Ibrahim Abdullahi Waiya
When Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf made the bold and courageous decision to align Kano State with the Federal Government under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the critics were loud, the cynics were louder, and the doubters were everywhere. They called it political betrayal. They called it opportunism. Some called it the ultimate act of ingratitude toward a man who had invested years, resources, and political capital in building the career of the Kano governor. What they failed to see, or perhaps refused to acknowledge, was the singular and unwavering motivation behind that decision: the welfare of the ordinary men and women of Kano State, the market trader in Kurmi, the widowed mother in Dawakin Tofa, the unemployed graduate in Gwale, and the small business owner struggling to keep his shop open in Farm Centre.
In less than a year of active federal alignment, Kano State has gone from being a politically isolated outlier to becoming one of the most strategically positioned states in the entire federation. Federal presence, federal investment, and federal goodwill are flowing into Kano with a consistency and velocity that was simply impossible under the previous arrangement, where governance was dictated not by the needs of the people, but by the personal wishes of a political godfather seated comfortably in Abuja. For too long, Kano, a state that by every measure of population, commerce, history, and strategic importance deserves to sit at the very centre of Nigeria’s development conversation, was standing at the margins, watching other states benefit from federal partnerships while its own people paid the price of political stubbornness.
Kano First
The clearest and most visible evidence of this transformation is the forthcoming flag off of the Energise Commercialisation Now initiative, a landmark federal programme spearheaded by the Federal Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology under the Honourable Minister, Dr. Kingsley Tochukwu Udeh, SAN, scheduled to hold in Kano from April 23 to 25, 2026. The programme, designed to mobilise innovation, attract investment, and accelerate industrial production across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones, has chosen Kano as the venue for its national launch and North West zonal deployment. That choice is not accidental. It is not logistical. It is a deliberate federal acknowledgement of Kano’s strategic importance as the commercial and industrial heartbeat of Northern Nigeria, and a direct reward for Governor Yusuf’s visionary and courageous leadership.
The Energise Commercialisation Now initiative represents a structured national platform to identify commercially viable innovations, connect them with investors and manufacturers, and scale them into enterprises that create jobs and generate wealth. For a state like Kano, with its rich history of commerce, its dense network of small and medium enterprises, its vibrant informal economy, and its large population of young, talented, and ambitious people, this programme is not merely a federal event passing through. It is a genuine economic opportunity of generational significance.
More significantly, the programme will be flagged off by no less a personality than Her Excellency Senator Oluremi Tinubu, CON, the First Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and the personal champion of the ECoN initiative. Her presence in Kano is a statement of the highest order. In Nigerian political culture, when the First Lady travels to a state to commission a programme, it is not a routine governmental act. It is a personal signal from the Presidency itself. It is Aso Rock saying, in the clearest possible terms, that Kano is seen, Kano is valued, Kano is a priority, and Kano will not be left behind in Nigeria’s march toward industrial and economic transformation.
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For Governor Yusuf, whose critics questioned whether his alignment with the APC and the Tinubu administration would translate into anything concrete for his people, Senator Oluremi Tinubu’s visit to Kano on April 23 is the most powerful possible answer. It says that the partnership is real, the commitment is genuine, and the dividends are already arriving.
But beyond the symbolism and the political significance, what does all of this mean for the ordinary Kano citizen?
It means that the innovator in Fagge, the young entrepreneur in Tarauni, the female small business owner in Nasarawa, and the graduate sitting at home in Ungogo and all other localities in Kano now have a real, structured, and government-backed platform to showcase their ideas, access funding, connect with investors, and build enterprises that can employ others. It means that Kano’s universities, polytechnics, and research institutions, which for years have produced brilliant graduates and groundbreaking research that never left the laboratory, will now have a direct pipeline to the market. It means that the textile artisan in Kofar Mata, the leather craftsman in Yan Kaba, and the food processing entrepreneur in Dorayi can look at this programme and see themselves as legitimate participants in Nigeria’s industrial future.
This is precisely the promise of Governor Yusuf’s Kano First Agenda, an agenda that places the prosperity of Kano people above every political consideration, above every personal loyalty, and above every partisan calculation. When the governor stood before his people and declared that Kano would come first in every decision his administration makes, he was not making a campaign promise. He was entering into a sacred covenant with millions of people who had entrusted him with the highest office in the state.
Every decision his administration has taken since then, including the historic and difficult decision to align with the centre, has been guided by that covenant. The governor has consistently and publicly maintained that he answers to the people of Kano, not to any individual, not to any movement, and not to any political structure whose primary interest is the perpetuation of personal power rather than the advancement of public good. Kano State, he insists, is no longer remotely controlled. The elected chief executive is fully in charge, and fully accountable to the people alone.
The results of this philosophy are not abstract. They are measurable, verifiable, and visible to anyone willing to look beyond the noise of political controversy.
A N1.477 trillion budget for 2026, the largest in Kano’s history, with 68 percent allocated to capital projects. Over N334 million disbursed to 6,680 women across all 44 local government areas of the state, each receiving a monthly stipend of N50,000 to grow their businesses and support their families. More than N800 million invested in youth empowerment programmes benefiting over 5,300 young people. Kano ranking first in Nigeria’s 2025 NECO results, a historic educational achievement that signals a transformation in the state’s human capital investment. A health sector receiving N212.2 billion, with hospitals upgraded, the Abba Care Scheme launched, and healthcare access expanded across the state. An infrastructure allocation of N346.2 billion, covering urban roads, solar streetlights, housing development, and market renovation across all 44 local government areas.
These are not political talking points. These are not figures conjured for a press conference. These are the measurable, auditable, and undeniable fruits of purposeful, people-centred governance under a leader who understands that the ultimate test of political courage is not the decision itself, but what that decision delivers to the people it was made for.
As Kano prepares to host the First Lady of Nigeria and welcome the nation’s attention on April 23, one truth stands clear, unambiguous, and beyond reasonable dispute: Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf did not align with the centre for himself. He did not do it for political survival. He did not do it for personal gain. He did it for Kano. He did it for the market trader, the young graduate, the nursing mother, the struggling entrepreneur, and every ordinary citizen who deserves a government that fights for them at every level of power.