By Dauda Iliya
The Servant-In-Chief of Borno State, Governor Babagana Zulum, trudged to five of the nine local government areas of Southern Borno Senatorial Zone of the state last week from 5th-9th January, carrying a hefty load of assorted deliverables to serve communities and groups there according to needs critical for the state’s post-terror recovery programme and for rapid restoration of prosperity.
The deliverables served were in the forms of educational and healthcare infrastructure, succour to vulnerable women and children, and assorted empowerments to youths and women who guarantee the rapid economic recovery and prosperous future of the beleaguered state.
Governor Zulum spent his first night in the remote town of Fikayel, which lies some 40 kilometres from Briyel, the headquarters of Bayo Local Government, following a journey along meandering rocky roads. Indeed, he is the first sitting governor to have spent a night in the community. He began serving the deliverables on Tuesday where he inaugurated two newly-constructed Government Secondary Schools (GSSs), one each at Fikayel and Balbaya; flagged off a High Islamic College project at Fikayel, and, with a startling passion for public service, ordered the digitalization of all secondary schools across the state.
Speaking at the launch of the High Islamic College project, Zulum said it was designed to integrate out-of-school children, particularly Almajirai, into a formal and modern educational system.
The College is to run a hybrid curriculum based on the National Board for Arabic and Islamic Studies (NBAIS), combining core Islamic education with contemporary science, technology and humanities.
“it is our sincere hope that the people of Fikayel will benefit from this school because we are targeting the enrollment of out-of-school children into this school so that learners can learn Arabic, and then we shall streamline the non-formal educational (Sangaya System) into the formal educational system by introducing intensive literacy, intensive numeracy, digital literacy and above all, vocational training,” Zulum said.
Briefing the Chief Servant, the Commissioner for Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, Engr. Lawan Wakilbe, disclosed that High Islamic Colleges had already been built in 20 local government areas of the state.
The directive for the digitalisation of public schools is for integration of digital tools, e-learning platforms and smart classroom technologies with a view to enhancing teaching and learning outcomes.
The two newly inaugurated secondary schools, Fikiyel and Balbaya, comprise 20 modern classrooms, laboratories, a library and sporting facilities each.
Before departing Bayo, Chief Servant Zulum inspected the recently inaugurated Bilingual Boarding School in Briyel, which currently has 430 orphaned pupils on its enrolment.
He also inspected General Hospital Briyel and assured staff that the challenge of power supply would be addressed.
Zulum, now with a lighter load of the deliverables, then trudged to Kwaya-Kusar Local Government Area, where he delivered the newly constructed permanent site of Government Day Secondary School Wandali, ending 30 years operation of the school on a temporary site.
While delivering the school, the Servant-leader affirmed his administration’s commitment to revamping the education sector through substantial investment in infrastructure, manpower development, and digital and vocational skills.
“The construction of the permanent site of Government Day Secondary School Wandali fulfils our promise to provide access to education for communities across the state,” Zulum stated.
He expressed his administration’s resolve to revamp the education sector in the state.
Engineeer Wakilbe disclosed that the school had been operating from temporary accommodation since 1996. The school comprises 20 classrooms, a computer laboratory, administrative blocks, and fully equipped laboratories to enable students to learn digital and other skills.
While in Kwaya Kusar, the Borno Servant-In-Chief also inspected General Hospital Kwaya Kusar, where he promised to rehabilitate the facility and restore its electricity supply. He commended the Medical Officer, an indigene of Rivers State, who has served at the hospital for the past four years, praising his dedication and service.
Quite relieved of a substantial part of the load, the Servant-leader trudged forth to Shani Local Government Area with the deliverables the communities there need. There, he delivered the commissioning of three model secondary schools, one each at three communities; and flagged off 22nd Higher Islamic College project at Shani, the headquarters of the LGA.
The schools commissioned were Government Day Secondary School, Shani; Government Day Secondary School, Borgu; and Government Day Secondary School, Gasi. Speaking at the commissioning, Zulum said the projects fulfilled his pledge to ensure every child of school age has access to education, thereby reducing the number of out-of-school children, a problem exacerbated by years of Boko Haram insurgency.
“We are today commissioning three schools: Government Day Secondary School, Shani, which is being commissioned physically, while that of Government Day Secondary School, Borgu, and Government Day Secondary School, Gasi, are done virtually. This is in fulfilment of our campaign promise to provide access to education to our people,” Zulum stated. The Chief Servant directed the Commissioner for Education to increase the allocation of computers and tablets to the new schools to enhance digital learning opportunities.
The Commissioner had said that each of the three schools comprised of three blocks of nine classrooms and equipped with digital facilities to ensure students have access to modern learning tools.
At the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of the Shani High Islamic College, Zulum said that that was the case with all its sister Islamic Colleges, which is to integrate the traditional Sangaya system of education into the formal sector. It also to serve as a platform to counter negative ideologies and provide authentic Islamic teachings.
“As part of our campaign promises of constructing one High Islamic school in each of the 27 local government areas, we are today flagging off the construction of the 48-classroom High Islamic College in Shani,” the Servant-leader explained:
“The college will serve as a platform to streamline the non-formal education (Sangaya system) into the formal education system by introducing intensive literacy, numeracy, digital literacy, and, above all, vocational training,” he said.
