By Muhammad-Mahdi Halliru
Your Excellency,
Kano State stands as one of Nigeria’s most historically significant and economically vibrant regions. We are blessed with a portfolio of public assets that many states can only aspire to possess. From historic landmarks and administrative complexes to trade infrastructure, guesthouses, and specialized facilities, these assets represent decades of investment by successive governments. They were intended to deliver essential services, stimulate economic activity, and project the dignity and capacity of government. Yet, despite their value and potential, some of these assets are today visibly underutilized, poorly maintained, or outright neglected, serving neither their intended purpose nor contributing meaningfully to the economy of our great state.
Over the years, significant public funds have been invested in the construction of new facilities and in the renovation of old ones. Under your leadership, we have witnessed renewed attention to infrastructure, with commendable efforts in the reconstruction and refurbishment of schools, ministries, departments, and agencies, as well as public facilities used daily by citizens. These interventions have brought life back to places that were once on the verge of collapse. However, the absence of a sustainable asset management framework means that many of these renovated assets risk falling back into disrepair in just a few years. Without a system that ensures proper upkeep, monitoring, and protection, the government is trapped in a costly cycle of spending heavily on reconstruction and emergency repairs rather than strategically preserving and optimizing existing investments.
The root of this persistent challenge is not just a lack of resources, but also a deep-seated cultural problem. For too long, there has been a public perception that government property is “nobody’s property.” This mindset has bred indifference toward public infrastructure, encouraged misuse, and allowed encroachment to go unchallenged. In some cases, government lands and facilities have been illegally occupied, vandalized, or stripped of valuable components without consequences. Vehicles are left to rust in open yards, buildings are abandoned until they become unsafe, and records of these assets are often incomplete, inconsistent, or entirely nonexistent. This culture of neglect has led to substantial financial losses, reduced service delivery capacity, and missed opportunities for job creation, investment attraction, and internally generated revenue (IGR).
The current approach to managing public assets is fragmented and reactive. Each ministry, department, or agency is left to handle its own facilities with no centralized oversight, resulting in duplication, poor record-keeping, and inconsistent maintenance practices. There is no unified, up-to-date inventory of the state’s assets, meaning that the true extent, value, and condition of government property remains largely unknown. In an era of tightening budgets and rising public expectations, such inefficiency is no longer sustainable. The people of Kano will benefit greatly from your government when public assets are not only provided, but also protected, used effectively, and made to deliver steady benefits for the state.
It is in line with the foregoing that I recommend the establishment Kano State Assets Management Agency (KAMA) as a strategic and enduring solution. With a professional, centralized, and technology-driven approach, this agency would safeguard government-owned assets, enforce accountability, and harness the full economic and civic potential of Kano’s public assets.
Your Excellency,
KAMA would function as the state’s dedicated body for managing, protecting, optimizing, and maintaining all government-owned assets. Its operations would be guided by four interlinked mandates designed to ensure every asset is fully accounted for, effectively utilized, and preserved for future generations:
1. Asset Management
KAMA will be responsible for establishing and maintaining a comprehensive Fixed Assets Register of all movable and immovable state-owned assets, including buildings, land, vehicles, machinery, and specialized equipment. Every asset will be digitally geo-tagged and classified by location, condition, usage, and ownership status, creating a live database accessible to authorized government officials.
In addition to documentation, KAMA will develop and enforce structured asset management policies and guidelines to standardize how assets are recorded, utilized, maintained, and reported across all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs). Regular audits, valuations, and revaluations will be conducted to determine the current physical condition and fair market value of each asset. This will enable informed decision-making on maintenance priorities, repurposing opportunities, and disposal of obsolete items.
A State Assets Annual Report will be published to provide transparency to both government and citizens, while a Governor’s Digital Asset Dashboard will offer Your Excellency real-time visibility of the state’s asset portfolio, showing the location, status, and revenue potential of each property. KAMA will also track asset lifecycles and advise on the optimal timing for renewals, upgrades, or replacements.
2. Asset Optimization
KAMA will systematically identify idle, obsolete, or underutilized assets that can be repurposed into productive uses. Examples include converting unused office blocks into co-working hubs for entrepreneurs, turning abandoned buildings into SME workshops, and transforming old guesthouses into revenue-generating hospitality facilities.
The agency will actively promote Public–Private Partnerships (PPPs) and long-term leasing arrangements to attract private capital, expertise, and management capabilities ensuring assets are used efficiently without draining public funds.
A clear, transparent asset monetization framework will be developed, covering leasing, renting, or licensing of public properties. These processes will be guided by accountability measures to prevent abuse. Space efficiency audits will also be carried out in all public buildings to eliminate wastage and reduce costs, aligning asset use with current government priorities and service needs.
3. Asset Protection
KAMA will work to prevent encroachment, illegal occupation, vandalism, and theft of public assets through coordinated monitoring and enforcement measures. This can be achieved via the secondment of trained personnel from the newly established Kano Neighborhood Watch Corps to provide physical security for strategic assets such as government offices, guesthouses, parks, and warehouses.
The agency will establish a Public Asset Crime Registry to log and track all offences, encroachments, damages, and thefts related to public property. Working closely with the Ministry of Justice, KAMA will prosecute offenders to serve as a deterrent, while pursuing recovery of illegally occupied or stolen assets.
