Kano spends ₦235.4m to build classrooms in a school that does not exist (Full details)

• Kano's budget shows ₦235.4m was paid for classrooms at GGSSS, Permanent Site, Massu.

• Tracka says residents could not identify the school during a field visit.

• FIJ found the school is absent from Kano's official school directory and other education records.

Questions are mounting over a ₦235.4 million classroom project in Kano State after an investigation by civic accountability platform Tracka and the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ) found that the school listed as the project site could not be located.

According to Kano State's Fourth Quarter 2025 Budget Implementation Report, the government disbursed ₦235.4 million for the "Construction of 2No. 4-Classroom Story Block with Office and Store at GGSSS, Permanent Site, Massu" in Sumaila Local Government Area.

The budget implementation report indicates that the funds had already been paid for the project.

Tracka, a public accountability initiative by BudgIT that monitors government projects, disclosed on its X page on Wednesday that its team visited the Massu community in June 2026 to verify the project.

According to the organisation, residents told its team they had never heard of any school called Government Girls Senior Secondary School (GGSSS), Permanent Site, Massu.

Tracka said it did not stop at the main community. Its team also visited other villages across Massu Ward but still found no school bearing that name.

The group has now asked the Kano State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) to explain why ₦235.4 million was disbursed for a school that residents say does not exist.

It also questioned whether the project was intended for a new school, asking why construction had not started despite the reported disbursement of funds.

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FIJ independently reviewed Kano State's Q4 2025 Budget Implementation Report and confirmed that the project is listed among those for which payments had already been made.

The report specifically records the release of ₦235.4 million for the construction of two four-classroom storey blocks, including offices and a store, at GGSSS, Permanent Site, Massu.

However, FIJ's findings went beyond the budget document.

FIJ searched Kano State Government's official online directory of secondary schools but found no record of any school named Government Girls Senior Secondary School (GGSSS), Permanent Site, Massu.

Instead, the state's education portal lists several girls' secondary schools within the Sumaila Local Government Area, including:

• GGSS Gala

• GGSS Guzai Sumaila

• GGSS Sitti

None matches the name contained in the state's budget implementation report.

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FIJ also reviewed a 2023 World Bank report titled ‘A review of the Environmental and Social Management Plan for Rehabilitation of 1,228 Schools in Kano State (Final Report)’

The document lists numerous public secondary schools across Sumaila LGA, including Government Secondary School (GSS) Massu, Government Girls Arabic Secondary School (GGASS) Sumaila, GGSS Burum Burum and GGSS Sitti.

However, it does not identify any school named Government Girls Senior Secondary School (GGSSS), Permanent Site, Massu.

FIJ further cited previous reports on Kano's school merger policy, which mention Government Secondary School (GSS) Sumaila among affected schools but make no reference to GGSSS, Permanent Site, Massu.

The publication also attempted to verify the school through the Nigerian Education Management Information System (NEMIS) School Records Explorer, but said the website was displaying unrelated gambling content at the time, making verification impossible through that platform.

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Following its field visit, Tracka posed two key questions to the Kano State Government:

• Why was ₦235.4 million disbursed for a school that residents say does not exist?

• If the project was meant to establish a new school, why had construction not begun despite the reported release of funds?

The civic organisation urged Kano State SUBEB to publicly account for how the funds allocated to the project were spent.

As of the time Tracka published its findings, and FIJ's report was released, there had been no publicly available response from the Kano State Government or Kano SUBEB addressing the questions raised.