
operation. In the next few weeks all the dumps will be cleared, all our
streets will be clean, all our drainages will be desilted and a sustainable
system of maintaining the cleanness and clearing the dumps will be in
place. To begin with, starting from next month, all vehicles on our roads
across the state are required to have dustbin in them, and all businesses
– including shops and stalls – should also have dustbin for collecting and proper disposal of wastes and refuse. At this point, we urge all the
residents of Kano state to give us their maximum cooperation.
We are aware that our street lights have not been in use for about eight
years yet the exorbitant cost of fuelling and servicing the generators that
power them have continued to increase even when the lamps were
permanently switched off. To add salt to injury, we are also aware that
in the last couple of days, some “officials” have stolen most of these
generators. I want assure the good people of Kano State that our street
lights will return as soon as possible. And the perpetrators of the crimes
of stealing funds meant for servicing them and those “so called official”
that stole the generators will be brought to justice, in sha Allah. Our
Independent Power projects, at Tiga and Challawa, that we started in
2012, and which was bastardized by the last administration will be
revisited.
Our novel policy of Auren Zawara, a policy that helps in bringing stability
and reducing social vices in our communities will resume as soon as
possible. Related to this are the empowerment programs for women and
youth. All the 26 entrepreneurship institutes that were established by
the Sen. Kwankwaso administration with the mandate of equipping our
youth and women with soft and hard skills in different fields of
endeavour, and which were closed down and abandoned by the former
administration are hereby opened. Enrolment into these institute will
begin soonest.
The mainstays of our state, beside education are Commerce and
Agriculture. We shall modernize agriculture and give it priority such that
agri-business will be made one of the major drivers towards eradicating
poverty and unemployment in our midst. Arrangements are in place to
ensure that fertilizers and other inputs are made available to farmers at
affordable rates. The Kano Agricultural Supply Company, KASCO, and the Kano Agricultural and Rural Development Agency, KNARDA, will be
revived and reinvigorated. KASCO shops in all the 44 Local Government
Councils will be reactivated to continue supporting our farmers. We will
deploy extension workers, employ and train more of them, to support
farmers to improve their yields.
We would expand the irrigation fields, desilt our dams and channels, and
use the evacuated manure to improve the fertility of the soil. All available
funding supports for farmers from banks and other donor agencies will
be pursued to ensure that our farmers get optimal benefits.
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen my administration will not be
government as usual, because a vibrant and motivated public service is
necessary for the success of every administration. We are aware that the
former administration has bastardized the civil service – they employed
tens of thousands of unqualified persons without due process and most
of the improperly employed person had to pay through their noses to get
the offer; they conducted arbitrary and illegal promotions to their cronies
and agents; and they stuffed the civil service with ghost workers. All
these will be reviewed. Additionally, we will put in place machinery that
will bring about reforms to improve service delivery and boost
productivity and ensure professionalism in the State Civil Service.
We will continue to partner with other stakeholders, including civil
society organizations, the private sector, and international development
partners to create more effective, more transparent and more
accountable institutions that work to improve the lives of all citizens.
However, let me warn that our administration will not tolerate abuse of
the public service procedures, corruption and indiscipline. We shall put
in place a structure that will ensure transparency and accountability in
governance. To start with, we shall resume the good practice of
publishing the weekly reports of the State Executive Council meetings in
national dailies; we shall re-introduce the full utilization of the Treasury
Single Account; we shall ensure that all government payments and
receipts are done through the electronic payment systems; and our suggestion boxes, for members of the public to offer advice to their
government, will be placed in different locations across the state.
To end the injustices being meted on petty traders in the state, beginning
from June this year, all small business owners with income of less than
thirty thousand Naira per month are exempted from paying any tax. We
shall create the enabling environment and provide all necessary
incentives, including the facilitation of access to capital, for small,
medium and large scale entrepreneurs in the state to blossom and
succeed. We shall reactivate all the 37 Microfinance Banks established
by the Kwankwasiyya administration which were deliberately neglected
by the Ganduje administration to justify selling them to their cronies and
agents.
Our dear state, Kano is one of the oldest in Nigeria, a state with rich
culture and history, a state that enjoys tremendous amount of respect all
over the world. A state that sets all the good examples for others to
follow. All these were thrown to the winds by the last administration. We
are all aware of the embarrassmentsthat the Ganduje administration has
brought to the office of the Governor and by extension, to the entire
people of Kano State – all negative perceptions as a result of crude
corruption, land grabbing, and poor governance.
This perception has to change. And the time to change it is now. We shall
work together to change this narrative and promote Kano positively.
To begin this, we shall be launching the campaign, ‘Kano, my state, my
pride,’ in the next couple of weeks to promote unity and patriotism
towards our dear state. It is a call to action that encourages every citizen
to take ownership of their community, support initiatives that promote
development and project a positive image of Kano at all times.