Before departing Shani, Chief Servant Zulum directed the immediate employment of volunteer nurses, midwives, and community health workers serving at the General Hospital in Shani. He issued the directive during an inspection visit to the hospital.
“The Hospitals Management Board is hereby directed to immediately absorb all volunteer nurses and midwives, community health workers (CHEWs), and JCHEWs into the payroll of the state government,” Zulum directed.
Earlier, the Servant-leader paid homage to the Emir of Shani, His Royal Highness Alhaji Muhammad Nasir Mailafiya, at his Palace, where he promised to address challenges facing the people of the emirate.
In another startling show of compassion and passion for all-round recovery, Servant-leader Zulum released the sum of N100 million to the National Orthopaedic Hospital Azare Hawul (NOHA), earlier approved to address some of its teething problems.
He also announced a motivational support of N500,000 to each of the 29 medical doctors, N200,000 to each of the 16 nurses, and N100,000 to each of the non-clinical staff who were deployed from the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital to the Orthopaedic Hospital in Azare, Hawul.
A great number of the teeming patients currently receiving treatment at the orthopaedic care were also supported with the sum of N30,000 each by the Governor.
The Borno Servant-In-Chief further expressed his administration’s determination to continue to support the hospital, noting that the healthcare facility has just started with zero allocation from the federal government.
He, however, urged the hospital management to imbibe the culture of maintenance in order to control those who lack the habit of maintenance culture.
Earlier, Dr Ali Ramat, the NOHA’s Medical Director, who conducted the governor round the hospital, said that the facility was open to all patients and not limited to orthopaedic cases for the time being.
“We even had two gynaecological surgeries; we are fortunate enough to have a plastic surgeon who came visiting. We had a very good repair for the two of them (the surgeries) back-to-back,” the medical director revealed.
He said that the hospital was generally doing well in terms of service delivery with a standing policy of providing drugs at affordable prices to the patients, among others.
Ramat thanked the Chief Servant for his kind gesture and generosity, adding that the hospital management would remain grateful and promised not to disappoint him.
In Biu, the Borno State Servant-In-Chief revealed his full exceptionally-compassionate self, causing eyes to swell with tears of joy and profound disbelief amongst vulnerable women and girls, for whom meaningful support had long seemed a distant dream. In a stunning turn of events, that dream became a life-changing reality.
These women and girls, drawn from eight local government areas of southern Borno and previously hindered by circumstance from furthering their education—found themselves at the heart of an extraordinary announcement.
Servant-leader Babagana Zulum, smouldering with uncommon compassion for the led, and passion for rapid economic recovery, was, on Thursday, at the inauguration of the “Second Chance for Women and Girls Skills Acquisition centre” in Biu town, where they are acquiring training in crafts from tailoring to catering, knitting and crocheting, bead making. He instantly declared a financial support of ₦100,000 to be given in two tranches to each of the 400 trainees.
Yet the true showstopper followed. Upon enquiring which trainees possessed the qualifications for higher education, and seeing hands shoot up, the Governor unveiled an even grander gift: immediate scholarships to study nursing and midwifery. Long after the Servant-In-Chief’s departure, emotions overflowed—a mixture of joy, exhilaration, and sheer wonder at this transformative intervention.
The newly inaugurated facility is part of a strategic initiative designed to offer adult women, including those who missed formal education or dropped out of school due to prevailing challenges, a pathway to self-reliance.
Chief Servant Zulum has, since assuming his Servant-leader capacity in 2019, been having sleepless nights, racking his professorial brain and fashioning out sustainable, broad-based economic recovery programme for his insurgency-battered state.
As part of the implementation of the programme, Zulum, in Biu, disbursed N1 billion to small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) across five local government areas in southern Borno.
The targeted LGAs include Biu, Hawul, Shani, Bayo and Kwaya-Kusar, with the funds intended to support over 13,000 entrepreneurs and enhance business sustainability.
He pointed out that the direct injection of capital into the SME sector is essential for driving grassroot development and fostering self-reliance in the post-insurgency recovery phase.
To tackle youth restiveness and promote social stability, Zulum directed immediate employment of 200 young individuals from the Biu Local Government Area.
Thereafter, he visited Biu Specialist Hospital where he announced the immediate and automatic employment of a number of dedicated volunteer health workers who have served tirelessly. At the end of his visit, Zulum expressed delight “Am so happy to note that our administration has executed a lot of projects in the state especially in the areas of health and education. The most important aspect of our visit is the recruitment of human resources for health. It is pleasing to note that all the five general hospitals are now fully equipped and staffed,”.
He acknowledged that the visit to southern Borno is one of the historic tour he has undertaken that has direct bearing on the citizenry. The visit delivered eight schools, performed groundbreaking ceremony of another four and directed the recruitment of about 50 medical workers. As Servant-leader to all residents of Borno, their de facto and de jure Chief Servant and the Servant-In-Chief of their terror-ravaged state, Governor Zulum’s five-day trudging around parts of Southern Borno, was a historic mission that touched lives at every level: from health workers and teachers to hospital patients, youth groups, and the less fortunate groups.
The depth of his compassion, empathy, and unwavering commitment to his people in the classical spirit of a Servant-leader serving the led with their crucial needs according to the imperatives of the times. He is a Servant to his people, not a boss; a Servant-leader, not just a Governor.
Dauda Iliya is the Special Adviser to Borno State Governor on Media
