From Desmond Mgboh, Kano
The immediate past administration in Kano has announced that it spent over N20 billion on sponsorship of thr post graduate program for 111,687 indigent students from the state during its eight year tenure.
A statement by the former Commissioner of information in the state, Mohammed Garba, Monday insisted that they sponsored post graduate foreign scholarship to 14 countries, others to five private universities, the Nigerian Law School and other internal universities from June 2015 to March 2023.
The clarification was issued against the background of the allegation by the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) government in the state that Ganduje’s administration failed to pay for foreign post graduate scholarship of Kano students during his administration.
Garba said their sponsorship covered tuition fees, upkeep, accommodation, air ticket, among others, adding that students were sent on post graduate foreign scholarship to India, Malaysia, Egypt, Cyprus, China, Turkey, Uganda, United Kingdom, Togo, Ireland, Gambia, Ukraine as well as Nigeria universities.
Garba said available records also indicate that in addition to the above, the former administration also sponsored 50 lecturers from its two universities and other tertiary institutions for their doctorate degrees in French prestigious universities under a programme jointly carried out between the French and Kano state government.
He pointed out that over N600 million was also spent on the joint tuition-free post graduate scholarship between the state government and the French Embassy in Nigeria.
He noted that it was unfortunate that the incumbent government in the state was laying claims to the success of the foreign and local scholarship, while it left a burden of about $28 million and over N6 billion respectively, which the Ganduje administration had settled more than 80 per cent of it.
The commissioner further stated that the Ganduje administration re-introduced the payment of scholarship allowances to indigenous students attending Nigerian universities and other tertiary institutions, which was completely abandoned by the Kwankwaso administration between 2011 and 2015.
He added under the scheme, the sum of N865.4 million was disbursed as scholarship allowances and provision of logistics for the payment exercise to indigenous students in the five Emirates across the 44 local governments of the state.
The commissioner said the former administration also review upward by 50 per cent scholarship allowances to the students. End