Students launch support group for Tinubu, Abba in Kano

The Jagaba/Abba Students’ Mandate group in Kano state has launched what it calls its Campus Ambassadors Initiative across 25 tertiary institutions in the state, with the group mobilising students in support of the re-election bids of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf ahead of the 2027 general elections.

In a statenent by its convener Comrade Nafiu Yunusa on Thursday, the initiative is designed to establish a structured student network across campuses to engage students, organise discussions and communicate what the group described as the educational achievements of the Tinubu and Abba administrations.

Speaking at the launch recently in Kano, Comrade Yunusa described the initiative as a strategic effort to involve Kano’s student population in the campaign for the re-election of the two leaders.

Yunusa said the group’s support was based on what it described as tangible achievements in the education sector under the federal government and Kano state government.

“We are here today to launch a movement driven by results, not rhetoric. The Renewed Hope Agenda of President Tinubu and the visionary leadership of Governor Abba have transformed the educational landscape of our state and nation. Our campus ambassadors would take this message of progress to every lecture hall, hostel and campus in Kano.”

According to the group, the achievements of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in education sector remains the driving force for their support.

The group cited the Nigeria Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) as one of the major education initiatives of the Tinubu administration, claiming that more than 1.6 million applications had been processed as of August 2026, with over N322 billion disbursed to students in universities, polytechnics, colleges of education and vocational institutions.

He also highlighted investments in technical and vocational education and training (TVET), including plans to train more than one million youths across 1,600 centres, as well as the provision of tuition support, stipends and starter packs.

Other achievements attributed by the group to the FG include an agreement with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), infrastructure projects funded through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), research and innovation grants and institutional upgrades in Kano.

IT specifically cited the conversion of the Federal College of Education, Kano, to Yusuf Maitama Sule Federal University of Education and the proposed upgrade of Federal Polytechnic Kabo to a University of Technology.

Yunusa said the group was backing Gov Abba because of what it described as his administration’s interventions in education which include the declaration of a state of emergency in education and the allocation of between 30 and 31 per cent of the state budget to the sector in 2024, 2025 and 2026.

It also commended the implementation of free education from primary to secondary level, a 50% reduction in tuition fees across all state-owned tertiary institutions, and payment of NECO and NABTEB examination fees for thousands of students.

“Recruitment of over 14,000 permanent teachers, including 6,000 new teachers, 2,000 absorbed BESDA volunteers, 4,315 BESDA teachers added in September 2025, 400 mathematics teachers, and 1,600 school guards.

Others are the renovation of primary classrooms across all 44 LGAs, construction of new classroom complexes and the supply of 80,000 sets of three-seater desks which the group said rescued 240,000 students who were previously sitting on bare floors.

“Reopening of all girls’ boarding schools shut by the previous administration and provision of free buses to convey girls to school in a bid to boost girl-child education.

“Revival of foreign postgraduate scholarships, with over 2,000 students sent abroad for Master’s and PhD programmes resulting in Kano emerged as Number 1 in Nigeria in the 2025 NECO examinations.

The campus ambassadors were charged with the responsibility of grassroots mobilisation, voter education, and articulating the achievements of the Tinubu and Abba administrations to the student body.