We have noted the misleading report by Sahara Reporters titled, “Kano Spends N10.36bn On Miscellaneous Items, Including Sitting Allowances, Meals, Refreshments In Six Months.”
We categorically state that the report is misleading and untrue. Some of the figures published are incorrect, politically motivated, and targeted at the Kano State Government. The report is clearly the handiwork of enemies of the state.
For the avoidance of doubt, what Sahara Reporters sensationally described as spending on meals and refreshments is a standard budgetary classification that captures the entire cost of running the Kano State Government for six months.
This covers statutory sitting allowances for members of boards, commissions, and committees of the State Executive Council and the State House of Assembly as provided by law. It also covers logistics for Security Council meetings involving all security agencies, traditional council meetings, Executive Council meetings, capacity building for thousands of civil servants, teachers, and health workers, hosting of national events, and hospitality for investors and development partners visiting Kano.
To lump these together and present them to the public as money spent on meals and refreshments is incorrect and a deliberate attempt to mislead.
Even going by Sahara Reporters’ own figure, N10.36bn for six months translates to about N1.72bn monthly to run a mega state with 44 Local Government Areas, over 20 Ministries, hundreds of Departments and Agencies, and a population of over 15 million people. This is modest and prudent for a state like Kano, the commercial nerve centre of Northern Nigeria that hosts several national engagements.
What exposes the political motive behind the report is the fact that the figures were lifted from the Budget Performance Report voluntarily published by the Kano State Government itself, in line with global best practice and the World Bank SFTAS transparency requirement.
Other states hardly do so or never published such documents. The administration of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf published it because it has nothing to hide and believes in transparency and accountability. It is unfortunate that this act of transparency is now being turned into blackmail by enemies of the state.
It is obvious that the report was sponsored and fed to Sahara Reporters by political detractors who are uncomfortable with the giant strides recorded by this administration within the same six months, in the regular payment of salaries and pensions, free education reforms, massive road construction, urban renewal, and improved healthcare delivery.
We challenge Sahara Reporters to publish a breakdown showing where N10.36bn was spent on meals and refreshments alone, as its sensational headline implies, or to provide evidence that the expenditure was not appropriated by the Kano State House of Assembly and subjected to statutory audit.
We urge Sahara Reporters to retract this misleading report and, in the future, seek clarification from the Ministry of Planning and Budget or the Office of the Accountant-General of the state before publishing such incorrect and politically targeted reports.
The Kano State Government remains committed to prudent management of resources, transparency, and accountability, and will not be distracted by the antics of enemies of the state.
Abdulmalik Suleiman
Public Affairs Analyst.
