By Aminu Garko
The British Government has congratulated Gov. Abba Yusuf of Kano State following Kano State’s emergence as the highest-ranked subnational government in West Africa for education spending.
The commendation was given by Mr. Ian Attfield, Senior Education Adviser at the British High Commission in Nigeria, in a post on his official X account.
Attfield described the recognition as a significant milestone for Kano and an indication of the state’s commitment to prioritising education as a driver of sustainable development.
The recognition followed the release of the West Africa Education Spending Index, WAESI, a policy initiative by the Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris – Africa Foundation to promote evidence-based governance in education financing across the 15 ECOWAS member states and their 209 subnational governments.
In a formal notification to Governor Yusuf, the organisers announced that Kano State ranked first among all subnational governments in West Africa, earning the title of “Grand Laureate of Education Financing” as the 2026 Best Performing Subnational Government in West Africa.
According to the letter signed by Prof. Julie Peghini, Director of the University of Paris 8 and Director of the Fondation Lucien Paye, the assessment was conducted in line with UN Sustainable Development Goal 4 on Quality Education, SDG 17 on Partnerships, and the African Union Agenda 2063.
The organisers said Kano’s top ranking reflects the state’s commitment to strengthening education financing and implementing policies that support equitable access to quality education.
They added that the award recognises governments that demonstrate exceptional leadership in allocating resources to the education sector.
The assessment report and underlying datasets have been made publicly available through the official French Government open data repository.
Governor Yusuf’s administration declared a state of emergency in education shortly after assuming office and has since undertaken major investments, including rehabilitation and construction of schools, recruitment of teachers, provision of learning materials, expansion of scholarship programmes and increased budgetary allocations.