Yemisi Izuora
The Kano State Governor, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, says his administration spends N9 billion monthly on payment of workers’ salaries, saying the effort was commendable in a period where most state governments have not been able to pay salaries as a result of the economic situation in the country.
He spoke in Kano state at the closing of a two-day workshop for financial journalists with theme: ‘The Role of Nigeria Banking Sector: Opportunities, Challenges and the Way forward’. It was organised by the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) in Kano recently.
He stated that despite being the largest state in terms of population growth, the administration has not owed workers, and all public servants “in the state and local government usually receive their salaries between 26th and 28th of every month.”
Ganduje who was represented at the event by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Usman Alhaji Usman, also expressed the willingness of the state to embrace public-private partnership (PPP) to revive the ailing cotton industry in the state. “We need public private investment in order to revive the cotton industry,” he said.
He disclosed that the state has invested N10.18 billion in the construction of the Murtala Mohammed road bridge as well as N3.59 billion in the construction of the Bukavu underpass, among others.
He explained that in the area of environment, the administration was doing enough to address certain challenges. He also listed some of his achievements. Ganduje said: “We have so many empowerment programmes ongoing in the state and they involve market women, and farmers. The Masu Shayi (tea sellers) empowerment is an effort from the government to improve first, the environment. During the inauguration of the empowerment programmes, there was a lecture on the cleaning of their environment and making the tea in good environment.
“Also, the empowerment was to make them self- sufficient so that they can to feed and take care of their families. Again, it was done to protect the public from practices that ordinarily would bring about diseases to the community.
“The administration of Ganduje is doing so much on the environmental challenges we are facing in the state. A lot of measures are being put in place. There is a large population with very narrow streets and wastage. In two and half years, the government introduced the cleanliness of these dirty areas.