By Usman Usman
The Kano State Governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf, on Saturday, expressed gratitude to the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, for donating N110 million to the families of 22 athletes who lost their lives in a tragic road accident.
The athletes had died in a crash just five kilometres away from Kano while returning from the National Sports Festival in Ogun State, where they had won multiple medals.
A delegation from the Office of the First Lady, led by Hajiya Laila Barau Jibrin — wife of the Deputy Senate President, Senator Barau Jibrin — visited Kano to deliver the condolence message and hand over the donation to the state government for onward disbursement.
Governor Yusuf, in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Mustapha Muhammad, commended the First Lady’s intervention and described it as a demonstration of compassion and national solidarity.
“This is not the first time Her Excellency, the First Lady, has extended her kind gestures to Kano State,” the statement read.
According to the governor, the First Lady had previously donated N200,000 each to 250 elderly women and N50,000 each to 500 women smallholder farmers in the state.
The governor announced that a high-powered committee would be set up to ensure transparent and equitable distribution of the funds to the bereaved families.
He also appreciated other individuals and organisations who had supported the victims’ families, including those affected by the recent fire outbreak at the Farm Centre GSM market in Kano.
Earlier, Hajiya Laila Barau Jibrin explained that each of the 22 families would receive N5 million from the total sum of N110 million provided by the First Lady.
She presented the cheque to Governor Yusuf during the visit.
