Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf has flagged off the distribution of free uniforms to pupils in public basic schools across the 44 local government areas in the first batch of 789,363 set.

The multi-million-naira project, unveiled at Government House on Monday, was part of critical measures being deployed by the administration to enhance school enrolment.

The governor lamented the increasing rate of out-of-school children in Northern Nigeria, with Kano accounting for no less than 10 percent of the alarming trend. He insisted that no stone would be left unturned to reverse the situation.

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Unveiling the distribution, Governor Yusuf said the gesture, which was part of his campaign promises to revamp the ailing sector, is expected to reduce the financial burden on parents.

According to Yusuf, the initiative is also aimed at reducing the number of out-of-school children and reenergizing students’ self-esteem and trust in education.

The governor regretted inheriting a near-collapse of the education system from the immediate past administration, which left public schools in a dilapidated state and neglected several counterpart funds.

“We took over the education sector in a sorry state. From statistics, 900,000 of the 10,000,000 out-of-school children are from Kano, which means Kano accounts for 10 percent of the alarming figure, according to the data.

“Worse still, the immediate past administration of Ganduje shut down all our boarding schools, left our classrooms as dens of criminals, without furniture, and with rotten roofing sheets. It was a horrible neglect. The situation brought Kano backward and on the verge of collapse. But we are committed to reversing the ugly trend,” Yusuf vowed.

As part of the unwavering measures to reverse the situation, Governor Yusuf emphasized the allocation of 31 percent of the 2025 fiscal appropriation to education. He said over 10,000 teachers were also approved for employment to improve the teacher-to-student ratio.

Similarly, the governor highlighted the payment of a backlog of counterpart funding for SUBEB since 2021, the reopening of all boarding schools to return students to school, and the facilitation of a monthly N20,000 conditional cash transfer to 45,000 students.

He noted that, following the declaration of a state of emergency on education, the NNPP administration had committed several billions of naira to free uniforms, the construction of 336 new classrooms, the rehabilitation of 119 defective structures, and the distribution of 53,652 three-seater desks catering to 160,956 pupils across 484 wards.

Earlier, the National Programme Manager of the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) in Nigeria, Mr. Samuel Achimugu, pledged the readiness of development partners to sustain collaboration with the Kano State Government.

Achimugu, who acknowledged the physical developments in education under the present administration, pledged the commitment of all FCDO sub-agencies to strengthening the teaching and learning systems in the state.

The event, attended by state, federal, and foreign education agencies, featured Governor Yusuf’s symbolic handing over of the bulk uniforms to each of the 44 local government chairmen for onward distribution of two pairs to each pupil in their domains.