By Mustapha Suleiman
The Borno state governor, Prof. Babagana Umara Zulum, has been nominated as the housing governor of the year by the organisers of Abuja International Housing show (AIHS).
The governor was nominated based on his outstanding performance in the area of housing and infrastructural development in Borno state, despite the challenge posed by the Boko Haram insurgent.
Governor of Borno State, Prof. Babagana Umara.
The abuja international housing show is the largest housing event in Africa supported by federal mortgage bank of Nigeria,family homes funds,shelter Afrique, kenya,Africa union of housing finance,south Africa among others
Zulum, was sworn in, on May 29, 2019. As a scholar, he was widely expected that his wealth of experience and laudable achievements as the then Rector of Ramat Polytechnic and pioneer Commissioner Ministry for Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (RRR), would be brought to bear in the fight against the gory tales of Boko Haram insurgency in the state and infrastructural development.
Aware of the high expectations on him and driven by the unquantifiable love he has for his people, Prof. Babagana Umara Zulum,mni, immediately swung into action – a clear indication that he was in a hurry to take Borno state to higher level of all round development.
Usually, governors in Nigeria upon completion of one year in office are assessed by the people based on their blueprints, policies and achievements, or are expected to give an account of their stewardship within the one year. While the good people of Borno state expected little or nothing in the areas of infrastructural and human capital development in Zulum’s one year in office, taking the state’s peculiar problem of Boko Haram insurgency into account, Zulum surprised everyone with his unprecedented achievements, ranging from security beef-up to infrastructural and social/ human capital development within just one year in office.
Zulum’s visionary, people-focused, articulated development agenda which he christened: ‘10-Pact Transformation Agenda’ has, indeed, transformed the state into an exemplary one.
Within 365 days in office as the chief executive officer of Borno state, Zulum undertook 375 projects, of which 326 are physical projects with the remaining 49 as capital-intensive programmes and policies.
Breaking this down, it translates to 375 projects in 365 days. An average of one project per day.
Gov Zulum APC’s led administration outstanding achievements in the area of education within the one year in office, is breath-taking. It is on record that within the one year in office, 76 verifiable projects were undertaken across 21 LGAs. 49 projects are already completed with 27 ongoing in the education sector. Zulum embarked on massive construction, rehabilitation and renovations of hundreds of blocks of classrooms and offices in schools. With his giant strides in education within the last one year, the governor demonstrated that he is not oblivious of the fact that education is the key to scientific and technological advancement, the means to combat unemployment and the foundation of social equity.
Apart from his giant strides in education, the health sector has recorded huge transformation. The sector benefited 46 physical projects in 19 LGAs out of which 37 are newly built primary, comprehensive and maternity healthcare centres with some few still ongoing.
Zulum, also showed his commitment to build Borno State as he embarked on construction of over 6000 housing units, installed litany of electrification and transformers on notably rural communities across the LGAs.
Aside the governor’s great achievements in many areas like health, education, and rural/urban development, Zulum drilled hundreds of solar powered boreholes, constructed and reconstructed several vocational centres or skills acquisition centres for job creation, constructed 53 municipal buildings in 12 LGAs, with a view to restore normalcy in the recaptured LGAs.
The transport sector, in addition to the massive road construction projects, has witnessed remarkable improvements as Borno Express, the state-owned transport company, is witnessing rapid transformation.
Borno state still houses over two million IDPs forcefully chased out of their communities by Boko Haram in camps and host communities with women and children mostly affected due to their vulnerabilities.
This is in addition to construction of a new modern market in Kwaya-Kusar and market stalls in many LGAs.
Gov Zulum is concentrating more on infrastructural development to prepare the ground for easy resettlement of displaced persons in the state.
The governor is building schools and hospitals to make the education and health facilities accessible by the displaced children and at the same time make them affordable for the parents and guardians as the case may be.
Africanhousing.com gathered that the governor has built schools to accommodate children that are internally displaced and houses to accommodate displaced adults.
In a similar vein, Gov. Zulum has inaugurated 580 units of two-bedroom houses at Auno Village, near Maiduguri, the state capital.
The houses were later allocated to displaced people who have been staying at the IDP camps in Maiduguri with their families after they were attacked by Boko Haram.