We must all work collaboratively to ensure cleanliness, maintenance of
infrastructure, promoting our cultural heritage, and encouraging
investments that will create opportunities for our people and attract
more investors. At this point, let me say that we will commence the work
of ensuring water supply across the state. We shall also commence the
completion of the 5km roads across the local government councils in the
state by the special grace of Allah. Similarly, the Jakara River Project,
popularly called the Wuju-wuju Road and the dualization of the Sheikh
Salga Road would be resumed.
Our government recognises the superior importance of decent shelter to
human life and as a hub around which all development programs
hinge. That is why between 2011 and 2015, Sen Kwankwaso’s
administration built three cities that were abandoned by the former
administration. We shall complete these cities and expand the project to
commence subsequent phases of the cities.
My administration will encourage, as well as support the citizens of Kano
state to exploit financing opportunities for home ownership, construction and renovation, especially the National Housing Fund. True
to our campaign promise, we shall provide rural housing and develop
mini cities to decongest Kano city and bring development and job
opportunities to all corners of our dear state. We shall improve our land
administration for ease of doing business and to facilitate sustainable
housing provision.
We shall introduce innovative and sustainable measures to curve the
menace of irregular development of unplanned shelters or ‘Awon Igiya’
around the metropolis. All ‘Awon Igiya’ projects in and around the
Metropolitan Kano are hereby suspended. We shall also resume the
street naming and house numbering project in earnest.
My fellow Kano Residents, democracy is as precious as it is fragile. Much
as we cherish its values and respect its outcomes, we must also be
mindful of its fragility. The manifestation of such fragility has never been
so palpable as it was in 2019 in our dear State. Recall that in that year,
we won the Gubernatorial election clean and clear. But the mandate was
stolen. And those that stole the mandate, knowing full well that the
voters have rejected them, started unleashing their vengeance on the
entire state. No state in the country suffered the kind of vandalism,
maladministration and naked injustices like Kano State in the last eight
years. The vandalism they visited on the state was mind-boggling; the
havoc they wrecked was unprecedented; and the looting spree was
simply unimaginable. It was like the night operation of rattus norvegicus
or the result of an unleashed mad bull in a china shop.
As I swore to the oath of allegiance and oath of office this bright Monday
morning, the work to recover public properties, assets, and looted funds
starts now. With a near empty treasury and a humongous local and
international debt left behind by the former administration, and with
almost all assets and properties looted, misappropriated or sold. The only
rational thing to do is to commence the recovery and reclamation in the
overall interest of public good.
We have noted that the last administration have sold lands in and around
schools, religious and cultural sites, hospitals and clinics, graveyards and
green areas, and along the city wall of Kano. We have also noted that
they indiscriminately sold numerous other landed properties and assets
belonging to Kano State within and outside the state to their cronies and
agents. I am announcing, today, that all these public places and assets
that were immorally plundered and sold by the Ganduje administration
should be taken over by law enforcement agencies, led by the Police, the
DSS, Civil Defense, and Hisbah pending the final decision of government.
And to guarantee that no public officers, their cronies, or assignees are
ever allowed to engage in the looting of the common wealth of the Kano
people, a Judicial Commission of Inquiry will be empanelled in the coming
days to ensure that all perpetrators and those that aided and abetted
them are brought to justice.
Further to these executive order, all political appointees heading
government MDAs and companies are hereby relieved of their
appointment with immediate effect. They are directed to handover to
the permanent secretary or the most senior director as the case may be.
Similarly, all boards of MDAs, companies and institutions of higher
learning are hereby dissolved with immediate effect.
My fellow Kano People, these actions are necessary to reset the state
and commence repositioning her on to the path of honour and dignity,
on to the path of respect and responsibility, and on to the path of
progress and prosperity.
I guarantee you that I will give my all in the service to my dear State and
her good people, thinking not of power but the immense responsibilities
that come with it. I beseech you to continue to pray for our dear state
and your trusted government; I beseech you to continue to support and
cooperate with us as we, collectively, steer the ship of our state to
success, in sha Allah.
I will end this speech as I started it by thanking the Almighty Allah
Subhanahu wa Ta’ala, to whom all thanks and praises are due and
praying for the peace and blessings of Allah (SWT) to be on our beloved
Prophet, the Leader of Messengers of Allah, Prophet Muhammad, and to
all members of his family and to all his companions.
I want to thank all our invited guests, members of the diplomatic corps,
our development partners, our gubernatorial candidates, members of
the Ulamah, and all our supporters from across the country and beyond
for gracing this Inauguration Ceremony.
To my family, you have all been very supportive all through this journey.
I am certain that your support and understanding will continue to
increase. I want place my debt of gratitude to all of you.
Finally I want to thank the entire people of Kano state for your
continuous support, cooperation and prayers. Let me assure you that we
will not disappoint you.
Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah,
I wish all of you safe journey to your respective destinations.
Kanawa Mungode.
H.E. Engr. Abba Kabir Yusuf
Executive Governor, Kano State
