The Kaduna State Governor, Uba Sani, has said that he currently receives half his salary and has reduced the allowances of aides in a deliberate effort to free funds to finance critical infrastructure and developmental projects in his State.
Governor Sani stated this while speaking to State House correspondents after a closed-door meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He said “We embarked on a very serious adjustment. As you are aware, we made it clear that we need to reduce the cost of governance in Kaduna State. To date, we have not bought a single vehicle for any government official in Kaduna state.
According to the Governor, this action became necessary to cut down the cost of governance in the State.
Governor Sani explained that “That’s really helped us. We’ve reduced the allowances of all our commissioners, advisers, and even my humble self, receiving half of my salary since I became Governor of Kaduna State, and I’ve not had a single new vehicle as a governor.
“So, we tremendously reduced the cost of governance and that’s the way to go if we really want to address our problems and improve on major areas of education, healthcare infrastructure.”
The Governor explained that he was at the Presidential Villa to brief the President on development in his State.
Speaking on the level of insecurity in Kaduna State, the Governor noted that in last last few months, incidences of banditry, kidnapping and insurgencies had reduced in Kaduna State.
He said that he discussed the progress he had made on the MoUnhe signed with Huawei in China saying that the government had achieved the first phase of the agreement.
“We also discuss our efforts toward addressing the out-of-school children in Kaduna. I informed him that in the last six months, we have reduced the number of out-of-schools to the tune of about 300,000 because we built about 62 secondary schools in Kaduna, 2,340 classrooms in primary schools, and we have employed teachers.
“We have also been able to reconstruct, remodel, and equip about 12 secondary healthcare centers in Kaduna state. Not to talk about the 62 roads we are constructing, totaling about 700 kilometres across Kaduna state. Some of them have been completed and commissioned. Some are still in progress.
He added that the government had procured 100 CNG buses for mass transportation awaiting commissioning by the President.
In the area of security, Sani said, “The issue here is that you know, we have had a very robust collaboration with security agencies in Kaduna state. We also increase the level of synergy between the security agencies government and other relevant stakeholders that have been helping the state in terms of intelligence gathering and sharing.
“So for me, we made it clear that security issues are the responsibility of every citizen of Kaduna not only the security agencies, and that has really helped us to address the problem. I was in Birnin Gwari last month, and of course, I was informed by the Emir that in the last few months, we have not had a single incident of insurgency or banditry in Birnin Gwari local government.”
