The Kano State Government has defended its implementation of the 2025 budget, insisting that the administration recorded stronger sectoral performance.

The state Commissioner for Budget and Planning, Alhaji Musa Shanono, told journalists on Saturday in Kano that recent media reports misrepresented the state’s fiscal standing.

He also said that the report that the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) government performed “embarrassingly poor” in the execution of the 2025 budget, citing a published review highlighting low capital spending in Water Resources, Health and Education was misleading.

“The claims were misleading and failed to account for the broader structure of the state’s financial operations,” he said.

According to him, the essence of the briefing was to clarify inaccuracies arising from the remarks made by a former commissioner, who served under the immediate past administration of the All Progressives Congress.

“The 2025 third quarter budget report focused mainly on State Treasury-funded projects, while other complementary funding sources were not captured because they were still being reconciled,” Mr Shanono explained.

He said that the quarterly budget performance reports were issued within four weeks after each quarter, in line with the administration’s commitment to transparency and accountability.

Mr Shanono added that ongoing engagements with ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) were aimed at identifying gaps that would be reflected in subsequent reviews.

The commissioner also drew comparisons between the 2025 third quarter performance and that of the 2022 fiscal year under the previous APC administration, arguing that the current government had delivered stronger outcomes across major sectors.

He said that the ministry of science and technology recorded 23.3 per cent capital performance in 2025, compared to 9 per cent in the corresponding period of 2022.

The commissioner added that the ministry of education performed at 32.2 per cent in 2025, more thable the 15.1 per cent recorded in 2022, while the higher education sector achieved 7.7 per cent in 2025 against zero per cent in 2022.

According to Mr Shanono, the ministry of health recorded 12 per cent capital performance in the 2025 third quarter, compared with 2.5 per cent in the same period in 2022.

He said that several cross-cutting interventions were not reflected in the published review, including ongoing classroom and hospital rehabilitation implemented through the ministry of works.

“These interventions have direct impact on education and health outcomes, even though they are not booked under the sub-sectors in the review period,” he said.

Mr Shanono maintained that the Mr Abba Yusuf’s administration remained committed to improving service delivery and addressing inherited fiscal gaps through a more accountable budgeting process. 

(NAN)