The Kano State House of Assembly has approved a request by Abdullahi Ganduje, the governor of Kano State to take a N15 billion loan to fund his free and compulsory education initiative.
The loan will be obtained in the names of the 44 local government areas of the state and repaid from their federal allocations, Vanguard reports.
A letter from Ganduje requesting the approval of the lawmakers for the loan was read on the floor of the house on Monday, January 27, 2020.
The assembly approved the request on Wednesday, January 29, 2020, during its plenary session presided over by the speaker, Abdulazeez Garba-Gafasa.
The governor said the loan would be taken from one of the new generation banks.
The legislators approved the request after the House Committee on Local Government, headed by the deputy majority leader, Kabiru Hassan-Dashi, presented its report.
The committee recommended the approval of the request, adding that the fund would be used to construct more classrooms and rehabilitate others to reduce congestion in the state’s public schools.
Hassan-Dashi explained that the loan will also support the provision of free uniform for the students and enhance the school feeding initiative of the state government.
After deliberations by the legislators, the assembly adopted the motion and approve the request.
According to the governor’s letter to the lawmakers, the loan would enable the local governments to successfully prosecute the free and compulsory education programme.
Ganduje said in the letter that each of the 44 local governments would get N340 million from the loan and repay from their monthly federal allocations.
He said the loan would be paid in 30 months with only 15 percent interest.
