From Romanus Ugwu, Kano
The governor of Kano State, Abba Yusuf, has revealed that his visible reforms in the area of education have removed millions of Almajiris and beggars from the streets of Kano.
He said that his administration was able to record this commendable achievement through increased budgetary allocations to renovate schools, train and retrain teachers, fund thousands of students taking external examinations, and provide school uniforms to primary school pupils.
Governor Abba, represented by his Commissioner for Education, Dr Ali Haruna Makoda, disclosed that the government has recruited more than 18,000 teachers across the state.
He said that the mission became possible because he was able to achieve an enrollment of over 4.9 million and set aside a substantial amount of money for free uniforms for school pupils.
Enumerating the achievements, the commissioner said, “Since the inception of the administration of Abba Yusuf, we faced a lot of problems because of the serious dilapidation in the education sector we met. The neglect was so bad it was to the point of decay, and that was what prompted him to declare a state of emergency in the sector.”
“Part of the declaration was the allocation of the lion’s share to the education sector in the 2024 budget, totalling 29.75 per cent. He also did the same in 2025 when he allocated 31.5 per cent of the entire budget. In 2026, when the governor presented a total budget of N1.4 trillion, the first of its kind, the Ministry of Education took 30 per cent of the entire budget. The quantum of it set aside for the education sector is over N430 billion.”
“That is why wherever you step across the 448 wards, not just the 44 local governments, there must be an ongoing strategic project we are undertaking. We have renovated so many schools, including the Day Science. If you were in the school before, you will understand the impact and value of the work done here.”
“We also introduced free school uniforms for our primary pupils. Kano is the state with the highest number of public schools. The basic enrolment we have is over 4.9 million, and we do set aside a substantial amount of money for the uniforms for the school pupils. We have also distributed instructional learning and teaching materials.”
“We also recruited more than 18,000 teachers across the states, and the exercise is still currently ongoing. Every year, we sponsor candidates for NECO, JAMB, WAEC and other enrolments. This year alone, we set aside N4.4 billion to sponsor more than 183,000 students,” he said.
Asked if the efforts to improve school enrolments have been able to take the Almajiris and beggars off the road, he said, “Talking about Almajiris, we have 13,600 registered Arabic and Islamic schools in Kano. Our state is leading the statistics on the number of out-of-school children.”
“We recently constituted a committee to ascertain the exact number so that it will help us to plan very well,” he said.
