Ex-Commissioner Dares KNSG Over Poor Budget Performance

Former Kano State Commissioner for Information and Internal Affairs, Alhaji Muhammad Garba, has challenged the NNPP-led administration in the state over what he described as an embarrassingly poor and unacceptable budget performance in the first three quarters of 2025.

Garba, who is also the Chief of Staff to the former National Chairman of the APC, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, was reacting to a recent budget review published by Solacebase, an online platform, which showed that critical sectors such as water resources, health and education recorded less than 40 per cent capital budget performance between January and September 2025.

He said the findings exposed the gap between the administration’s public rhetoric and its actual delivery, adding that the figures confirm the failure of a government that has invested more in propaganda than in governance.

According to the budget performance document published by the platform, the ministry of water resources, one of the most essential ministries given Kano’s longstanding water challenges, recorded only 13 per cent capital performance after spending just N2.7 billion out of its N21.1 billion allocation. The Kano state Water Board, which received N5.6 billion for capital projects, did not spend a single naira within the same period.

Garba described this as “a shocking dereliction of duty,” especially in a state where residents continue to suffer acute water scarcity across many local government areas.

“It is tragic that a government which declared a state of emergency on water supply has failed to invest even one percent of the Water Board’s allocation,” he said.

“Instead of building on the previous administration’s completed projects that include the Tiga Hydropower Project designed to power water pumping and street lighting, the government abandoned sustainable solutions.”

The former commissioner added that after abandoning the more efficient IPP model, the government continues to pay millions of naira every month to KEDCO for electricity, possibly because such arrangements come with personal benefits for some actors.

He also criticised the administration’s performance in the education sector, noting that despite declaring a state of emergency and allocating the highest share of the budget to education, the results have been “a monumental disappointment.”

The ministry of education achieved just 32.2 percent capital performance, while the Ministry of Higher Education recorded a dismal 7.7 percent. He said the administration’s emphasis on sponsoring selected students abroad “appears more like political patronage than a genuine attempt to strengthen the entire education system.”

“Local schools remain underfunded, overcrowded and poorly equipped, while completed projects like the Mega Secondary School along Court Road have been abandoned,” he added.

The Chief of Staff further expressed concern over the health sector’s performance, noting that only N7.9 billion of the N65.7 billion capital budget was utilised by September 2025. He said this underinvestment is indefensible in a state that has battled recurring cholera outbreaks and faces high infant and maternal mortality rates.

“Failure to fund primary healthcare and water infrastructure is costing lives,” Garba said. “Kano’s recurring health crises cannot be addressed when the government spends only 12 percent of its health capital budget.”

He also faulted the quality of road projects being executed by the NNPP government, saying many of the works are hurried and poorly coordinated.

“The surface scraping and overlay projects being celebrated are not only haphazard but have created traffic chaos with poorly planned diversions,” he said. “These are not the signs of a government serious about infrastructure.”

Garba said the budget figures raise serious doubts about the administration’s ability to manage the recently proposed N1 trillion budget for 2025.

“When a government cannot implement even half of its approved budget, proposing a trillion-naira budget becomes nothing more than a political performance,” he said. “Kano deserves better than governance driven by slogans without substance.”

He called on the state government to prioritise transparency, discipline and responsible project execution for the remaining months of the fiscal year.