Ex-Commissioner blast Kano Govt over ‘embarassing poor’ 2025 budget performance

The Chief of Staff to the former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and former Kano State Commissioner for Information and Internal Affairs, Muhammad Garba, has delivered a scathing assessment of the NNPP-led administration’s handling of the 2025 budget, describing its performance as “embarrassingly poor, tragic, and unacceptable.”

Garba’s reaction follows a budget performance analysis published by Solacebase, which revealed that key sectors  including water resources, health and education recorded less than 40 percent capital budget implementation between January and September 2025.

According to the report, the Ministry of Water Resources achieved only 13 percentcapital performance, spending a mere N2.7 billion out of its N21.1 billion allocation. Even more startling, the Kano State Water Board allocated N5.6 billion  did not spend a single naira during the nine-month period.

Garba described the situation as “a shocking dereliction of duty,” especially in a state grappling with chronic water shortages across 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 like the Tiga Hydropower Project, they abandoned sustainable solutions.”

He accused the administration of prioritising propaganda over governance, alleging that its decision to abandon the more efficient Independent Power Project (IPP) model in favour of continued reliance on costly KEDCO electricity payments “suggests personal benefits for certain actors.”

Education Sector ‘Monumental Disappointment’

Garba also delivered a blistering critique of the government’s handling of the education budget. Despite declaring a state of emergency in the sector and allocating the largest share of the budget to education, the results, he said, have been “a monumental disappointment.”

The Ministry of Education recorded only 32.2 percent capital performance, while the Ministry of Higher Education posted a dismal 7.7 percent.

The former commissioner faulted the administration’s focus on sponsoring selected students abroad, arguing that the initiative “appears more like political patronage than a genuine attempt to strengthen the entire education system.”

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

Health Sector Underinvestment ‘Costing Lives’

In the health sector, Garba described the administration’s capital budget utilisation N7.9 billion out of N65.7 billion  as indefensible.

He warned that such underperformance is worsening Kano’s public health vulnerabilities, including recurring cholera outbreaks and persistently 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.”

Road Projects ‘Hurried and Poorly Coordinated’

Garba further criticised the quality of road works being executed under the NNPP administration, saying many projects appear rushed and poorly supervised.

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

Doubts Over Proposed N1 Trillion Budget

Garba said the dismal performance raises critical concerns about the government’s ability to manage its newly proposed N1 trillion 2025 budget.

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

The former commissioner urged the government to prioritise transparency, fiscal discipline and credible project execution in the remaining months of the fiscal year.