Last week, on December 31, 2025, His Excellency, Gov. Abba Kabir Yusuf, signed into law Kano State’s 2026 Appropriation Bill of ₦1,477,829,666,131, marking a historic milestone not only for Kano State but for the entire North-West region. For centuries, Kano has stood as the leading hub of commerce in Sub-Saharan Africa, a renowned centre of trans-Saharan trade, industry, and enterprise that attracted merchants, scholars, and investors from across Africa and beyond.
This legacy was built by visionary leaders and iconic figures such as Sarkin Kano Muhammadu Rumfa, who institutionalized Kano as a global trade hub. Against this background, the 2026 budget—unprecedented in scale, crossing one trillion naira—indicates a deliberate pathway to Kano’s rightful place as Nigeria’s most competitive investment destination and the commercial nerve center of Sub-Saharan Africa.
The 2026 budget underscores the wisdom and consistency of Gov. Abba Kabir Yusuf’s administration’s fiscal trajectory. From the 2024 budget of over ₦536bn to the 2025 budget of over ₦935bn, Kano has recorded consistent year-on-year growth in public expenditure. This growth reflects expanding economic activities, as can be seen in the ongoing infrastructural development in the state, from urban renewal projects to rural development, from basic health care facilities to educational facilities, from skills development to empowerment programmes—building community trust and responding to their needs upon request. The scale of infrastructure projects proposed in the budget is unmatched by most states.
As a student of economics, if the level of infrastructural development recorded by Gov. Abba last year was just about 80% of the 2025 budget performance, I can only imagine the level of transformation that would follow if the 2026 budget achieved the same level of implementation.
The scenario will dramatically reshape Kano’s infrastructural development, improve the ease of doing business, and increase its investment attraction. It also sends a strong signal to local and international investors that Kano has risen again to compete globally, which is precisely what investors are looking for.
The growing influx of people into Kano, driven by opportunity, trade, and enterprise, makes it more competitive, and the right decisions are being taken at the right time. Based on an analysis I conducted recently, Kano needs to spend about ₦1.2 trillion annually (from public and private sources) to close the infrastructure gaps.
Therefore, the scale and ambition of the 2026 budget, along with the recent approval of the State’s public-private partnership policy, serve as a legacy towards closing the gap, boosting confidence, and increasing support for Abba Kabir Yusuf’s administration to sustain and deepen momentum in the coming years.
If this trajectory is maintained over the next five years, history will remember Gov. Abba not merely as a record-breaker, but as a champion who moves Kano to reclaim its place as Africa’s rising commercial powerhouse.
May Allah SWT continue to support and guide him in making Kano great!
Muhammad Nazir Halliru, Director General/CEO, Kan-Invest, writes from Kano
