Next governor of Kaduna will demolish more houses than me – El-Rufai

Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, has stated that his successor would do more demolition of houses than him.

El-Rufai made the remark on Friday while reacting to residents of the state who were allegedly calling him a demolisher and praying for his tenure to end soon.

Speaking when he featured on a radio programme in the state capital, the governor warned residents not to rejoice yet saying the next governor would do more for the development of the state.

According to him, some residents who understand their motives, now appreciate the urban development being executed across the state by his administration.

El-Rufai alleged that some of his critics attacked him for not sharing money to them, stressing that developing the state was worth more than sharing of money.

“When we started working on school construction they said we are not providing roads now we are working on roads they said we are not empowering people.

“If sharing money at night is what they mean by empowering people, they should keep insulting us.

“The masses who we are working for appreciate what we are doing for them.

You know the election is approaching and they see me as a demolisher “Mai rusau” so they think that maybe the next person that will come after me will not demolish but he will demolish more than I do, God willing,” he said.

Kaduna to end reliance on federal allocations by 2025 – El-Rufai

The Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, said on Thursday the state would stop relying on federal allocations by 2025.

El-Rufai disclosed this to journalists shortly after declaring open the 147th meeting of the state’s Joint Tax Board.

He said the state has been boosting its tax collections and channeling the funds to infrastructure, education, and health care.

The governor said the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) reached N50.9 billion in 2020.

El-Rufai said: “In our last budget, 60 percent of our budget came from the federal account and 40 percent from IGR.

“But the way we are going, with a very hard-working internal revenue service team, in the next four to five years we will get to a point where we will only go to the federation account only out of courtesy not because we need the money.

“We are focused on running the government and doing development projects entirely from tax collection. We don’t want to depend on the federation account, that’s our goal.”

The governor said his administration is determined to show the people that the payment of tax is not a burden but a contribution to the development of the state.

“And when you contribute, you will see the development, you will see the result.

“This result you will see through free education, 12 years of free education not nine years like other states.

“In Kaduna, it is not just basic education, but free education for junior secondary school and senior secondary and primary which is all financed from taxes.

We provide primary health care free to children under the age of five and to all pregnant women. All senior citizens above the age of 70 get free health care, all from taxation,” he added.

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