₦1.5bn Mass Wedding -Kano’s children deserve greater investment – APC Stalwart Bashir Abdullahi II
By Golok Nanmwa
JOS – An 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 for 1,500 couples, describing the spending as a “costly misplaced priority.”
Abdullahi, in a statement made available to newsmen in Jos on Tuesday, said the reported expenditure was difficult to justify given what he described as the state’s challenges in education, poverty, unemployment and human capital development.
He said while supporting vulnerable citizens was a legitimate responsibility of government, public resources should, in his view, be deployed in ways capable of delivering lasting benefits to a wider segment of the population.
According to him, the issue was not whether the beneficiaries deserved assistance, but whether ₦1.5 billion was the most effective way to provide such support.
He said, “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.”
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 provided ₦100,000 as dowry and another ₦100,000 as capital grant to each bride, alongside household furniture and other necessities.
The governor described the programme as one of his administration’s key campaign promises, saying it was aimed at supporting vulnerable residents, strengthening families and promoting social stability.
However, Abdullahi said the government should 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 necessarily addressing the underlying economic challenges faced by 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 expenditure could, in his view, have been channelled into areas such as classroom construction, teacher training, school feeding, healthcare, vocational education and youth employment.
He said 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 an attack on 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 be able to demonstrate how many beneficiaries would become economically independent, how many businesses would be established and what mechanisms would be 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.
The Kano mass wedding, according to the state government, 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 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 brings 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.