4. Facility Management
KAMA will take over statewide oversight of routine and preventive maintenance for all public buildings and installations. This will involve developing maintenance standards and standard operating procedures for plumbing, electrical systems, janitorial services, landscaping, and safety compliance. A Digital Maintenance Request Platform will be launched, enabling civil servants and asset custodians to log repair or maintenance requests in real time. This system will assign tasks, track progress, and close tickets upon completion thereby ensuring accountability and responsiveness.
Where necessary, the agency will outsource facility upkeep to licensed private janitorial and maintenance companies through transparent procurement processes, while monitoring vendor performance against clear KPIs. This approach will ensure public facilities remain functional, clean, and safe for users, extending their lifespan and preventing costly breakdowns.
When executed together, these four mandates will not only preserve Kano’s public wealth but also transform it into a dynamic, revenue-generating portfolio that delivers value to every citizen. They will end the culture of neglect and establish a culture of stewardship while also ensuring that every naira invested in public infrastructure is protected, optimized, and sustained for decades to come.
Your Excellency,
In order to translate this vision into a practical and actionable reality, I recommend the following steps as priorities for establishing the Kano State Assets Management Agency (KAMA):
1. Establish a Feasibility and Drafting Committee
A high-level committee should be constituted under your directive to conduct a feasibility and viability assessment of KAMA. This committee should include representatives from the ministries of Lands and Physical Planning, Housing, Transport, Finance, Justice, Public Procurement, The Office of the Auditor-General, The Kano State Bureau of Statistics, Private sector asset management experts, etc. Their task will be to design the agency’s operational framework, determine resource requirements, and draft the Kano State Assets Management Agency Bill for onward submission to the State House of Assembly.
2. Begin an Immediate Statewide Asset Inventory
While the legal framework is being developed, the committee should initiate the creation of a centralized Fixed Assets Register for all government-owned properties, vehicles, and movable equipment. This process will document each asset’s location, type, condition, and usage. It will identify idle, encroached, or deteriorated assets for quick intervention. This early action will ensure that KAMA can hit the ground running upon formal establishment, with a reliable database as its foundation.
3. Place KAMA Under the Office of the Governor
Given the agency’s strategic role in safeguarding and optimizing the state’s wealth, it should operate directly under the Office of the Executive Governor. This will allow Your Excellency to have real-time oversight of asset performance, risks, and revenue potential through the agency’s asset register. It will also ensure the agency’s directives are respected across ministries, departments, and agencies.
4. Embed Maintenance into Governance KPIs
The KAMA law should empower Your Excellency to include asset maintenance performance in the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of all heads of MDAs. KAMA’s quarterly audits and reports will serve as the evaluation tool. This will shift the mindset from neglect to active stewardship, making asset care a leadership responsibility at all levels.
By implementing these steps, Kano will set a national precedent for the smart, transparent, and profitable management of public wealth. KAMA will not only protect what we have built but will also create new streams of economic opportunity thereby ensuring that every asset is a working asset for the people of Kano.
5. Launch Quick-Win Pilot Projects
Your Excellency, during a recent visit I took to the Murtala Muhammad Library Complex, I observed that large sections originally reserved for reading and special collections now lie idle. The academic reference and reserve sections are functioning far below capacity, with many books displaced or inaccessible. Even more troubling, part of the complex’s parking area has reportedly been sold off by the previous administration.
In today’s digital era, modern libraries no longer require vast physical spaces to deliver their core functions. This makes significant portions of this prime facility a remarkable, yet underutilized, opportunity for transformation. With strategic planning, it could be reimagined as a dynamic, multi-use civic hub, one that revives its scholarly heritage while generating sustainable revenue for the State through uses such as co-working spaces, cultural galleries, private seminar rooms, and SME support facilities.
This is not an isolated case. Across Kano, numerous public assets sit idle, underused, or redundant. By selecting a handful of these for high-impact pilot revitalization projects, KAMA can deliver visible improvements within its first year of operation. These early wins would not only generate revenue but also enhance public perception, inspire stakeholder confidence, and demonstrate the agency’s value as a catalyst for growth.
Your Excellency,
The reality is that public assets are more than just buildings, land, or vehicles, they are instruments of service, symbols of governance, and potential engines of growth. Every day that a public property lies idle, deteriorates, or is encroached upon, Kano State loses value not just in financial terms, but in public trust, service delivery capacity, and development opportunity.
You have already taken bold steps to rehabilitate infrastructure and restore dignity to our schools, offices, and public spaces. Establishing the Kano State Assets Management Agency (KAMA) is the next logical step. It is the structure that will ensure these investments are preserved, optimized, and multiplied for future generations.
With KAMA, Kano can move away from the costly cycle of “build, neglect, repair” to a culture of preventive care, proactive optimization, and value creation. We will have a single, credible record of our state’s wealth, the ability to track and protect it in real time, and a framework to turn dormant assets into sustainable revenue streams. Most importantly, we will instill a culture of ownership among both public officials and citizens and reinforce the truth that government property is the people’s property and must be treated as such.
This is an opportunity to set a national benchmark in public asset management. Other states will look to Kano as the pioneer of a model that is both visionary and practical. The long-term rewards will be measured not only in naira and kobo but in jobs created, services improved, and pride restored.
Your leadership at this moment will be remembered as the turning point when Kano began to treat its public assets not as liabilities, but as strategic resources to be grown, protected, and optimized for the benefit of all.
Muhammad Mahdi Halliru writes from Kano.
