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<p>By Dr Amir Abdul Aziz</p><div class="4mXruGOk" style="clear:both;float:left;width:100%;margin:0 0 20px 0;"><script async src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>

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<p>In 2012, I was selected among the 501 students first batch Kano State Government Foreign Postgraduate Scholarship. I was supposed to go to India, but I pulled out at the last minute due to some very important reasons which are subject to a different discussion for another day.</p>
<p>Over 13 years later, I both cherish and regret that decision. I cherish it because I have succeeded in maintaining my political freedom and social independence as 90% of my friends who made the trip were eventually &#8216;enslaved&#8217; directly or indirectly by the Kwankwasiyya allegiance.</p>
<p>I regret because 90% of the beneficiaries I know experienced massive transformation. I knew many people who looked up to me for inspiration before they left, but by the time they returned, they were miles ahead of me. After later doing some rapid catchup myself, I admit that the wide gap still exists.</p><div class="SyFxDVf0" style="clear:both;float:left;width:100%;margin:0 0 20px 0;"><script async src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>

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<p>But, these personal experiences are not the issues. The question is whether the Kwankwasiyya Scholarship was beneficial to Kano State or not? Pros and cons considered, I think the scheme was a net success by Nigerian standards.</p>
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<p>Dr. Rabiu Kwankwaso succeeded in elevating the intellectual status and educational reputation of Kano State not only in Nigeria but in Africa. The selection was merit based and transparent. As such, 75% of beneficiaries did not disappoint, they did well and a substantial number of them have justified the investment for public good.</p>
<p>On the other hand, there were a lot of alleged massive financial irregularities and misplacement of priorities that seriously dented the scheme and made critics and even neutrals question its motive in the first place. For example, people whose disciplines are better taught in Nigeria were irrationally sponsored at huge costs to study abroad, others were reportedly sent to sub standard universities. Some were sent to become pilots but abandoned without practicing licenses after returning leading to wastage. Unfortunately, these were not isolated cases. It is, therefore, unwise for anyone to deny these shortcomings.</p>
<p>The allegation of Kwankwaso using the scheme for personal political gain holds massive weight. The administration appeared more interested in quantity (to gain loyalists) than qualtity (to create value for the state). The government kept sponsoring batches upon batches until the whole thing became unsustainable, scandalous and eventually a liability. Kwankwaso left office in 2015 with hundreds of students almost stranded abroad.</p>
<p>Today, most beneficiaries bear their allegiance to Kwankwaso as a person and not to Kano, the state whose funds were used to sponsor them. In fact, after the mass exodus of ranking Kwankwasiyya elites post 2019 elections, these scholars are now the nucleus of Kwankwaso&#8217;s political empire and propaganda machinery. Whether these facts are enough to condemn the scholarship altogether depends on one&#8217;s criteria of judgement.</p>
<p>While I rationally still see it as a success, I believe the Kano foreign scholarship scheme would have achieved far much higher impact if it was more strategic, more sincere and better structured along or tailored towards a targeted and measurable development plan.</p>
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