Abdulgafar Mumuni
When Senator Uba Sani took the oath of office as Governor of Kaduna State on May 29, 2023, he inherited not merely the burdens of governance, but the wreckage of a state standing perilously close to fiscal collapse. Kaduna was weighed down by crushing domestic and foreign debts, strangled by insecurity, paralysed by distrust, and haunted by the spectre of economic stagnation. For many observers, the prognosis appeared grim: a state trapped between insolvency and instability.
The figures alone were staggering. Kaduna was saddled with inherited liabilities estimated at over $587 million in foreign debt, N85 billion in local obligations, and more than N115 billion in contractual liabilities. Debt servicing had become so suffocating that, in his first month in office, the state reportedly received only N3.6 billion from the Federation Account after deductions exceeding N7 billion to service debts. Yet the monthly salary obligation stood at over N5 billion.
“We cannot even pay salaries without borrowing,” Governor Sani admitted at a stakeholders’ town hall meeting held at the Yar’Adua Indoor Sports Hall in Kaduna shortly after assuming office.
Many expected the new administration to resort immediately to fresh borrowing. But Sani chose a different path; one that now appears, in retrospect, both courageous and transformative. Instead of plunging Kaduna deeper into indebtedness, he embraced fiscal discipline, institutional reform, prudent management of scarce resources, and aggressive revenue mobilisation. Three years later, the results have altered Kaduna’s trajectory in ways few anticipated.
Against formidable odds, Governor Sani recently disclosed that the state has repaid over N90 billion of inherited debts without taking fresh loans. In a political culture where borrowing often substitutes for innovation, the decision to stabilise public finance through prudence rather than debt accumulation marked a profound departure from convention.
Equally remarkable has been the restoration of confidence in Kaduna’s financial management architecture. Under Sani, transparency and accountability ceased to be rhetorical ornaments and became measurable governance principles. For two consecutive years, Kaduna emerged as Nigeria’s most transparent and accountable state according to the Transparency and Integrity Index released by the Centre for Fiscal Transparency and Public Integrity, supported by the MacArthur Foundation.
“Our administration has prioritised transparency and accountability as pillars of sustainable development,” the governor insisted.
The ranking was not accidental. Kaduna institutionalised open procurement systems, strengthened citizen engagement frameworks, expanded fiscal transparency mechanisms, and deepened the Open Government Partnership framework through its extended State Action Plan III covering 2024–2027. Governance increasingly became participatory rather than opaque.
Perhaps nowhere is the administration’s reformist instinct more visible than in revenue generation. At the time Sani assumed office, Kaduna’s monthly internally generated revenue hovered around N5 billion. Through tax reforms, automation, expansion of the tax net, and improved ease of doing business, Kaduna rapidly emerged as the leading internally generated revenue-performing state in Northern Nigeria.
The numbers tell the story. Kaduna generated N62.48 billion in IGR in 2023; N71 billion in 2024; N86 billion in 2025 and with projections nearing N90 billion by 2026.
This remarkable leap did not arise from arbitrary taxation, but from systemic reforms. The introduction of the PAYKADUNA integrated tax administration portal automated revenue collection, reduced leakages, and enhanced compliance. Financial inclusion initiatives and innovative taxpayer complaint systems further strengthened public confidence.
Payments are made through the PAYKADUNA portal or via pay-direct channels swept directly into the Treasury Single Account.
The effect has been transformative. Kaduna gradually moved from fiscal fragility toward financial resilience, enabling government to sustain salaries, execute projects, and attract investments without mortgaging the future.
Indeed, investor confidence has steadily returned. The administration has attracted, so far, investments worth over $2.5 billion; a remarkable feat for a state that, only a few years earlier, was associated more with instability than opportunity.
Yet perhaps the most consequential achievement of the Uba Sani administration lies in the restoration of relative peace and security across Kaduna State. In 2023, Kaduna was effectively under siege. Banditry, kidnappings, communal conflicts, and violent extremism had devastated communities, shut down schools and hospitals, displaced thousands, and crippled economic activities across large swathes of the state.
Today, the situation has improved substantially. More than 500 previously closed schools have reopened. Nearly 300,000 children whose education had been disrupted by insecurity are back in classrooms. Markets, hospitals, and farming communities that once stood deserted have resumed activities. The atmosphere of fear that once defined many rural communities has considerably eased.
International partners have taken notice. In a significant diplomatic and developmental milestone, the United Kingdom moved Kaduna State from “red” to “amber” in its travel advisory classification, citing measurable improvements in security and governance.
“Kaduna has weathered periods of heightened security challenges. Governor Sani has recorded real achievements with the improved security situation in Kaduna State,” The Head of UK Development Cooperation, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development, Ms Cynthia Rowe, observed at a recently Kaduna State Mutual Accountability Framework Dialogue
The UK Government subsequently selected Kaduna to host its Strengthening Peace, Resilience and Inclusive Governance (SPRiNG) programme; a major endorsement of the state’s peace-building trajectory.
What distinguishes Governor Sani’s approach is not merely the deployment of coercive security measures, but the adoption of a broader peace architecture rooted in inclusion, dialogue, rural transformation, and rebuilding trust across ethno-religious divides. His style has been markedly less confrontational and more consensus-driven, reducing tensions in a state historically fractured by polarisation.
Education has equally occupied a central place in this reconstruction agenda. The administration has embarked on the construction of 102 new schools and the renovation of 170 existing schools and learning centres across Kaduna’s 23 local government areas under the Reaching Out-of-School Children project.
Within two years, the number of out-of-school children in Kaduna dropped from about 550,000 to under 190,000. The state has also constructed dozens of secondary schools, supplied over 81,000 units of classroom furniture, upgraded water and sanitation facilities, and expanded vocational education infrastructure.
Particularly noteworthy are the three Institutes of Vocational Training and Skills Development established in Rigachikun, Samaru Kataf, and Soba. Commissioned in 2025 by His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and certified among Nigeria’s best-equipped skills centres, they offer training in welding, solar technology, information technology, artificial intelligence, and other technical trades designed to prepare Kaduna’s youth for a rapidly changing global economy.
Meanwhile, the iconic Panteka Market, Africa’s largest informal skills hub, has undergone extensive modernisation, preserving traditional craftsmanship while introducing modern techniques and certification systems for over 38,000 apprentices.
What has emerged in Kaduna under Governor Sani is not merely a recovery programme, but a redefinition of governance itself: less theatrical, more methodical; less populist, more institutional.
Three years ago, Kaduna stood dangerously close to the precipice. Today, while challenges undoubtedly remain, the state has regained fiscal stability, improved investor confidence, restored relative peace, and revived public optimism.
The rescue of Kaduna from the brink may ultimately stand as one of the most compelling subnational governance stories in contemporary Nigeria: a reminder that prudence, transparency, restraint, and strategic leadership remain potent instruments of transformation in public office.
Dr. Mumuni, a development economist and scholar, resides in Samaru, Zaria.