As the 2027 gubernatorial election approaches, the question before Kaduna State is not whether to change course, but whether to consolidate the remarkable progress achieved under Governor Uba Sani. In just over three years, the administration has delivered tangible results despite inheriting a state on its knees—burdened by a crippling debt legacy, scarred by years of insecurity, and hollowed out by systemic corruption that left the public treasury nearly empty and the people’s trust shattered.
This is not a story of propaganda. It is a story of evidence—verified projects, documented financial records, and measurable improvements in the lives of ordinary citizens across all 23 local government areas. The choice before Kaduna voters in 2027 is simple: continue the journey of recovery and renewal with a leader who has already demonstrated integrity and competence, or risk returning to the dark days of abandoned projects, unpaid salaries, and communal strife.
Critics have accused Governor Sani of making “excuses” about Kaduna’s financial health. But the facts are stark and verifiable. Every month, over ₦6 billion is deducted at source to service loans taken by the immediate past administration—loans that funded questionable projects and left the state mortgaged for decades. A Kaduna State House of Assembly committee uncovered over ₦450 billion in financial irregularities from that era: contracts inflated to triple their real value, projects abandoned mid-construction, ghost workers inserted into payrolls, and public funds diverted to private accounts.
The scale of the damage cannot be overstated. When Governor Sani assumed office in May 2023, the state’s liquidity account held less than ₦2 billion—barely enough to cover one week of the ₦8 billion monthly salary bill. The forensic audit ordered by the new administration revealed ₦150 billion in hidden liabilities: unpaid pensions deducted from workers’ salaries but never remitted, gratuities owed to retirees waiting over a decade, unpaid contractors from 2020, and unremitted cooperative and union dues. Some retirees had been checking back at the pension office for years, only to be told, “We don’t have the funds right now. Check back next month.”
In March 2026, Kaduna received ₦12.488 billion from the Federation Account. Fifty percent was immediately deducted for inherited debt servicing. Another ₦5 billion went to salaries, leaving barely ₦1 billion for the entire state’s needs—including health, education, infrastructure, security, and agriculture. Yet the administration has not used this financial strangulation as an excuse for inaction. It has used it as fuel for efficiency. Governor Sani disclosed that his government has paid over ₦90 billion of inherited debt without taking any new loans—a discipline that stands in stark contrast to the borrowing spree of the previous era.
As one commentator accurately observed: “You cannot loot a state, leave it with ₦450 billion in questionable transactions, mortgage its future with unsustainable loans, and then turn around to mock the person cleaning up the mess for not building fast enough.”
Some have raised questions about the management of World Bank funds. The facts are clear and documented. Kaduna State has committed over ₦11.5 billion in counterpart funding, and the World Bank itself has praised Kaduna as a benchmark for effective implementation of donor-funded initiatives. These are not claims from government sources—they are endorsements from development partners who have audited the results on the ground.
AGILE (Adolescent Girls’ Initiative for Learning and Empowerment): With $80 million in credit, this project has achieved over 70% disbursement with notable progress in school infrastructure and enrolment campaigns. Thousands of adolescent girls who were previously out of school have been brought back into the classroom, with scholarships, mentorship programmes, and safe learning spaces.
KADRAAMP (Kaduna State Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project): Valued at $20 million, this project has utilized half of its loan to rehabilitate rural roads, directly connecting farmers to markets. For the first time in decades, farmers in communities like Goningora and Kuyello can transport their produce during the rainy season, breaking the grip of middlemen who exploited poor infrastructure to dictate prices.
ACReSAL (Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes): This project addresses land degradation and climate resilience through watershed management and afforestation. Degraded land is being restored, water sources protected, and farming communities equipped with climate-smart techniques that improve yields while preserving the environment.
The World Bank’s praise for Kaduna is not a rubber stamp. It is based on rigorous monitoring, independent verification, and documented results. As one analysis noted, “Kaduna State has received national and international accolades for restoring relative peace in previously volatile areas.” This international recognition matters because it is earned—not purchased with propaganda.
The evidence on the ground is visible to anyone willing to look. Where previous administrations cut ribbons on abandoned projects, the Sani administration has delivered sustainable infrastructure that serves the people.
The administration has upgraded 255 Primary Healthcare Centres to Level-2 facilities, bringing basic emergency care, maternal services, and childhood immunisation closer to rural communities. Additionally, 23 centres of excellence have been established across local government areas, ensuring that complex cases no longer require costly travel to Kaduna city.
