By – Abba Hamisu Sani
Dr . Yusuf Ibrahim Kofar Mata is the Commissioner of Kano State Ministry for Higher Education. In this Interview with Time Base Africa. He digested the issues surrounding the Kano State foreign scholarship
and the controversies surrounding the program.
*Excerpts*
Time Base Africa – Dr. Kofar Mata through your Ministry, the Kano State government has reintroduced and continues with the provision of Foreign scholarships initiated by Senator Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso’s administration from 2011 to 2015; what is the update ?
Kano State Commissioner for Higher Education –
Glory be to God, we have got admission for many students, and we have paid their tuition fees, the program is tagged 1001. The essence of adding one is to indicate that, it is a continuous Project, meaning It is a nonstop initiative.
“As it was done during our leader Senator Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso, as 501,502,503,504 just to mention a few, we are now trying to apply the same method.
So far, all those who have applied for the scholarship and meet the requirements are already Pursuing their studies at the selected universities, no one among them is missing out.
His Excellency Kano State Governor Alhaji Abba Kabir Yusuf has tried his best to provide all they need right from Kano.
You will not understand what it takes to sponsor a student to a foreign University until you try to at least sponsor like five people then, you will understand the stress, as we have provided logistics including feeding allowance for each student from Kano to Abuja besides the credentials screening at the Federal Ministry of Education, police character screening and NDLEA drug abuse test which non of them found wanting, each of them were treated well up to the point of their departure on 20th of October 2023 ” Kofar Mata stated.
Time Base Africa – What are the countries you sent these students to?
Kano State Commissioner for Higher Education – The countries we selected are India and Uganda. Those we sent to Uganda are the ones that we couldn’t get their Universities in India. There is an International Islamic University of Uganda, which belongs to the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) based in Uganda and has branches in five countries.
Its main advantage is that students can transfer to other branches of the University in different countries.
And now I am trying to persuade them to establish a branch in Kano State. To start lectures at Aminu Kano School of Legal Studies before establishing a permanent site for it. I think Nigeria and Kano State are the best places for such a University. So that those who study Arabic and Islamic studies can have an opportunity to advance their studies.
” Dr. Yusuf Ibrahim said
The commissioner added that 35 students got admission into that Institution in Uganda to study Arabic, Islamic studies, and Jurisprudence. The rest that study medicine, Engineering, computer science,e and Artificial intelligence,e, and other fields are the ones sent to India.
The Indian Universities include Sharda, Symbiosis Mewa, Kalinga, Swarnnim, and. SR Universities.
The Kano State government under Alhaji Abba Kabir Yusuf has paid all their tuition fees, exam fees, research, and feeding allowances, including their laundry services, all these at a very low rate as we got about 80% discount, and all these discounts were returned to Kano State government Cooper’s
Time Base Africa – Dr. Kofar Mata, the total number of these students stands at 1001; now, how many of them are on the ground waiting for their turn to go out of the country for their chosen Universities?
Kano Commissioner for Higher Education – I am telling you, as of that time, we reintroduced the program ,we accepted whoever meets the laid down requirements and they already in either India or Uganda, pursuing their studies, and none of them is left behind.
Unless those they said they are not ready to travel abroad, they want to study in Nigeria . And by God’s grace, the program will continue despite the high exchange rate.
“We have already sent another request to Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf; the moment we get his approval, we will start with those applied during the first batch, but ,they couldn’t go due to personal reasons ” Dr. Yusuf stated .
Time Base Africa – In collaboration with which agencies you have conducted this exercise ?
Dr. Yusuf Ibrahim Kofar Mata – The scholarship board which is the custodian of such services is under our ministry – the Ministry for Higher Education, then finance, which is responsible for the financial commitments of the project and office of the Accountant General. Also all the tuition fees were paid through the office of the Accountant general .
“What I want to tell you is that all these admissions are secured directly without involving a consultant
. No.amount was paid for consultancy. Our benefit here is that, the State government has gotten many discounts. We also got our foreign exchange funds through the Import and Export (I&E) window, which is cheaper. We transfer this money directly to the universities they provided the students with the invoices, and then they fill out the CBN form online and send it to UBA, which the project account bank . The Bank forwarded it to CBN, and then the final payments. Both the Ministry of Higher Education , the scholarship Board and the students doesn’t have access to such money; they go directly to the selected Universities bearing the name of a particular student. We made payments to all these students through this method.
The upkeep money is paid into the student’s accounts by the Scholarship Board .So nobody has access to their tuition fees and upkeep money “.Dr. Yusuf Kofar Mata said.
Time Base Africa: In the past, it is known that the office of the secretary to the state Government (SSG) was involved in such exercise, is the office not part of the project this time around ?
Kano Commissioner for Higher Education – The students were screened at that office and the committee that handled the project was established under the SSG’s Office, there were no commissioners then ,and I happened to be the secretary of that Committee,Professor Arzai was the chairman ,we conducted the screening at the Office of the Secretary to the State Government.
“You know this Government is puting everything in its right place .Immediately after the the appointment of the Commissioners ,the project was return to the Ministry for Higher Education as it has direct relationship with Ministry the and scholarship Board and the Ministry of finance which provides the funds for the exercise ” He added .
Time Base Africa – Dr. Kofar Mata. What is the total amount spent to these students ?
Dr. Yusuf Ibrahim Kofar Mata – Huge amount of money were spent on these students,.If you like ,We will provide it to you in written ,but the money spent were very reasonable ,alot of money were saved.
We get about 70% discount for Kano State government compared to the supposed amount to be spent initially .
“We are proud with this development.May be when it is right time ,we will publish all the financial expenses on news papers ,right from the first day of its comments to the last stage .As we are now expecting some of these student to return home in this October ,others at the end of this year ,while the rest are expected to return by December ” Dr .Kofar Mata stated.
The Commissioner also said the breakdown of the money meant for that project is documented in the Ministry of finance , the ministry of Higher Education and the Office of the Accountant General , scholarship Board and all the other agencies involved.
Time Base Africa – Within which period,will you achieve that slated number of 1001 ?
Dr.Yusuf Kofar Mata – As far as we are concern ,we have achieved these number (1001) because ,it is just a name of a programne,God’s will our preparation is on top gear as we are waiting for the approval of governor Alhaji Abba Kabir Yusuf to start 1002 project .Any student that postponed his admission which is part of 1001 will be included in the new batch as this programme remain continus .
This scholarship programme is for all Kano citizens regardless of political affiliation.
