2015 Presidential Series: I believe that I can change the sad story of Nigeria to something If...— Kwankwaso

Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano State is among the contenders for the presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the 2015 general elections. Kwankwaso, in this piece, unfolds his agenda for Nigeria.Today I look at Nigeria and I feel sorry for the high level of insecurity and other challenges that stare our nation on the face and I feel that something urgent must be done to address the rot in the system. Nigeria cannot continue to operate as an orphan in the comity of nations having been abundantly blessed with human and material resources to be a global leader.

 I can replicated Kano’s success story for Nigeria

I believe that I can change the sad story of Nigeria to something of a celebration if given the opportunity to lead. I have the confidence that I can replicate the Kano magic for Nigeria. Today, Kano is proud that I came to the scene in 2011 and change the landscape for them.

Despair and hopelessness have been replaced with happiness on the faces of the people of Kano. Dilapidated public institutions have been replaced with new ones while the poor have been integrated into the system and given a means of livelihood and taken off the streets.

Today, as a result of my leadership in Kano, I have succeeded in establishing three brand new cites known as Kwankwasiyya, Amana and Bandirawo in addition to constructing three monumental flyovers that have helped to remove the traffic snarl in the metropolis. I have also provided 220kms of dualised and electrified roads to all the 44 LGAs of the state translating to 5kms for each of the councils at the cost of N80 billion.

To get the city running without power failure, I have signed and MoU for 35 Megawatts Independent Power Project at Challawa and Tiga dams at the cost of N14.2 billion solely from the state coffers.

Free, compulsory education

Under my administration, we have made education free and compulsory from the primary to the university. Behind that we have a special post graduate training programme for graduates who pass out with First class or Second class upper grades. So for our graduates, all you need to secure further training by the government is to pass with at least a second class upper. For those who are reading medicine, we engage them as workers on G/L 7 while they are still studying.

When they  graduate we send them abroad to study in specialised areas so as to become specialists and more useful to the society. So far, we have trained 501 youths for postgraduate studies abroad at the cost of N1.8 billion. Another set of 100 youths has been dispatched to Jordan for Piloting and Aeronautical Engineering studies at the cost of N1 billion. Another 100 of our youths are studying Medicine in various universities abroad at the cost of N1 billion. One hundred others are pursuing courses in Pharmacy overseas at the cost of N800million while 100 females are studying Medicine with specialisation in Gynaecology at the cost of N1 billion.

At the same time, while 25 have been sponsored to study Marine Engineering in India and the United Kingdom, 14 others are undergoing various courses in Technical Education at Bradford, England. The second batch of our 502 youths sponsored by my administration to pursue their PhD   courses abroad is   doing very well in their chosen institutions across the globe. We are spending at least N2.8 billion on them.