By Golok Nanmwa
JOS — An All Progressives Congress, APC, stalwart and businessman, Bashir Abdullahi II, has criticised the Kano State Government over its reported expenditure of more than ₦1.5 billion on a mass wedding programme involving 1,500 couples.
Abdullahi described the reported expenditure as a “costly misplaced priority,” arguing that Kano State required greater investment in education, healthcare, employment and human capital development.
In a statement made available to newsmen in Jos on Tuesday, he said while supporting vulnerable citizens remained a legitimate responsibility of government, public resources should be deployed in ways that could deliver sustainable benefits to a wider segment of the population.
He said the issue was not whether the beneficiaries deserved assistance but whether the reported ₦1.5 billion was the most effective way to provide such support.
“There is nothing wrong with supporting vulnerable citizens. There is nothing wrong with helping people who cannot afford the cost of marriage.
“But when government spends ₦1.5 billion on a mass wedding in a state facing major development challenges, citizens are entitled to ask whether that money could have achieved a greater and more lasting impact elsewhere,” he said.
The Kano State Government has said the expenditure covered medical screening, dowries, business grants, furniture, food and other essential items provided to the couples.
Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf said the government gave each bride ₦100,000 as dowry and another ₦100,000 as a capital grant, alongside household furniture and other necessities.
Yusuf described the programme as one of his administration’s key campaign promises, saying it was designed to support vulnerable residents, strengthen families and promote social stability.
However, Abdullahi urged the government to look beyond the immediate benefits of the programme and consider its long-term development impact.
He argued that a one-off intervention could provide immediate relief without addressing the underlying economic challenges confronting beneficiaries.
“Marriage comes with responsibilities that last for years. Families need food, housing, healthcare and education for their children.
“A government that wants to fight poverty must therefore think beyond the wedding ceremony and invest in the economic capacity of families to sustain themselves,” he said.
Abdullahi said the reported ₦1.5 billion could, in his view, have been channelled into classroom construction, teacher training, school feeding, healthcare, vocational education and youth employment.
He argued that such investments had the potential to benefit citizens over a longer period.
“A classroom remains after the ceremony.
“A trained teacher can educate generations of children.
“A young person equipped with a useful skill can earn an income and support a family.
“These are investments that create lasting capacity,” he said.
The APC stalwart stressed that his criticism was not directed at marriage or the beneficiaries of the programme.
“This is not an argument against marriage. It is not an argument against helping widows, divorcees or poor families.
“It is an argument about priorities and opportunity cost,” he said.
He urged the Kano State Government to provide details of the expenditure and explain the long-term development outcomes expected from the programme.
According to him, the government should demonstrate how many beneficiaries are expected to become economically independent, how many businesses would be established and the mechanisms put in place to monitor the programme after the initial assistance.
Abdullahi also urged governments in the North to give greater attention to education and human capital development, arguing that poverty could not be sustainably addressed through short-term interventions alone.
He said Kano’s development challenges required sustained investment in schools, teachers, healthcare, skills acquisition, infrastructure and productive employment.
“Government must learn to distinguish between what is politically attractive and what is developmentally necessary.
“A mass wedding may provide a new beginning for individual couples, but a good school can provide a new beginning for an entire generation,” he said.
According to the Kano State Government, the mass wedding involved 1,500 couples drawn from the state’s 44 Local Government Areas and was coordinated by the Kano State Hisbah Board.
The government also said the beneficiaries underwent medical screening and counselling before the ceremonies.
Abdullahi said the programme should ultimately be assessed not by the scale of the ceremony but by the long-term improvement it brought to the lives of the beneficiaries.
He added that social intervention programmes should combine immediate assistance with sustainable livelihood opportunities.
“The real question is not how many weddings government can sponsor.
“The real question is how many lives it can permanently transform,” he said.
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