A state-of-the-art 300-bed Specialist Hospital has been delivered to provide advanced medical services within the state, reducing the need for expensive medical tourism abroad. Approximately 1,800 primary healthcare workers have been recruited and migrated to improved salary structures, ensuring that rural clinics are staffed by qualified professionals rather than unqualified volunteers.
The Kaduna State Emergency Medical Services and Ambulance System (KADSEMSAS) now provides advanced life-support ambulances with trained personnel. In a state where pregnant women previously died on the road to distant hospitals, this system has reduced response times from over four hours to under one hour in many areas. Over 2.1 million children have been protected against malaria through Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention campaigns, and 4.3 million insecticide-treated mosquito nets have been distributed to households—a massive public health intervention that has reduced child mortality and malaria incidence.
The administration has constructed 736 classrooms and renovated over 1,200 others, replacing roofs that opened to the sky, windows without glass, and floors of bare earth. They have recruited 10,000 teachers—not through political patronage, but through a transparent, computer-based competitive examination with published results. Over 33,000 education personnel have undergone training to improve teaching quality.
The number of out-of-school children has been reduced from approximately 550,000 to 187,720 within two years—a remarkable achievement that required not just building schools, but also providing free breakfast programmes, free WAEC fees, and targeted support for the poorest families. Tuition fees in state-owned tertiary institutions have been reduced by 40 percent, making higher education accessible to families who previously could not afford it.
The free WAEC policy, which paid examination fees for all public secondary school students, transformed the lives of thousands. A mother in Sanga LGA, who sells firewood at the local market and earns about ₦2,000 a day, told investigators: “The headmaster called me and said the Governor has paid for all students. I did not believe him. I thought it was a trick. But it was true. I cried that day. I cried.” Her daughter passed WAEC with distinctions and is now pursuing a degree in medicine.
About 150 road projects covering over 1,300 kilometres have been initiated across all 23 local government areas—a deliberate strategy to connect rural production centres to urban markets. These are not gate-passed projects; they are audited, with contractors required to hand over maintenance plans to local government authorities. The Goningora road in Chikun LGA, completed at 18.4 kilometres, transformed a farming community of 5,000 people. Transport costs dropped by 50%. A 70-year-old farmer named Mallam Gambo reported earning ₦200,000 in a single season—his first bank savings ever—because he could now transport his yams directly to Kafanchan market.
The agricultural budget has increased from ₦1.48 billion in 2023 to over ₦74 billion in 2025—a 50-fold increase that demonstrates commitment, not lip service. For the first time in Kaduna’s history, agriculture has consistently received 10% of budgetary allocation over three consecutive budgets, implementing the Malabo Declaration on agricultural transformation. Over 900 trucks of fertiliser have been distributed to farmers, and more than 100,000 smallholder farmers have been enrolled in crop insurance schemes—protecting them from the devastating losses that previously pushed families into poverty.
Over 20,000 hectares of previously inaccessible farmland have been reclaimed, enabling farmers to return to productive activity in places like Birnin Gwari, Giwa, and Kagarko. Farmer cooperatives now have access to climate-controlled warehouses where they can store harvests and use warehouse receipts as collateral for low-interest bank loans. The result: average farmer income has risen by 45% compared to 2022, and the state’s food deficit has fallen by 25%.
Kaduna has actualised 23 investments valued at over $743 million between 2023 and 2025, spanning agriculture, manufacturing, energy, and other key sectors. Governor Sani disclosed that his government has attracted $2.5 billion in investment commitments to the state. These are not paper promises—they are factories operating, jobs created, and value chains strengthened. The revived textile industry alone promises 3,000 direct jobs.
Over 2.5 million new bank accounts have been opened for underbanked citizens, expanding financial inclusion and bringing informal workers into the formal economy. Over ₦18 billion in targeted support has been deployed to households, farmers, and small businesses—not as political handouts, but as structured programmes with clear criteria and transparent disbursement. Widows who waited a decade for their husbands’ gratuities have finally received their dues. Teachers who sold their wedding rings to pay for children’s school fees have bought them back.
None of this progress would be possible without the Kaduna Peace Model—a homegrown framework integrating dialogue, community engagement, early-warning systems, and intelligence-led security with inclusive governance. Since 2023, the state has recorded zero violent conflict. This milestone has allowed schools, health facilities, markets, and farmlands to reopen across the state.
The Community Intelligence and Response Framework (CIRF) established security committees in every village, equipped 5,000 youth volunteers as non-armed “eyes and ears,” and provided the military and police with 100 patrol vehicles, 200 motorcycles, and communication radios. The deployment of the Conflict Early Warning and Early Response System (CEWERS), supported by development partners, has enabled early detection and resolution of tensions before escalation.
