By Uzair Adam
The Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, has criticised successive governments in Northern Nigeria for neglecting education while focusing on roads and flyovers, warning that the region is sliding behind the rest of the country.
Sanusi spoke on Saturday as a panellist at the Kano International Poetry and Art Festival (KAPFES), organised by the Poetic Wednesdays Initiative, during a session themed “Beyond Words: Unlocking Northern Nigeria’s Literacy Potential.”
The former Central Bank governor recalled how Kano State sponsored his secondary and university education in the 1970s and 1980s, covering tuition, living expenses, and allowances.
He said, “My parents did not pay a dime. Why is it that the younger generation has not been able to get those benefits? Something went wrong in terms of the political class and its priorities.”
He argued that leaders must channel “huge resources” into schools, scholarships, and teacher training rather than spending billions on physical projects.
“It’s nice to have beautiful flyovers and underpasses, but you are building these roads for uneducated children to walk on. Who will maintain them in the future?” the Emir queried.
Describing education as the most valuable investment, Sanusi stressed that it is the only asset that cannot be inherited or taken away.
“You can be given money, a house, or even a political position, and all of these can disappear. But once you are educated, no one, no ruler, no oppressor can take it away from you,” he said.
He linked Northern Nigeria’s current setbacks to colonial policies that discourage the growth of an intellectual Muslim class.
According to him, Arabic literacy, despite its intellectual depth, was devalued under British rule and is still treated as illiteracy today.
Sanusi also highlighted the role of language as a barrier, calling for the adoption of mother tongues in teaching.
“In Germany, you study in German; in France, you study in French; in China, you study in Mandarin. Why can’t a doctor be trained in Hausa, Yoruba, or Igbo?” he asked, noting that mother-tongue instruction reduces dropout rates and improves learning outcomes.
Challenging conventional views of schooling, he argued that communities should utilise available spaces, such as mosques, as temporary classrooms instead of waiting years for new buildings.
“If a mosque is vacant between morning prayers and the afternoon, why can’t children be taught there?” he asked.
The Emir concluded with a call for leaders, policymakers, and citizens to humanise statistics. “When we say three million children are out of school, these are not just numbers.
“This is somebody’s son, somebody’s daughter, a future mother on the street without hope. In everything we do, we must ask ourselves: who is the human being at the end of it?”