Ganduje counters Abba Yusuf, says his government spent over N20bn on foreign scholarships

Abdullahi Ganduje, former governor of Kano, says his administration spent over N20 billion on 111,687 indigenes of the state to study in 14 countries under the postgraduate foreign scholarships scheme.

Last week, while announcing the resumption of postgraduate scholarships for indigenes with first-class honour degrees, the Kano government said the scheme was suspended during Ganduje’s tenure.

“After eight years without postgraduate foreign scholarship by the last administration, Gov Abba Kabir Yusuf has approved the resumption of the postgraduate foreign and local scholarship with effect from the 2023/2024 academic session,” Sanusi Bature, chief press secretary to Abba Yusuf, governor of Kano, had said in a statement.

But reacting through Muhammad Garba, a former commissioner for information and internal affairs, Ganduje accused Yusuf’s administration of taking credit for the success of the foreign and local scholarship while ignoring the “burden” of about $28 million and over N6 billion which he (Ganduje) inherited and had settled more than 80 percent of it.

He said the amount covered tuition fees, upkeep, accommodation, and air ticket, among others.

“This is against the background of a false claim by the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) that Ganduje had not paid foreign scholarship in his eight-year two-term administration in the state,” the statement reads.

The former governor said the amounts were earmarked for students of postgraduate foreign scholarships in India, Malaysia, Egypt, Cyprus, China, Turkey, Uganda, Togo, and the Gambia, including those who were sent in three batches to universities in Europe to study science-related courses.

He added that his administration also partnered with the French government to sponsor 50 lecturers from the state tertiary institutions to study for doctorate degrees abroad.

Ganduje said his administration re-introduced the payment of scholarship allowances to indigenous students attending Nigerian universities and other tertiary institutions which was allegedly abandoned by the Kwankwaso administration between 2011 and 2015.