The results are measurable. Major bandit attacks fell from 41 in the first half of 2023 to 12 in the second half, and to just 5 in the same period of 2024. Kidnapping for ransom has dropped dramatically. An estimated 70% of abandoned farmland in Birnin Gwari has been reoccupied by farmers. Markets that were nearly dead in 2022 are now thriving.
As Governor Sani has consistently stated, “Peace is the foundation of development.” The peace dividend is visible in every sector: children in school instead of hiding from bandits, farmers in their fields instead of refugee camps in the city, and investors confident that their capital is safe.
Governor Sani has demonstrated a commitment to inclusive governance that transcends the religious and ethnic divisions that have historically fractured the state. The recent nomination of a Christian running mate, Mr. Jerry Adams, from Southern Kaduna—a break from the Muslim-Muslim tickets of recent elections—is a reaffirmation of his belief that every citizen deserves representation. This decision, described by analysts as “far more than the routine selection of a deputy,” represents a deliberate political statement distancing his administration from the religious polarization of the past.
The governor framed the nomination as a reaffirmation of “inclusion, justice, fairness, and equity”—words intended to signal that every community has a seat at the table. As one political analyst observed, “In societies fractured by years of mistrust, symbols matter. They often become the first step toward rebuilding confidence before policy can consolidate it.”
This commitment to inclusion is not just symbolic. It is reflected in the distribution of projects across all 23 local government areas, the recruitment of teachers and healthcare workers from all communities, and the security framework that treats every citizen as a partner rather than a suspect. Governor Sani’s government is not building for one section of the state; it is building for Kaduna as a whole.
The accusation of “mismanagement” of World Bank funds is a narrative that ignores the fiscal reality of a state repaying the debts of a previous administration. Governor Sani is not hiding behind debt; he is transparent about the financial constraints he inherited, and he is delivering measurable results with less than 10% of the state’s monthly allocation available for capital projects.
The records from the Federation Account are public. The House of Assembly report on over ₦450 billion in financial irregularities is public. The upgraded health centres, rehabilitated schools, and reopened farms are visible to anyone willing to look beyond social media propaganda.
When the World Bank praises Kaduna as a benchmark for effective implementation, it is based on independent audits and documented results—not government press releases. When international observers commend the state’s peace-building efforts, it is because they have verified the data. These endorsements cannot be bought or manufactured; they must be earned.
Kaduna State cannot afford to return to the days of abandoned projects, empty promises, and communal strife. The stakes could not be higher. A change of leadership to an unproven candidate would risk undoing the painstaking work of financial discipline, transparent governance, and inclusive peace-building.
Governor Uba Sani has proven that he can deliver—not with borrowed billions, but with integrity and results. He has shown that a Nigerian governor can run a state like a business rather than a piggy bank, that salaries can be paid on time, that contracts can be published for public scrutiny, and that peace can be built through genuine community engagement.
As Kaduna Commissioner Moronvia declared, “The people are happy with what the administration is doing… By the grace of God, the people will renew that mandate because they have seen tangible improvements in security, infrastructure, agriculture, healthcare, education and social protection.”
The evidence is overwhelming: the widow who received her husband’s gratuity after a decade of waiting, the farmer who returned to his land in Birnin Gwari after years of displacement, the midwife with a new delivery table and a solar panel on her roof, the teacher who bought her children a new mattress with her first reliable salary, the student who passed WAEC because the government paid the fee. These are not statistics; they are the human faces of a governance model that works.
In 2027, Kaduna’s choice is clear: continue the journey of recovery and renewal with a leader who has already shown the way, or gamble on the unknown. The people of Kaduna have seen both sides of the coin. They remember the days of delayed salaries, ghost workers, collapsed schools, and terror in the countryside. They also see the present: a state that is peaceful, transparent, and moving forward.
Governor Uba Sani has not promised miracles—he has delivered evidence. He has not sought the spotlight—he has sought results. He has not divided the state—he has united it around a shared vision of progress.
The 2027 election is not just about choosing a governor. It is about choosing a future. The people of Kaduna have seen what leadership with integrity looks like. They have felt the dignity of on-time salaries, the security of peaceful communities, and the hope of children learning in renovated classrooms. They cannot afford to lose that progress.
The choice is theirs. The evidence is before them. And the answer is clear: Kaduna State cannot afford to lose Uba Sani in 2027.
Baba Jibril a Public Commentator and Policy Analyst write from Kaduna
