<p><!-- BEGIN THEIA POST SLIDER --></p>
<!-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v. 3.0.5.1 -->
<div class="quads-location quads-ad4" id="quads-ad4" style="float:none;margin:0px;">

</div>

<p> ;</p><div class="1rohC176" style="clear:both;float:left;width:100%;margin:0 0 20px 0;"><script async src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>

<!-- TV -->

<ins class="adsbygoogle"

 style="display:block"

 data-ad-client="ca-pub-4403533287178375"

 data-ad-slot="4399361195"

 data-ad-format="auto"

 data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>

<script>

 (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

</script></div>
<p>By Abba Anwar</p><div class="RrKdLbDN" style="clear:both;float:left;width:100%;margin:0 0 20px 0;"><script async src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>

<!-- TV -->

<ins class="adsbygoogle"

 style="display:block"

 data-ad-client="ca-pub-4403533287178375"

 data-ad-slot="4399361195"

 data-ad-format="auto"

 data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>

<script>

 (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

</script></div>
<p>My write-up on His Excellency, Deputy President of the Senate, Barau I Jibrin, PhD, CFR, captioned &#8220;Reassessment of DSP Barau&#8217;s Projects in Kano North: One Building, Three Names&#8221; attracted attention from left, right and centre. Not less than 8 rejoinders came knocking the space and time.</p>
<p>Since then I joined issue with only one DSP&#8217;s apologists, one Abdulrazak Usman, PhD, and this is my second response to those rejoinders. I deliberately decided not to respond to the remaining ones. Simply because I regard them as trash and imbalanced. The worst part of it is most of the rejoinders were AI generated. So I can&#8217;t waste time replying someone who cannot afford to respond to brain work with brain work. But with AI-induced contribution.</p>
<p>This piece is a response to a rejoinder by a sound scholar and refined intellectual, Prof Bashir Fagge Muhammad (mni), who is the Special Adviser, Policy, and Monitoring to the Deputy President of the Senate.</p><div class="37l8J4ME" style="clear:both;float:left;width:100%;margin:0 0 20px 0;"><script async src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>

<ins class="adsbygoogle"

 style="display:block; text-align:center;"

 data-ad-layout="in-article"

 data-ad-format="fluid"

 data-ad-client="ca-pub-4403533287178375"

 data-ad-slot="6550225277"></ins>

<script>

 (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

</script></div>
<p>I was raised in a family that values scholarship and discipline. Yes Prof Muhammad falls in this category. Hence my decision for this response. I sincerely value his approach and presentation. Unlike others, he didn&#8217;t present himself as an educated but ignorant fellow.</p>
<!-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v. 3.0.5.1 -->
<div class="quads-location quads-ad3" id="quads-ad3" style="float:none;margin:0px;">

