By AbdulSalam Muhammad

KANO— Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano state took his predecessor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso to the cleaners yesterday over the latter’s foreign scholarship scheme saying the entire scheme was a scam.

Kwankwaso and Ganduje

Governor Ganduje, who made the assertion while receiving the new executives of National Association of Kano state Students, NAKSS, who visited him explained that “the arrangement was fraudulent and unacceptable to his administration.”

He said instead of following due process to secure admissions for the students, the government engaged the services of what he called “a contractor”, who collects money improperly from both the government and the institutions, turning the whole admission exercise into a racket.

Ganduje revealed that “when they want to pay the bursaries of the students, they give the contractor, who in turn takes his share before remitting the money to the students. Similarly, when they want to pay the school fees, they send the money to him, to take his share, then give the rest to the institutions”.

The Governor stated, however, that his administration was determined to regularize the states’ scholarship process so that the students continue with their academic endeavours conveniently.

“While some state governments are bringing their students back home because of economic recession, we are sustaining the foreign scholarship scheme until our children complete their studies and return home”, the governor assured.

He stated that his government inherited a huge liability of unpaid scholarships for students in foreign universities, pointing out that although effort was made to settle some of the debt, about N3 billion is still being owed to the institutions.