Governor’s Aide ‘Empowers’ Kano Youth with Donkeys
Kano Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje‘s Senior Special Assistant on Youth Development, Murtala Gwarmai, has distributed donkeys to some youth of the state with which to boost their businesses.
According to trending reports, Gwarmai said the beneficiaries requested the donkeys to assist them in transporting sand, gravel, and blocks so as to grow their trade.
The Governor’s aide vowed to sustain the scheme. Other items distributed by the official include cash prizes worth N100,000, motorcycles, bicycles, building blocks, roofing sheets.
The distribution reportedly took place on Thursday at the premises of the state’s ministry for youths and sports development, with over 40 young persons benefiting from the empowerment.
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Those who attended the event include the state’s Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Kabiru Ado Lakwaya, Senior Special Assistant on Youth II, Ibrahim Ahmad, and other top officials in the ministry.
Several reactions have trailed the development, which to many, appears like a wanton use of public resources to score political gains as significant details of the supposed empowerment scheme remain undisclosed.
For one, it is not clear how the “scheme” fits into any of the state government’s economic development plan and thus begs the question of where the funds for the “empowerment” is from – the Governor’s Office or the Federal Ministry of Youths and Sports – or whether it was budgeted for at all.
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More so, if the distribution of bicycles and roofing sheets was part of the Ministry’s scope, why did the scheme have to be executed by a Senior Special Assistant to the governor, and not the minister, as it should be? Also, nothing is known about the criteria for choosing the beneficiaries of the supposed empowerment scheme.
All of these unanswered questions point to the said scheme being an example of the multifaceted menace of corruption in Nigeria and specifically, in this case, an abuse of state resources for personal and political purposes.
