The Kano State Government has established a 12-member committee to recover ₦1.8 billion unlawfully taken from civil servants' salaries by a private loan vendor. Secretary to the State Government, Umar Faruq-Ibrahim, inaugurated the committee at his office, stating its mandate is to investigate and retrieve the funds for affected workers. He explained that the deductions were made in the name of soft loans, with workers' salaries targeted without proper authorization.
In February 2025, the government received complaints about illegal salary deductions, prompting the cabinet to present a memo to the State Executive Council, which approved further action. An independent audit firm was hired to probe the matter, and its findings confirmed arbitrary deductions and multiple loan grants exceeding the approved one-third of salary limit. The report was presented to the council, which then ordered the creation of the recovery committee.
Faruq-Ibrahim clarified that the ₦1.8 billion was not linked to former Head of Service Abdullahi Musa, countering earlier allegations of a ₦1.5 billion fraud involving him. The committee is chaired by Finance Commissioner Dr Ismaila Aliyu-Danmaraya, with Permanent Secretary Salisu Mustapha as Secretary. Other members include Attorney General Abdulkarim Kabiru-Maude, a SAN, Head of Civil Service Bilkisu Maimota, Accountant-General, and representatives from the State Standing Committee and Local Governments Standing Committee.
The same government that allowed unchecked loan vendors to deduct ₦1.8bn from workers' salaries now appoints officials who served during that period to lead the recovery. If the system approved illegal deductions for months, why are the oversight failures not being addressed alongside fund recovery? The workers whose salaries were targeted may wait long for restitution while the machinery that enabled the breach remains unchanged. Trust in the process hinges on transparency the administration has not yet demonstrated.
Editorial note: AI-assisted opinion, not established fact. Full disclaimer →
