My readers may recall that in my interview with Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa,
the former governor of Kaduna State, he was sincere enough to
acknowledge that performance among governors did not end with the PRP
governors of the Second Republic. If properly searched for, he said, it
is possible to find "even as we speak now in 2012" some governors who
are performing equally well.
I did not press him to mention any. However, from my observation, I can
suggest two here in Northern Nigeria: Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa
State and Governor Rabi'u Musa Kwankwaso of Kano State. Not
coincidentally, the two PDP governors are both scions of the old PRP. I
have four yeas ago written a page on Lamido when I crowned him my best
governor of 2008. But where Kwankwaso may excel is that in addition to
his spectacular performance in the last one year, which I have studied
in the past two weeks while in Kano, is his wholesale subscription to
the talakawa doctrine of Malam Aminu Kano. His austere lifestyle
and approach to governance, his financial prudence and his pro-poor
oriented programs, all combine to make him in the eye of the
dispassionate a faithful disciple of Malam Aminu Kano and a rare gem
among Nigerian governors.
We should be large-hearted to give honour to whom honour is due, whoever
it may be. For me, it is a duty, especially in these days when all hope
seems to be lost. I have seen a lot in Kano and prepared materials which
I will avail my readers with shortly. The materials are a must read, not
withstanding their number and lengths, especially for our youths who
have turned despondent. Reading them will help to rescue the youths from
the disturbing grip of pessimism, narrow-mindedness and political
intolerance that have become commonplace in Nigeria today.
However, as a start, I think it is suitable to open the gate with an
interview that Newswatch and I held with the governor at midnight
on Tuesday, 13 June 2012, in his office. The questions, except the last,
were asked by Mr. Kayode of Newswatch. In the interview, the
governor speaks of his achievements eepecially in the area of education
and poverty alleviation, why he brands every project with the "kwankwasiyya"
mark, how he lost the 2003 election, why he has not probed his
predecessor (yet?), his tight grip on the finances of the state, why he
does not have the office of the first lady, how he saves much to execute
projects, his disapproval of security vote, the next governor he wishes
Kano would have, the present security situation, the ideological
contradictions in the composition of PDP, and why Kano recovered so
quickly from the 21st January attacks. Happy reading.
The Interview:
Question: what can you say ae your achievements in the last
one year?
Kwankwaso: In the last one year so much has been achieved. We are
happy that we didn’t disappoint our people. You can see our achievements
in various areas. For lack of time, I will, as an example, briefly dwell
on some of the achievemnts we have recorded in education.
We decided to put education as our number one program on our agenda
because its critical in transforming the lives of people. During our
first term, in the area of primary education, by the grace of God, we
were able to build thousands of classrooms in Kano, feed our primary
pupils lunch five times a week, give them two sets of uniforms, etc. we
are still maintaining those important programs.
In addition to that we have our Community Reorientation Committee (CRC)
in all the forty-four local government areas of the state and the
supervisory committee at the state level that carry out renovations of
old structures and conducts the school programs I just mentioned. In
each local government, the CRC is composed of our "best eleven": the
district head, chief Imam, local government chairman, chairmen of PDP
and the second best party in the last election, member of House of
representative in the constituency, a representative each of National
Union of Teachers, youths, women, businessmen and elders. You must have
seen our one-storey building across the state – the Kwankwasiyya
blocks of classrooms. Over 800 classes are completed in the first one
year, 400 offices, 400 toilets, furtniture, etc.
By the way, the CRC also runs programs on poverty alleviation in which
we support our youths and women. We have trained 44,000 women and
supported each with a N10,000.00, free. The training of another 44,000
is going on at the rate of 100 per local government weekly. Youths are
also trained on animal traction and given a loan of N150,000.00 to cover
the cost of bulls and plough. The Lafiya Jari program is also on,
where we have trainEd 1,200 unemployed of from different health
institutions on the basics of commerce and give them a loan of
N80,000.00 each to open small medicine shops in rural areas and
neighborhoods.
In the area of secondary education, you must have visited the newly
established Governor’s College. We have three other similar schools. We
have improved the feeding of pupils in all our boarding schools. We are
paying teachers and other civil servants by the 25th of every month,
including the payment of the minimum wage of N18,000.00 that started
last January.
In addition to our existing 10 tertiary institutions, we are
establishing additional 28 institutes – ranging from nursing school,
midwifery, health technology, fisheries institute, livestock institute,
agric mechanization institute, horticultural institute, sports
institute, Kano Corporate Security Institute, Kano Informatics, etc.
