Kano State Governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf, has appointed 115 new aides to serve in his government as Special Advisers, Senior Special Assistants and Special Reporters, taking the tally of his aides to 196.

Iy was reported that the latest appointments were announced on Friday and Saturday by Sanusi Bature, the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, who revealed that 14 of the new appointees would serve as Special Advisers while 57 would serve as Senior Special Assistants, and the remaining 44, who are all social media activists, would serve as Senior Special Reporters and Special Reporters.

Before the latest appointments, the governor had appointed a total of 81 persons to serve as his aides with 52 of them appointed in a swoop on August 7 as Special Advisers (10); and Senior Special Assistants and Special Assistants (42).

Daily Trust reports that the governor on June 16 announced the appointment of 14 aides, including seven SSAs, three SAS and four Personal Assistants; while on July 18, 15 persons were appointed by the Governor as Special Advisers.

In the latest appointment as announced by Bature, two of the most vocal social media supporters of the Kwankwasiyya Movement, Abdullahi Ibrahim (known on X as Kwankwason Tuwita) and Hassan Sani Tukur (known on X as Noble Hassan) were appointed as Senior Special Assistants for Digital Media and New Media respectively.

Similarly, Bala Abubakar, one of the security aides to the presidential candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, was also appointed as a Senior Special Assistant on Security (Abuja) by the governor.

Other portfolios assigned to the latest appointees as SSA include: Political Awareness, Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs), Kwankwasiyya Media Groups, Reformatory Schools, Teacher Training and Development, Askarawan Kwankwasiyya, Tourism, Butchers and Abbatoir, Environmental Sanitation, Urban Beautification, Grazing Areas, National Assembly Matters, and Women Mobilisation.

For the 44 Social Media Activists appointed as Senior Special Reporters and Special Reporters, the governor’s spokesman said they were appointed by the governor in “his efforts to provide access to information on policies, programmes and activities of the present administration” and would be posted to various Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs).

For the Special Advisers, Bature said “You may recall that the Kano State House of Assembly has granted the approval of 60 Special Advisers to the Governor, part of which 31 have been assigned portfolios. In a fresh appointment, Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf wishes to announce the following 14 Special Advisers with immediate effect.”

The portfolios assigned to the new SAs are Policy and Social Development, Industries, Cyber Security, grassroots mobilisation, Support Groups, Metropolitan Affairs, and Domestic Affairs.

Others are Special Assignments (Women), Community Policy, Political Strategy, Food Security, Lafiya Jari Programme, Students Matters, Enlightenment and Social Mobilisation.

In an earlier interview when the appointments stood at 81, the convener of the Kano Situation Room of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), Ibrahim Waiya said this high number of appointments is not peculiar to the Kano state governor and the appointment itself was not out of context if the people so appointed will contribute to governance.

He however said the huge number may be counter-productive looking at their remuneration viz-a-viz the cost of governance and how such resources could be utilised to better the lives of the common people. (Daily Trust)

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