I Sold My Properties to Sponsor 370 Kano Youths’ Education Abroad — Engr. Kwankwaso
By Hajara Abdullahi
Former Kano State Governor and presidential candidate of the NNPP in the 2023 elections, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, has revealed that he sold his properties across Nigeria to sponsor the education of Kano youths abroad.
Kwankwaso made this known during the annual Kwankwasiyya Scholars Assembly meeting held in Kano on Wednesday.
The former governor, while narrating how the programme was discontinued after he left office in 2019, said he continued funding the scholarship scheme with his personal resources under the Kwankwasiyya Development Foundation.
“I realised I had properties I did not need — plots in Lagos, Kaduna, Sokoto, Adamawa, and other places. I sold them all and used the proceeds to sponsor 370 young men and women from Kano State to study abroad,” Kwankwaso said.
He described the event, which brought together beneficiaries spanning over 25 years since the commencement of the scheme, as a historic moment for Kano State and Nigeria.
“I remember many of you when you were very young. Some of you looked like you came straight from the villages. Today, I see confidence, professionalism, and even grey hair,” he added.
Kwankwaso further noted that beyond providing scholarships, the foundation also mentors and integrates beneficiaries into public service, governance, and national development.
“That is why we decided to engage you politically — at ward, local government, state, zonal, and, by the grace of God, national levels, for those who are interested,” he stated.
He also commended the Kano State Governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf, for offering employment opportunities to beneficiaries of the scheme, expressing optimism that the scholars would one day become governors and even president.
In his remarks, the President of the Kwankwasiyya Scholars Assembly, Dr. Mansur Hassan, described the initiative as “the most unprecedented scholarship programme Nigeria has ever witnessed,” adding that evidence shows that without the Kwankwasiyya scholars, several higher institutions in Kano and neighbouring states would have faced academic setbacks.
