Presidential candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party, NNPP, Rabiu Kwankwaso, has described education as the best investment for politicians.
Mr Kwankwaso made this assertion on Monday while delivering his speech at the 3rd Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso Colloquium organised by the Kwankwasiyya Development Foundation to mark his 66th birthday in Abuja.
According to him, more than 3,000 indigent students have benefited from his scholarship programs between 2011 and 2015 when he was the governor of Kano State.
He said: “The best investment for any politician is education. Our main strength in Kano, Northern Nigeria and Nigeria generally is education.
“Everybody including the Fulanis in this country they want to go to school the only issue is that they are not being given the opportunity.
“We also need to train and retrain our teachers, give them all they required.”
Speaking on the foundation’s education initiatives, Mr Kwankwaso said, “I have always given myself a target on what to do for humanity.
“The Kwankwasiyya Development Foundation started immediately after the 2019 election. I’m happy to say that in the 2019 election in Kano when we have no governor serving or former in our group, no minister serving or former not even ambassadors or any positions but just these young men and women in Kano State, we were able to win our election for governorship and others.
“And that was why I was encouraged to the extent of creating this scholarship scheme for our young men and women.
“When we advertised in 2019 believing that there are few people with first class because in our first scholarship we said anybody with first class, we exhausted all in Kano, second class upper we exhausted them, we are on second class lower when I left government in 2015 and that’s why we have over 3,000 of them in 14 countries across the world on scholarship.
“Presently, we have sponsored 148 students to Mewar International University in Karu Local Government in Nasarawa State. We chose four students (2 boys and 2 girls) in each of the 36 states and Abuja and gave them scholarships to the university.
“Our scholarship cut across it is not for indigenes but for residents because we understand that everywhere is home to all Nigerians.
“We also have them enrolled in different schools. We have more than 300 at Igbinedion University, more than 200 at Crescent University and more than 300 at Bells University. The Foundation has been sponsoring students from within and outside Kano.
“We will continue to do whatever we can as individuals and as groups, as Kwankwasiyya and as members of the NNPP and other well-wishers for the good of this country,” he said.
Guest lecturer of the colloquium and Head of Department, Department of Political Science, University of Abuja, Associate Professor Sherif Ghali, delivered a paper titled: ‘Leadership and Good Governance in Nigeria: The Legacy of Dr Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso’.
He said Nigeria needs a president like Kwankwaso in 2023 who can change the status quo and put Nigeria on the path of recovery.
