The Kwankwasiyya Movement is pressing Kano State to explain how a reported N55 billion borrowing plan involving its 44 local councils would be governed and repaid, putting local debt oversight at issue.
In a statement attributed to spokesperson Dr. Habibu Sale Mohammed, the movement assigned N632.57 million per council to a computer-based testing (CBT) center, N500 million to an unnamed project and N117.41 million to an empowerment program. It estimated the combined obligation at about N1.3 billion per council. The group wants Kano to identify who would control the proceeds and disclose repayment arrangements.
Kwankwasiyya is seeking the planned locations of the CBT centers, feasibility studies and cost assessments, an explanation of the N500 million allocation and an estimate of how many people the empowerment program would reach.
The movement called for the Kano State House of Assembly to say if it authorized the borrowing and release any resolution. The movement also urged a commercial bank reportedly considering the facility to check the councils’ authority to borrow and their capacity to repay. The bank was not identified, and the reports do not establish whether the Assembly approved the plan.
The group also asked Kano to account for council contributions to an earlier joint women’s empowerment program, including the total received and the amount distributed.
Kwankwasiyya invoked the Supreme Court’s July 11, 2024, judgment on local-government autonomy while seeking disclosure of the arrangement’s legal approvals. The ruling addressed councils’ constitutional autonomy and Federation Account allocations; it did not itself determine whether this particular borrowing plan complies with the law.
The reported facility remains unconfirmed by a loan agreement or official government announcement. The reports did not identify the borrower’s formal legal identity, interest rate, loan duration, security or repayment source.