</div>

<p>Prof Sir I do appreciate your first paragraph when you said, &#8220;The recent article by Abba Anwar raises legitimate public expectations &#8211; Kano North wants completed projects, not just allocations. That expectation is valid. However, the reassessment conflates legislative facilitation with executive implementation and ignores the fiscal reality under which all federal capital projects have operated in the last three years.&#8221;</p>
<p>But the reality is I did not ignore fiscal reality in relation to capital projects. Neither did I look at the contending issues with unimpressive memory. I believe and I know that there are process and procedures in budget formation and formulation. I know exactly the responsibility of a law maker and that of the executive.</p>
<p>His Excellency being a lawmaker I only interrogate his inaction for not lobbying enough to influence projects, timely appropriation, implementation, maximum review and completion.</p>
<p>It is absolutely true Sir that &#8220;To judge any of the Distinguished Senator Barau&#8217;s projects today without mentioning budget implementation architecture is to miss the story.&#8221;</p>
<p>Agreed that &#8220;&#8230; the lingering budget implementation crisis and austere measures&#8230;&#8221; are some of the factors that inform what is obtainable now, as DSP&#8217;s influenced projects are involved.</p>
<p>Sir I absolutely concur with your submission that, &#8220;Since 2024, Nigeria has operated an unprecedented system of overlapping budgets.&#8221;</p>
<p>More interesting and convincing part of your piece is this all-important paragraph where you said, &#8220;The 2024 capital budget was extended to December 2025.<br />
The 2025 capital budget was initially to end Dec 31, 2025, then extended to March 31, 2026, then June 30, 2026, then September 30, 2026, and now for the fourth time to December 31, 2026 by both Senate and House of Representatives.<br />
Experts have warned that overlapping budgets of 2024 and 2025 have made it difficult for the federal government to implement new capital projects.&#8221;</p>
<p>Above reasons are valid and sum up the argument with self-explanatory notes. I also want my respected Professor to kindly understand my argument. My reassessment of the DSP&#8217;s interventions is not for deconstruction purpose. Though nowhere in your argument you made mention of that.</p>
<p>I also commend Prof&#8217;s sense of humor and responsibility as he took his precious time and explained why the extension of some of the projects I made reference with. His reasons are hanged on the issues of cash backing, FG&#8217;s Policy to End Multiple Budgets, unfinished Projects Rolled Over, that will be moved into 2027 and Infrastructure Establishment Process and Realistic Timeframe.</p>
<p>While Prof&#8217;s argument of forwarding rhetoric question of who is accountable in the delay of Kano-Gwarzo-Dayi Road project is instructive, my worry about it is not holding DSP accountable, but his lackadaisical attitude in not making his lobbying and influence ability to be as pushy as possible. The push has faultlines.</p>
<p>On Immigration Training School, Bichi and NSCDC College, Gwarzo, where Prof mentioned 60-70% for Bichi and 50-60% for Gwarzo, Sir when was your last time you visited the locations? Talking of completion of a project carries along with it, standing of edifice(s), equipping the edifice, staffing the edifice, obtaining approvals and fulfilling requirements for security operation, in this context and even landscaping, are all part of what is seen and regarded as completion stage. Prof Sir I still commend your attempt in responding to this Bichi and Gwarzo spaces.</p>
<p>Under Federal University of Science and Technology, Kabo, project, what I pointed out in my first article is this, &#8220;Yes, it is now a University on paper. Admission for 2026/2027 has been announced on JAMB CAPS. But visit Kabo today and you will see a Polytechnic being hurriedly painted to become a University. Laboratories are still Polytechnic standard. Lecture halls are still Polytechnic size. There is no teaching hospital, no Senate building, no Professorial offices befitting a University of Science and Technology. So, while the law is complete, the University is not.&#8221;</p>
<p>Well Prof reminded me that, &#8220;The author admits legislative completion is 100%. The claim that labs are still Polytechnic standard misses the phased university establishment model approved by NUC.&#8221;</p>
<!-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v. 3.0.5.1 -->
<div class="quads-location quads-ad1" id="quads-ad1" style="float:none;margin:0px;">