Some of these institutes have already started on temporary sites.
We have earlier established Kano State University of Technology during
our first term. Now we are establishing the Northwest University, which
is a conventional university instead of KSUT that is limited to
technology based courses. As the name implies the new university will
cater for the six northwestern states. Of course, Kano is shouldering
100% of the responsibility now but at the appropriate time we will link
up with our colleagues in other states in the zone to see how we can
work together on the project. We are building its permanent site already
and have advertised for staff positions including those of its principal
officers.it will take off this September. Having noticed that we will
have delays due to the civil works, we will use the Ado Bayero House as
our temporary site while we are working day and night on the permanent
site.
Our investment in education is based on the belief that it helps break
the vicious circle of poverty. If you are educated, you can cater for
yourself, either in this country or elsewhere. Additionally, we believe
it is in the best interest of this country. You cannot have two
countries in one: one very educated, the other very illiterate. Then
there would be danger. We felt we should narrow the gap, create
opportunities so that we can move together. This is very important for
the security of our country. At this juncture, I would like to appeal to
all those concerned, especially those that are rich enough to establish
private institutions especially in the North. I also appeal to those of
us in government to give education a priority.
Question: Why do your projects bear Kwankwasiyya mark? Some
people think you are personalizing them.
Kwankwaso: When people make such remarks, they are either not
aware of our intention or they are our opponents in the first place. We
are not the first to brand any project. Why are they not talking of ETF?
In addition, PTF stopped in 1999 but its signs are still there. Why are
they not talking of MDG whose signs are everywhere. Our action is based
on experience. During my first term, I can’t remember one classroom that
was marked to indicate that it was done by my administration. Some
governors are naming institutions after themselves or locating them in
their villages or local governments. We didn’t do that before; we are
not doing it even now.
You see some people had the opportunity to perform for eight years. They
didn’t do anything other than pick our projects and use them in their
calendars. It was very painful. I was in the Ministry of Defence when I
saw a calendar carrying projects that I suffered in various ways to
execute during my first tenure. That is why when we came back, we said,
“Okay. Now we are moving with supersonic speed in the execution of our
projects. How do we mark them to enable people know? If MDG and ETF are
doing it now, if you have Ahmadu Bello University – and remember I
haven’t named the new university Rabiu Kwankwaso University – why not
us?
This is politics. You have blow your trumpet. I have learnt that the
hard way. We have inherited a project of 1000 classrooms from the former
administration that it started since 2008. Yet, only a third of the
money was paid. So two-thirds are abandoned. I have asked them to bring
the estimates. We will complete them, now that we have made our marks.
If I didn’t write Kwankwasiyya on mine, you would have thought that we
are still on the drawing table, that our predecessors constructed the
buildings.
We are not ashamed to mark the building we constructed. We would only be
ashamed were we stealing projects. Now in one year alone, we have built
800 primary school classrooms, 400 offices for teachers, the same number
of pit latrines, etc. We have bought equipment worth hundreds of
millions of naira for our tertiary institutions. Teachers in these
institutes were not even paid salaries because some people were stealing
the money. We will not allow anybody to steal. If anyone steals and we
catch him, we will punish him. So we will have enough money to execute
our projects. We have 28 institutions of various kinds taking off as I
said initially. But we will mark them as we build them such that people
would know. It is no secret.
Someone would say, “Well, if someone comes, he will scrub it.” Well, if
someone comes he can even use a bulldozer to demolish the building. But
if he has the time to say he doesn’t like it, why wouldn’t he build his
own and write his name? If he is handamiyya – people who steal public
money – he should write it. We have seen some buses marked, “donated by
so and so.” We did not stop them. If we execute a project, we will mark
it such that at least for the next three years people will know that we
executed them.
Question: After you left office in 2003, your predecessor
probed you and issued a white paper that sought to ban you from holding
public office. Why haven’t you chosen to probe your predecessor in
return?
Kwankwaso: It is because of our experience. When I was leaving
this office in 2003, it was unimaginable that I would return here. The
chances were slim. May be, I came back because of the white paper. As
they were doing it, I continued moving. I became the Minister of
Defence, the adviser to the President, then to NNDC. Obsanjo told them,
“You can go and probe. But bring a proof to me that my minister has
stolen money. There wasn’t any.” Anybody can ask your enemies to write
anything about you and receive it over a cup of tea.
