During his administration from 2011 to 2015, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso sponsored 2,000 Kano indigenes to study various postgraduate programs abroad.
However, his political protege, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, who is a staunch capitalist, abandoned this initiative, leaving the remaining beneficiaries to suffer.
Kwankwaso’s generosity bore fruit, with more than 500 Kano indigenes who benefited from his foreign scholarship program now holding Ph.D. degrees. They have become professionals in various sectors worldwide. One notable success story is Dr. Aliyu Isa Aliyu, who is recognized as one of the world’s finest mathematicians and a product of Kwankwasiyya scholarship.
As the 2023 elections approach, the Kwankwasiyya movement, led by the NNPP presidential candidate Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, promised to reinstate the scholarship scheme if elected into power. This promise was realized by his political protege, the current Governor of Kano State, Engineer Abba Kabir Yusuf. Under his leadership, one thousand one hundred Kano indigenes were sent abroad to pursue their master’s degrees.
The question arises: Are these foreign scholarships the reason why Nigerian elites are vehemently opposing Kwankwaso? It’s worth noting that prior to the inception of the Kwankwasiyya movement in 2011, only children of the elite had the opportunity to study abroad. In 2023, the landscape has dramatically changed
Danlami Danladi is a concerned Kano citizen wrote from Jalingo
