FORMER KADUNA SCHOLARSHIP BOARD BOSS DEFENDS EX-GOVERNOR’S RECORD, SAYS MERIT AND NEED GUIDED EDUCATION PROGRAMMES
A former Executive Secretary of the Kaduna State Scholarship and Loans Board, Hassan Rilwan, has defended the education policies of former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, saying the administration promoted fairness, merit and inclusion in the distribution of educational opportunities across the state.
Rilwan made the claim in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Sunday, August 30, 2026, while speaking about the scholarship and loans programmes implemented during El-Rufai’s eight-year administration.
According to him, the programmes were designed to give students access to educational opportunities based on merit and financial need, rather than ethnicity, religion or political affiliation.
Rilwan said students from the three senatorial zones of Kaduna State — Southern, Central and Northern Kaduna — benefited from the programmes.
He argued that the policy was intended to make education a means of creating equal opportunities for young people across the state rather than allowing education to become another area of political, ethnic or religious division.
“The policy we implemented under Malam El-Rufai was built around merit and need,” Rilwan said.
He explained that the need-based foreign scholarship programme was targeted at students from disadvantaged backgrounds, while the merit-based scholarship was available to students who demonstrated outstanding academic performance, regardless of their family’s financial position.
Rilwan, who said he administered the scholarship programme for four years, also maintained that El-Rufai never personally instructed him to approve or reject an applicant because of the person’s religion or ethnic background.
He recalled an incident involving a senior aide who allegedly contacted him regarding an individual said to have been sent by the former governor for scholarship approval.
According to Rilwan, he contacted El-Rufai directly and was told that any official instruction from the governor would come through the appropriate channel.
He said this reinforced the process used by the scholarship board in handling applications.
Rilwan further explained that the administration focused on courses considered to be in short supply or unavailable in Nigeria at the time, particularly in areas where Kaduna State needed additional expertise.
He said universities were also assessed before students were sponsored abroad to ensure that government funds were invested in institutions capable of providing quality education.
The objective, according to him, was to develop skills that could eventually contribute to Kaduna State’s human capital and economic development.
Rilwan’s defence of the former governor’s education record comes against the background of long-running political arguments over whether the El-Rufai administration treated all parts of Kaduna State fairly.
One of the most sensitive issues has been the allegation that Southern Kaduna was marginalised during the former governor’s eight years in office.
Rilwan rejected the allegation as far as the scholarship programme was concerned, saying the beneficiaries of the scheme came from different parts of the state.
He specifically pointed to the education support provided for the children of the late Professor Jonathan Andrew Nok, a respected scientist and former Kaduna State Commissioner for Education who was from Southern Kaduna.
Nok died while serving as commissioner.
According to Rilwan, following Nok’s death, El-Rufai approved N86.69 million to establish an education trust for the deceased commissioner’s children, with the fund managed through the Kaduna State Scholarship and Loans Board.
Rilwan said he personally opened the trust account with Union Bank Plc.
He further stated that one of Nok’s daughters was sponsored to the University of Portsmouth in the United Kingdom in 2020 for a master’s degree in Energy and Power Systems Management.
The programme reportedly cost about £27,400.
Rilwan added that Nok’s son was also educated at Babcock University in Ogun State for his undergraduate studies.
According to him, part of the trust funds was later converted to dollars, with about $76,000 deposited for the children’s education.
He claimed that the fund had subsequently grown to more than N100 million.
Rilwan appealed to the current Kaduna State Government to maintain the trust and ensure that the children receive further educational support, including opportunities for postgraduate and PhD studies.
He also proposed that the Jonathan Andrew Nok Education Trust should eventually be expanded to support other children from Southern Kaduna after the educational needs of Nok’s children have been fully addressed.
“The Jonathan Andrew Nok Education Trust should not end with Professor Nok’s children. It can continue to support other children from Southern Kaduna after their education,” he said.
Rilwan also called on the Kaduna State Government to consider establishing an education trust for the children of the late Sagir Balarabe Musa, a former Special Adviser to the Governor on Human Capital Development.
Musa reportedly died on July 12, 2026, after a prolonged illness.
Rilwan said establishing such a trust would be a way of recognising Musa’s contribution to human capital development and honouring public servants who dedicated their careers to improving society.
The former scholarship board executive acknowledged that political disagreements over the El-Rufai administration would continue, but insisted that assessments of the former governor’s record should not be based solely on political arguments.
He argued that policies and programmes should also be examined when claims of marginalisation are made.
“I was there. Under Malam’s directives, I administered the scholarship system and take responsibility for its flaws,” Rilwan said.
“We made sure students from different parts of Kaduna State benefited. Malam emphasised merit and need.”
Rilwan’s comments effectively amount to a defence of one of the former administration’s key human-capital policies and provide his personal account of how the scholarship system operated.
However, claims about the wider performance of the El-Rufai administration remain a matter of political debate, with supporters and critics continuing to offer different assessments of his eight-year tenure.
The scholarship programme, according to Rilwan, should therefore be considered alongside other available evidence when assessing the former governor’s record on education and human-capital development.
The former official also placed emphasis on the need for government to protect education trusts created for children of deceased public servants.
His call for continued funding of the Jonathan Andrew Nok Education Trust and the proposed creation of a similar trust for the children of Sagir Balarabe Musa reflects a broader argument that government support for the families of public servants who die in service should not end with the death of the official.
For Rilwan, the issue goes beyond politics.
He believes public servants who contribute to the development of the state should have their families protected from sudden hardship, particularly where education is concerned.
The former Kaduna Scholarship and Loans Board executive said political leaders should be judged not only by political controversies surrounding their administrations but also by the policies and institutions they established.
He urged those examining El-Rufai’s record to consider the evidence from the scholarship programme and other human-capital interventions before reaching conclusions about the former governor’s approach to fairness and inclusion.
The debate over El-Rufai’s legacy is unlikely to disappear soon.
But Rilwan’s intervention has added another voice to the discussion, with the former official insisting that the scholarship system he administered was based on merit and need, and that students from different parts of Kaduna State were given access to the programme.
For him, the record of the education programme provides evidence that public policy can be used to create opportunities across ethnic, religious and political lines.
The bigger question now is whether such programmes will be sustained, improved and expanded by successive administrations in Kaduna State, and whether education support will continue to serve as a tool for human-capital development rather than political patronage.