In 2003, I didn’t contest election with them. I contested with Buhari
because presidential and gubernatorial elections were held same day for
the first and only time in the history of this country. Sentiments were
built based on ethnicity and religion such that the political atmosphere
was so hazy that people weren’t reasoning well. People were told that if
you vote for a religious man, you would all go to heaven. As time went,
people saw that these people were drinking SWAN water, building estates
when they didn’t have even a plot before, and so on. Their eyes were
therefore shined.
I am happy to say that we were able to manage success in 1999 and
failure in 2003. When we lost elections in 2003 for whatever reason, I
went to the house (of the new governor), in his sitting room, the first
and only time in the history of Nigeria and said, “Congratulations! We
will support you because this is Kano. If you fail, Kano fails.”
I believed then and now that if performance were the only requirement
for winning a second term, I would have won then even if it were among
few governors in Nigeria. I knew that in addition to performance, there
are many other things. The good thing is if you build schools, as we do
now, people will benefit; if you bring in water, people will use it; if
you build roads, people will use them. You can criticize that we are
writing names on the buildings but your children will go and use the
buildings while those who have stolen your money are sending their
children overseas.
You see, Kwankwasiyya is an ideology and you can see the result. Go and
see how our streets are clean and lit in the night. This is not how we
inherited them in 2011. Look at the four major roads that lead into
Kano. Additional lanes are added to them, with shoulders, drainages and
walkways. Even on the old roads, we are putting interlocking blocks for
pedestrians. We are working, day and night.
So I believe it is always good to be responsible, reasonable and mean
well to people. That is why I am not in a hurry to probe anybody. Give
them the benefit of the doubt. But I know if you build around you so
many deep wells and you continue to move around them recklessly, one day
you are likely to fall into one. People will reap what they sow. That is
my position.
Question: Despite meeting an empty treasury last year, you
were able to execute so many projects. Yet, you have not borrowed a kobo
from any bank, local or international. What is the secret behind this
success?
Kwankwaso: It is the policy of our government, even during the
first term, not to borrow a kobo. And when we were leaving, we left
behind N4 billion cash in our treasury despite all what we did. So the
same thing when we came back, we inherited a debt of over N77billion and
over US$200million. But we haven’t paid, and we are not in a hurry to
pay. We just said, “Draw a line. I don’t want to open any can of worms.
Let me prove to the people that yes, Kwankwaso is back. I don’t want to
hear N77billion or $200million. Let's move." And we are moving.
What we did was to introduce checks and balances. I was a civil servant
here for seventeen years. As a result, most of the civil servants –
especially the senior ones – were my colleagues in school and in the
service. Mind you I am also a pensioner though I forewent my pension
since I retired in 1991 as a principal engineer. So we know the level of
wastages that exists and saved so much from the angle of the civil
service. We inherited 43,000 civil servants. Along the line, based on
our measures, we removed over 8,000 ghost workers. These were people who
were practically getting money for nothing. We met a law that said we
should pay civil servants certain percentage of their salary for fasting
and purchase of rams, etc. We paid for the first sallah. But by the time
the second came, we realized from the files that there were so many
problems. Now we would have paid 8,000 ghost workers 50% of their
salary. We are now trying to sort out things and pay the civil servants.
Our target is the ghost worker, not the real workers that are
messengers, permanent secretaries or directors.
On the part of the politicians – myself downwards: advisers,
commissioners, SSG, Chief of Staff, everybody, we said, “Look. Let us
not start dipping our fingers into government money. It is neither good
for us, nor is it for the society. There are people outside there who
have also supported us but who are battling with what they would eat
daily. Many of them may sleep on empty stomach.” You see, if I take 10
million, for example, it may appear small to me but it can do a lot in
terms of education, health, water supply, or even in maintaining street
and traffic lights. We started from there.
Between 2003 and 2011, so many things in the cost of running government
have been inflated, like overheads and so on. So we said, "let's return
to where we were in 2003. That is the one we know. Let us revert to that
in terms of recurrent expenditure." I said that if they have any
complaint, they should refer to me.
My commissioners and advisers wanted vehicles. I asked the SSG to
estimate the cost. It was over N2billion. I said, “No. Use the old
vehicles we inherited.” At the Ministry of Defence, I used the only two
vehicles that I inherited from TY Danjuma. On many occasions, the 607
would fail on the road. There is nothing wrong with that.
