Former Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has rejected allegations by his successor, Abba Kabir Yusuf, who claimed that the postgraduate foreign scholarship program was discontinued during Ganduje’s tenure.
In a reversal of Yusuf’s assertions, Ganduje stated that his administration expended “over N20 billion for overseas postgraduate scholarships for 111,687 needy students across 14 countries, five private universities, the Nigerian Law School and other domestic universities from June 2015 to March 2023.”
A recent report by Daily Trust disclosed that Governor Yusuf, while announcing the “revival of the scholarship scheme for first-class graduates pursuing postgraduate degrees at local and foreign universities,” remarked that “the last scholarship was awarded in 2015 by Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso’s administration”.
Ganduje retorted via a statement delivered by a former commissioner for Information and Internal Affairs in his administration, Muhammad Garba. He criticized Governor Yusuf’s reference to Kwankwaso’s administration, pointing out that the said regime had left a debt of roughly $28 million and over N6 billion, of which a substantial portion was paid off during Ganduje’s time in office.
He specified that the over N20 billion spent on overseas postgraduate scholarships covered a wide range of expenses including “tuition fees, upkeep, accommodation, air ticket, among others, and was reserved for postgraduate students in India, Malaysia, Egypt, Cyprus, China, Turkey, Uganda, United Kingdom, Togo, Ireland, Gambia, Ukraine and other domestic universities.”
In addition to the overseas program, the ex-governor also stated that his administration sponsored the doctoral studies of 50 lecturers from Kano State’s two universities and other tertiary institutions at renowned French universities, in collaboration with the French government. This joint venture also saw the state government and the French Embassy in Nigeria investing over N600 million in a joint tuition-free postgraduate scholarship.
The statement also indicated that the Ganduje administration reinstated scholarship allowances for local students attending Nigerian universities and other tertiary institutions, a practice allegedly abandoned by Kwankwaso’s administration between 2011 and 2015.
Moreover, under this scheme, Ganduje stated that N865.4 million was allocated for scholarship allowances and logistical provisions for indigenous students across the state’s five emirates and 44 local governments.
