The Kano State Government has N9 billion salary bill monthly.Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje said this in Kano on Friday at the second day of the NDIC workshop for financial journalists.
He said that in spite of the huge salary bill, which he said, was more than some three states combined, the state had never failed to pay the salaries monthly.
The governor, who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Rabiu Bichi, said the state had also embarked on various empowerment programmes to improve the living standard of residents.
He listed one of the programmes as the “Mai Shai Empowerment Scheme”, meant for tea sellers in the state.
Ganduje said this programmes had had positive multiplier effects on the citizens generally in the state.
He said that in line with international best practices, Kano State had introduced new financial management practices that brought about financial prudence.
The governor said that the state had also introduced a single treasury accounting system like the Federal Government which had improved its accounting system.
” Kano State has strengthened its anti-corruption agency which has greatly improved the confidence of the citizenry in state’s investments,” he said.
The governor said the state and Lagos State had been chosen as yardsticks to measure the business environment in the country, adding that the state was working on improving the ease of doing business.
He said that the textile industry in Kano, which used to be the largest textile industry in Africa, was being revived to its old glory.
Ganduje said foreign investors had been visiting the state with a view of investing in some of these moribund textile companies.
He said that the state had the highest primary school enrollment in Nigeria of over three milłion and two state universities.