Now we can go on and on. So we not only saved so much money there but we
also sent the right signal. Despite what we were executing in terms of
projects, from N77billion debt in May when we took over, by January this
year when we were opening our books we had over N20.5billion cash. I
still believe that up till now we have a similar figure. Commissioners
now have to defend their budget by proving value for money. No
commissioner was ever declined any request because we don’t have money.
We return him only because he hasn’t followed due process or because it
is too expensive at that rate. We told them that this government is a
serious one. There is no room for anybody – from the highest level to
the lowest one – to break the law. You have to abide by it. If you break
it, we will put the maximum weight of the law on you. That is why so
much is happening in all areas, so much so that nobody, including my
humble self, can tell you how much we have done in the past one year.
What is critical is that we have confidence of the people. One thing
good is that the people of Kano are law-abiding people. They want to see
you lead by example. You don’t, as their leader, say one thing and do
the other: You swear by Allah but everybody knows you are telling lies.
If you do that, people won’t take you seriously. If you tell them don’t
do something, they will go and do it.
On internally generated revenue, the state was generating only between
N300million and N500 million when we came in. We believe that everybody
must pay tax. If you have enough, even if you’re not paying zakat, you
have to pay tax. By December, we were getting over up to N1.2billion. My
target, despite the security challenges, is to have enough money to pay
salaries and allowances. We are making progress. I wouldn’t need to get
money from Abuja to pay salaries. If we cannot pay civil servants and
ourselves, then there is something wrong with us. People have to pay.
That is why I asked the commissioner of land to assess my ground rent.
It now enables me the moral locus to ask others to pay theirs. No matter
how big you consider yourself, you are small if you cannot pay your tax.
Nobody is perfect. But as far as we can, we want to do the right thing.
Question: Could it be why you jettisoned your security vote?
Kwankwaso: Now, the same thing applies to security vote. I told
people that governments are using it to siphon away resources. We have
seen records here that, apart from N70million, N80million and so on – in
one day N127million was withdrawn as security vote. That was the
highest. Since a governor cannot give an approval of more than N10
million, the money was removed in twelve installments of N10million
each, plus N7million. (Here, Kwankwaso adjusted his red cap and gave a
sardonic smile.) In four years, billions were thus withdrawn in the name
of security vote.
So the way we are handling it here is to account for everything. If you
come as a big man and I want to dash you N10.00 from my pocket, I give
it to you. If I would give you N10,000.00 from public money, I will give
it but it will be on record. So if you like it that way, take it; and if
you don’t, leave it. That is important. If I want to give money to the
police or army – and we give them very little despite the security
situation – we write it. We even arrange for their feeding and
allowances in addition to what they get from the federal government.
Now, what I give the contractors for the feeding is there on record, for
example. In addition to that, we follow up. I go there sometimes to
count the bread and the cans of fish they are given, just to make the
contractor understand that he is not left alone.
I believe that governors, as much as possible, should avoid the issue of
security vote. You know mischief-makers used it against me in the white
paper. I used N97million as security vote for the 2003 elections. The
record is there. I gave N2million to the security committee of each
local government. The panel summoned each of the chairmen of those
committees and none of them disputed that I gave him the money. They
explained how they used it and nobody said he gave me even N2.00.
Question: Has the present security situation affected
governance in your state with effect from January this year?
Kwankwaso: Every leadership, throughout history, has faced its
own version of challenges. There is none that is not facing one form of
security threat or another. We can put it on scale and measure it.
Southeast has its own challenges; so does the south-south or southwest.
Come to the north, you find the same thing. Of course, you when you
weigh them you can say this one is heavier, the other lighter. If you’re
in the area where people are kidnapped and your father is kidnapped, you
wont believe that Jos is less secured than your place. So it is an issue
of how it affects you.
Coming to the issue of how it affects us, you see we didn’t know the
security challenges that will face us when we came in last year, just as
we didn’t know the ones we would face when we were elected in 1999. From
then to 2003, you find Hausas were killed in Lagos. The issue of shariah
also came up. I didn’t campaign for it. I didn’t even thought about it
in 1999. But it became a serious issue and it cost me even my seat at
that time because the sentiments were too much: Obasanjo was our
candidate, Buhari was their candidate, so went the sentiments. They
blocked roads to polling booths and demanded which of the two voters
were going to vote for – mosque or church? If you do the same in Port
Harcourt, the persovoter which one he is going to vote for. It’s the
same thing in Kano. So we didn’t lose election in 2003 for lack of
performance or somebody was more popular than us. No. It was mere
sentiments.
