Kwankwaso spends $6.5 million on school in neighbouring country

Governor Rabi'u Musa Kwankwaso of north-western Kano has confirmed spending over N1 billion (about $6.5 million) on a tertiary school in a neighbouring country.

Ironically, institutions in the state and Nigeria at large are suffering from log years of infrastructure deficit.

Kwankwaso said the money was expended in building students' hostel, multipurpose hall, kitchen, staff quarters, clinic and wall fencing of Kano/Niger Republic Bilingual College in Niamey.

The governor,  at a farewell ceremony for the first batch of 101 secondary school students to Niger Republic, said the money was the counterpart fund of the state for the joint project,'

'A statement by the governor's media aide, Mallam Halilu Dantiye, explained that the state provided a bus, a pick up van, two sets of uniforms for each of the pioneer 200 students and English teachers.

According to him,  the Nigerien authorities provided land for the project, in addition to running the school.

The idea for the establishment of the college,  Kwankwaso was quoted as saying, , was to consolidate bilateral relations between the state and the Niger Republic, expose Kano children to French language as well as create unlimited opportunities for them in French and English speaking countries.'

'With an annual increment of 200 students, 100 from Niger and 100 from Kano, it is our vision that in six years when the college will graduate these very students, they will have a population of 1,400 students,' the governor was quoted to have said.

He said that the governments of Kano and Niger Republic would take full responsibility for the scholarship of the students.

In his remarks, President Muhammadou Yousoufou of Niger Republic, represented by the country's Minister of Education, Madam Maryam Alhadji Ibrahim, said the partnership will bring about greater unity and reinforce the existing relationship between his country and Nigeria.