</div>

<p>He further continued to furnish me with information he knows far better than me, that is stages of university establishment. Prof says, &#8220;Phase 1 (Year 1): Use existing infrastructure, appoint Vice-Chancellor, commence admission via JAMB CAPS (which has happened for 2026/2027).<br />
Phase 2 (Year 2-3): TETFund high-impact intervention for Senate Building, Professorial offices, teaching hospital affiliation.<br />
Phase 3: Full accreditation.&#8221;</p>
<p>Seen and acknowledged. But Sir good people of Dambatta local government, which is in Kano North Senatorial District, may not understand you clearly on this protocol. Why? Because before the issue of Federal Polytechnic Kabo came on board, as facilitated by the Senator, people of Dambatta requested the Senator to kindly push for the upgrade of Audu Bako College of Agriculture, Dambatta, to become Federal University of Agriculture.</p>
<p>According to the survey I conducted, in the entire North there was only one Federal University of Agriculture, located in Makurdi, since 1988, which is now Joseph Saruwan Tarka University, Makurdi. Until 2020 when North got another Federal University of Agriculture, in Zuru (FUAZ). Before the establishment of FUAZ, Dambatta people requested DSP to push for the upgrade of Audu Bako College of Agriculture, Dambatta.</p>
<p>They alleged that he used his power of influence and pushed for Federal Polytechnic Kabo, later upgraded to Federal University of Science and Technology, Kabo. While rejecting request from Dambatta.</p>
<p>The most worrying part of this changeover, was and still is, as alleged and blamed by many, that DSP did that to overshadow the political dominance, popularity and influence of the Deputy Governor of Kano State, His Excellency Murtala Sule Garo, who is also from Kabo. Forgetting that TRUST AND LOYALTY ARE BUILT OVER TIME.</p>
<p>Where Prof explains and discusses the issue of One Building, Three Names, he counters that it was a Misreading of Shared Infrastructure Model. Sir it isn&#8217;t a misreading as you put it. What I know is this, under this model the philosophy of do more with less, without reducing quality is not the focus under DSP&#8217;s arrangement.</p>
<p>Under this model the central aim is one world-class shared facility. Is DSP&#8217;s effort world class? What of maintenance and sustainability? Are they in existence in One Building Three Names? What of separation of responsibilities, quality and performance? Who measures quality and what are the performance indexes since the establishment of the Three-in- One model?</p>
<p>Prof Sir your submission under &#8220;Major Implications of Senator Barau&#8217;s Social Interventions on Kano North and Kano State,&#8221; as you put it, is partly perfect and encouraging. I said partly because we are engaged in real and independent scrutiny of all the interventions you mentioned. Some of the referenced interventions in your submissions are real, beyond assumption or pretense and are verifiable. No doubt about it Sir. But after my research more information will be relayed.</p>
<p>Sir the issue of producing farmer-millionaires from our North West graduates is still hanging in the air. I will come to that in my subsequent write-ups In Sha Allah.</p>
<p>I concur with you where you said &#8220;While capital projects face federal bottlenecks, social interventions that are directly funded and controlled by the Senator have immediate impact.&#8221;</p>
<p>Agreed that &#8220;To assess him fairly, we must separate what is within a Senator&#8217;s power (facilitation and social intervention) from what is within the Executive&#8217;s power (release, supervision, completion). The former has been demonstrably delivered at scale; the latter is constrained by a national budget implementation crisis that has affected every state, not just Kano North.&#8221;</p>
<p>The constraint as you rightly observed is on &#8220;&#8230; national budget implementation crisis.&#8221; But I see this as a fundamental constraint. That can still be massaged by genuine lobbying, influence and sustained political will.</p>
<p>My Prof understand me very well. I&#8217;m not posing to discredit or deconstruct His Excellency, the Deputy Senate President, I&#8217;m doing what I&#8217;m doing to simply call his attention on his constitutional responsibility. What I&#8217;m doing isn&#8217;t any different from strengthening accountability and leadership responsibility.</p>
<p>Sir with the respect I have for you kindly call his attention on the following major projects from Dambatta. The issue of Audu Bako College of Agriculture, Dambatta aside for now, Dambatta people still need his peculiar intervention on a Power Sub-station brought to the area when Dr Mansur Mukhtar was Minister for Finance during Muhammad Buhari administration.</p>
<p>I learned that the sub-station of 60NVA project, was at 75% completion stage. But almost all who is who from Dambatta called his (DSP) attention several time to kindly lobby for inclusion of the project in national budget and pursue with his lobby and influence for the completion of the project.</p>
<p>The project, if completed, will stimulate industrialization in Dambatta and neighboring communities. My investigation reveals that, so many people from Dambatta started insinuating and alleging that His Excellency isn&#8217;t interested in the project because it wasn&#8217;t him who originally brought it. Prof Sir kindly call his attention to understand how significant is the project in helping the economy of his constituents.</p>
<p>Secondly is the issue of Dambatta ring road that was rebuilt through lobbying and push from the DSP, as his constituency project. The people of Dambatta are complaining bitterly that the road is seriously in bad shape in less than a year after DSP&#8217;s intervention. So also street lights are not working. They believe that the work was done haphazardly and without quality.</p>
<p>On the issue of College of Agriculture, they lamented that, the process was kickstarted few years back, when powerful representation visited DSP at the National Assembly, public hearing was held, almost all legislative processes were followed, only not enough push from the DSP spoiled all the effort.</p>
<p>I want DSP to get reelected in 2027 election, that is why I&#8217;m calling his attention to sit up and correct political anomalies. I will keep on reminding him of his responsibility. While trust is gained over time honest consistency opens doors for victory.</p>
<p>Prof Sir if I may ask, what are the indices to use for measuring genuine political will, non-deceitful attitudes, honest commitment and genuine effort?</p>
<p>Prof I rest my case.</p>
<p>Anwar writes from Kano<br />
Friday, 30th October, 2026</p>
<p><!-- END THEIA POST SLIDER -->
<!-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v. 3.0.5.1 -->
<div class="quads-location quads-ad4" id="quads-ad4" style="float:none;margin:0px;">

</div>
</p>
<script async src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>

<ins class="adsbygoogle"

 style="display:block"

 data-ad-format="autorelaxed"

 data-ad-client="ca-pub-4403533287178375"

 data-ad-slot="1004305389"></ins>

<script>

 (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

</script>
<!-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v. 3.0.5.1 -->
<div class="quads-location quads-ad5" id="quads-ad5" style="float:none;margin:0px;">

</div>