However, now, the dust has settled and things are clear. (Smile) By
2011, the young men and women we bred during our first tenure were 18.
They were in charge of the polling booths. The women we empowered with a
free capital of N5,000.00 – thousands of them – came out. The tertiary
institutions and secondary schools we established or supported all came
out and voted for us. We had no state government, no local governments,
no contracts, and no money; yet, people voted for us and defended the
votes. Some people wouldn’t imagine that it was this evil called
Kwankwaso that was returning – the most hated Kwankwaso. All the
promises of 2003 about Shariah were gone. Kano people, you know, are
very smart, very fast.(Smiles) They can surprise you anytime. You can
only deceive briefly. But the moment you start moving, they would say,
“Ah. God don catch you.” That is why we have this challenge to
prove ourselves.
The challenge of security is not peculiar to Kano. It is all over the
country and the North in particular. We are working very hard. That is
why whenever I have an opportunity like this, I appeal to all people,
including all politicians, to join hands. When the attacks happened on
20th January we gathered people across parties, including the ANPP,
businessmen, the Emir, the Chief Imam, everybody. We sat down and
discussed what could be done. We have been meeting and we will continue
to meet in the interest of the state, appealing to everybody to come
forward and put the issues , if any, on the table. And if anybody wants
us to facilitate anything – the federal government, anyone – we will be
very happy to do so to make sure that there is fairness and justice. And
unless there is justice from both sides, we will continue to have
problems. The problem of security doesn’t help anybody.
Question: Due to time factor, I will put two questions in one.
One, you are the only governor in this country that doesn’t have the
office of the first lady. Two, when we look at the people in your
cabinet, they are almost the same ones around during your first tenure,
particularly your deputy. What is the secret behind this practice?
Kwankwaso: I am sure the position of first lady isn’t in the
constitution. So, first things first. First of all, my wife is my wife –
the wife to Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso; then, secondly, if you like, she is
the wife to the Governor of Kano State.
You see everybody has his own way of doing things. I am not saying that
what others are doing is wrong, but I don’t believe that others should
think that my own is wrong. My wife doesn’t go to any ministry. I don’t
allow commissioners to go to my wife. In any case, if my wife has the
governor at her disposal anytime, why would she need a commissioner? "If
you want anything in government, tell me," I told her. But she knows -
and everybody knows - that I cannot steal anything in government and
bring it to her. If there is anything genuine that everybody is entitled
to, then she can also go for it.
To me creating an office of the first lady endangers the wife by
exposing her to all sorts of risks – the inherent problems associated
with politics, with leadership, etc. If you put all your eggs in one
basket, you end up in one problem or the other. Also, if you have people
who have not gone through the system – like our wives – they may create
one problem or the other for themselves. Sometimes, if you cannot fell
the tree, you go for the branches because they are very easy to cut and
fell. That is why you should not give your enemies that opportunity. We
have people who cannot come to terms with marking buildings with
kwankwasiyya, what would they do if they catch my wife stealing public
money?
On the issue of the deputy governor, I will say that he is someone I
knew very well. We have worked together for long. The issue is you can
throw away an object and buy another one. However, it it isn’t the same
with human beings. We have only one Dr. Ganduje in Kano, in Nigeria and
probably in the whole world. That is very important. If I have made the
mistake of picking him as a deputy governor, that mistake was done in
1999. At that time I had the liberty to pick another person. But not
now.
He became the deputy governor and we were there for four years. We went
into election and lost. He was my SA in the ministry of defence. We had
to keep on moving together. And these are the secrets that kept us
strong. Friendship is based on mutual agreement between two people. A
friend is the sort of thing that you choose willingly, unlike your
father, mother or child. The deputy governor is committed to this
friendship nd so are other people with whom we are working together.
The longest time I would remain here is three years. Now given the
treacherous nature of politics, one has to train many people – not one,
not two, not three – such that if anyone decides to defect, there would
be others to continue with the struggle. That is why we continue to
build up the team.
In fact, the way PDP was constituted doesn’t help matters. In 1998/99 we
were just interested in the military leaving. So three groups – MDF and
the two groups from PRP – formed the new party. There is no way we can
go together. The ideologies are different.
