The Kano state government is to spend a whopping N35 million to decorate Audu Bako secretariat with flowers.
Comrade Muhammad Garba, the state information commissioner, stated this shortly after the State Executive Council meeting, presided over by Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje.
Kano state governor, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje
The commissioner, however, did not elaborate on whether the plants and flowers will be imported from another country. He added that the ugly appearance of the state secretariat informed the government decision to beautify the entire premises with nice looking plants and flowers to give the place a befitting look.
The state secretariat presently accommodates ministries that include Finance, Environment, Information, Justice, Planning and Budget, Civil Service Commission, House of Assembly, Primary Schools Management Board, High Court and Shari’ah Court of Appeal.
There were, however, mixed reactions to this new development among workers at the secretariat. While some hailed the decision, others lamented the exorbitant cost of the plants and flowers, adding that the government that is preaching the gospel of prudence to civil servants is busy spending taxpayers money with impunity.
A staff member in the Ministry of Justice who did not want his name in print, said that the government ought to have embarked on the immediate rehabilitation of the dilapidated road network within the secretariat constructed more than 15 years ago, stressing further that the planting of flowers will not alleviate the sufferings of motorist within the secretariat complex.
Another member, who gave his name as Usman Jibrin, chided the government for embarking on a project that is self serving and not in the interests of the people.
He said that only recently the government had laid off street sweepers and cried that it is paying a huge amount to maintain their services. Jibrin wondered why the same government is now spending a whopping sum to provide flowers in the secretariat that is left without a good road network and other necessary services befitting of a state secretariat.
He expressed fears that eventually when the flowers and plants were planted, maintaining them would be another herculean task as all ad-hoc staff have been retrenched by the government.
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