Auno Village is one of the villages that were attacked by Boko Haram insurgents several times. It is located a few kilometres away from Maiduguri in the Konduga Local Government Area of the state.
During the ceremony at the village which was attended by Borno State government officials, the District Head of Auno and displaced families, Governor Zulum said the occasion marked his administration’s drive for dignified and safe settlement of the displaced people in the state.
The 580 houses were built by the state’s Ministry of Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (RRR) on the governor’s approval.
Additionally, a resettlement committee co-chaired by the Commissioner for RRR, Mustapha Gubio and the Special Adviser on Sustainable Development, Partnerships and Humanitarian Support to Governor, Mairo Mandara supervised the allocation of houses and resettlement of the displaced people.
Governor Zulum, who commended the resettlement committee urged them to work towards moving more displaced families from IDP camps to dignified homes.
He lamented that “IDP camps have been faced with so many problems of prostitution, drug abuse and the exploitation of humanitarian interventions by citizens who relocate to camps in the day time mainly to get food rations meant for those with more severe needs, after which they return to their homes at night, leaving the real IDPs with fewer food allocations.”
The Commissioner for Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (RRR) Mustapha Gubio explained that a total of 4, 967 families, called households, were recently resettled with houses allocated to them in Damasak, Auno, Bama, Konduga Town, Jere, Maiduguri and Marte.
The Commissioner also announced more resettlement housing projects were ongoing and nearing completion among Kaleri, Warabe, Chibok, Ngarnam, Damboa, Marte, Dalori and more locations.
President Muhammadu Buhari could not hide his joy in Maiduguri, recently, after commissioning seven out of the 556 capital projects delivered by Borno state governor, Prof Babagana Umara Zulum in just two years in office.
Buhari said, “I am highly impressed by the very dynamic leadership that Gov. Babagana Umaru Zulum has been providing in Borno State in the last two years. He is very selfless and has been taking a lot of personal risks in order to guarantee the safety and welfare of his people.
“I wish that every other person who has responsibility for the people at various levels will emulate Governor Zulum, instead of squandering so much time on unhelpful buck-passing and blame games. I have gone round to commission some of the capital projects executed by the Zulum Administration in two years. I am very happy with what I saw.’’
The President singled out a Vocational Training Institute, he commissioned at Muna, describing it as “a very dynamic answer to skills acquisition and job creation efforts” with potentials of drastically reducing youths’ unemployment in Borno to make economic induced recruitment harder for terrorists.
The institute, designed for annual training of 1,500 persons, has 14 workshops for automobile and mechatronics, electrical installation, solar installation, air conditioning and refrigeration, leather works, barbing and cosmetology, plumbing and pipe fitting, GSM repairs, welding and fabrication, mercenary and building, carpentry and joinery; tie and die, ICT, as well as tailoring and fashion design. The institute has six hostels of about 200 rooms, a kitchen and common room, as well as an auditorium, administrative building, and sporting facilities.
Other projects commissioned by the President include the Borno State University, in which the Zulum administration completed the senate building, constructed two large hostels with 150 rooms for 1,200 students; constructed 34 units of duplexes and bungalows for Professors, senior and intermediate staff; constructed seven kilometers of road and drainage network and undertook landscaping works across the university. Major infrastructural works were earlier done by the Kashim Shettima administration, which established the university.
The President also commissioned two mega-size Government Day Technical Secondary Schools in, Njimtilo and Goni Kachallari and a higher Islamic School, near the Shehu’s palace, all of which have 60 air-conditioned classrooms for at least 2,400 students; vocational workshops, laboratories for sciences and ICT, auditoriums and sporting facilities.
Also commissioned were Abbaganaram Maternal Healthcare Centre, which has 50-bed spaces, theatres, diagnostic equipment, blood banks and laboratories. It was one replicated in Gwange.
The President also commissioned roads and drainages constructed in Jiddari polo and first phase of 10,000 resettlement houses he had approved for Borno State, from which 4,000 have been completed.
This superlative performance among others earned him the housing governor of the year award by the Abuja Housing International Show (AIHS), says Festus Adebayo, Coordinator of the Show scheduled to hold at International Conference Centre, Abuja on July 26th, 2021.