Our ideology is now coming out. We are speaking about the poor, women,
children and the sick. Many people don’t want to hear that. They are
speaking of the interest of the big man. How much did you give him? What
is his benefit? Which benefit? Let him go and sleep well. He has so much
to eat, so much to enjoy. That is not to say he doesn’t benefit from our
services. When you build road in the city, the poor doesn’t have the
road. It belongs to the big man. That is why we put interlocking blocks
on the side walkway so that the poor that sells garden egg or motar (turmi)
can also walk or sit on a hard clean surface. The large part of the road
is for the rich. If you are providing security, it is mainly for them.
They have twenty taps in their houses; use twenty gallons to flush their
toilet, while the poor would just use his small kettle to clean himself.
So our concern is that the poor should have the minimum requirements for
life. It is based on our ideology, that of Aminu Kano. He wears this red
cap, white cloth and black shoes. That is the colour of the PRP. Ours is
red, white and black; if you like, you can use green in the shoe to
represent the colour of the PDP.
That is the PDP by coincidence. But some in the party don’t believe in
this. We are not fighting them but we can’t work together. In 1998/99,
we were sharing positions amongst the three groups. When I became
governor, many people didn’t want to recognize that life is dynamic.
They kept on fighting, calling me “this boy.” I said, “Thank you very
much. Yeah! This boy, the governor of Kano.” I am afraid that many of
them will develop high blood pressure because they are not reconciling
their thought with the decree of God.
And you see, people have to understand the dynamics of life; otherwise,
they will get frustrated. If God has decreed that you will be xyz, you
have to be and I have to prepare my mind to accept it. The least person
I expected to come and inherit my seat was the one who came. God had
decreed so. I was here. He was a permanent secretary. Now I see my
deputy governor, commissioners and advisers. One of them may inherit
this seat. I don’t know. The only thing is that I am training them.
Everyday, I go out with my cane, if you like, and ask why is this so,
why is that so? I just want anybody that would come here to be a
competent person. It will be the biggest disservice to this state if I
would see somebody come here who would once more allow what we have seen
in the past eight years. We want strong and powerful people, those who
agree with our philosophy.
Now we go out coloured to show everybody who we are. We are not ashamed
of our identity. We are consistent in what we say and believe. That is
why people believe whatever we promise to do. During the campaign, we
study our facts before we mount the podium. When we said we will give
women N10,000.00 support, some people were doubting it, wondering from
where we would get the money. But already, within one year we have given
it to 44,000 women and we will continue doing so until the last day we
are leaving government.
What we want to do in Kano is to help people at the grassroots to start
small businesses as we have seen in the emerging economies of China,
India, Brazil, etc. That is how they started, not with mega things. If
our resources are prudently managed, there is enough to help the poor in
different sectors, ranging from health, to agriculture, education,
everything. By the time December comes, we would be generating over
N3billion. Aliko Dangote, as a demonstration of the confidence that
people have in the prudence of this government, gave us N600 million to
partially finance our poverty alleviation programs. Again, as we start
the second batch now, he is giving us another N600million. So we are
happy that people in different levels of society have confidence in us.
Of course we have enemies. These are the ones talking about kwankwasiyya.
And they are the very ones that motivated us to put the mark. And the
more they shout, the more we put it.
Question: I have gone round and seen that Kano has bounced
back within a short time. All shops are once more open unlike when I
visited it three weeks after the 20th January attacks. People who left
the city have returned. One can say that Borno and Yobe aren’t that
lucky. They are practically paralysed to date. What is the secret behind
this quick recovery?
Kwankwaso: Kano is a centre of commerce. People of Kano really
love peace because they know that without peace there will be no
business. When the attack of the 20th happened, people were shocked...
We placed a 24 hour curfew. Later we reduced it to 18 hours, then 12
hours, and now 6 hours. We are considering ensuring that there is no
curfew in Kano. When you came then you might have seen many checkpoints.
As the situation is improving, we kept on reducing the number of
checkpoints. Now we have few of them and each one is there for a reason.
And very soon we will make sure that they are removed from our
streets...
Security is the paramount responsibility of any government. And while
people are working very hard to ensure that there is security in Kano,
at the same time I am calling on everybody to come together and work
with us in the interest of the state. This not withstanding, let me say
at this juncture that Kano is the centre of knowledge also. We have
people who are praying across the state 24 hours a day. In fact, that
was why on 29 May instead of celebrating we went to the mosque to pray
to Almighty Allah for peace not only in Kano but also throughout the
country. The same thing took place in all local governments and wards in
the state that day. And you know God is great. We are beginning to see
peace coming back in Kano.