The Kaduna State Government has refuted former Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s claim that all the projects recently commissioned by President Bola Tinubu were initiated during his tenure.
El-Rufai, who led the state from 2015 to 2023, asserted in a Monday interview that the projects inaugurated by President Tinubu last Thursday were legacies of his administration.
Responding swiftly, Ibraheem Musa, Chief Press Secretary to Governor Uba Sani, described the statement as a “bare-faced lie” and an attempt to distort verifiable facts. He clarified in a statement issued on Tuesday that the projects were either initiated or completed under Governor Sani’s leadership.
He listed three major projects commissioned during President Tinubu’s visit: the Institutes of Vocational Training and Skills Development in Soba, Rigachikun, and Samaru Kataf; the 300-bed Bola Ahmed Tinubu Specialist Hospital; and the deployment of 100 Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses.
According to the statement, the vocational institutes — the Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa Institute in Rigachikun, Col. Dangiwa Umar Institute in Soba, and Sir Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa Institute in Samaru Kataf — are part of Governor Sani’s human capital development initiative aimed at equipping 36,000 youths annually with modern technical skills.
The National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) certified these centres as the most well-equipped skills development institutes in Nigeria. NBTE’s Executive Secretary, Professor Idris Bugaje, affirmed that even the country’s polytechnics and universities of technology do not match the facilities.
On the 300-bed Bola Ahmed Tinubu Specialist Hospital, the government explained it was initially started by the Namadi Sambo administration but was abandoned until Governor Sani revived and completed it. Upon taking office, he met the project at 53% completion with no medical equipment in place.
Despite large sums previously spent, the facility had become a symbol of abandonment. The hospital’s completion and full equipping have now become central to the state’s healthcare revitalisation efforts, alongside the upgrade of general hospitals.
The government noted that President Tinubu was “effusive in his praise” for Governor Sani’s healthcare achievements during the hospital commissioning.
Regarding transportation, the 100 CNG buses were introduced to cushion the impact of fuel subsidy removal. The buses offer free rides to workers, retirees, and students for six months, followed by subsidised fares for the general public.
The state government expressed disappointment with El-Rufai’s remarks, insisting that all the facts are verifiable and declaring: “No amount of revisionism can rewrite the truth.”