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Zulum: A Beacon Of Hope To Borno’s Less Privileged People

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Zulum: A Beacon Of Hope To Borno’s Less Privileged People

By Gbenga Akingbule 

Born without a silver spoon and  struggled through hardwork, perseverance  and unwavering desire to succeed,  Borno State Governor,  Prof Babagana Zulum has since become a household name especially amongst the less privileged persons in the state .

Prof. Zulum is always quick  to share stories  about his  humble beginning amongst the high and mighty,  a gesture observers view as rare display of humility amongst Nigeria’s political elite 

Upon assumption of office  in 2019 , Prof Zulum has consistently associated himself with the less privileged,-  his former constituency where he got first hand experience of the difficult economic hardship bedeveling many Nigerian less privileged people.  

Driven by compassion and his  gennue concern to assist the common people, Prof Zulum had on different occasion while on  visit to the hinterland,  ordered for the immediate halting of his motorcade just to  assist locals walking long distance by giving them a ride on his convoy and also give them cash support.  

Pfrof Zulum passion to liberate his people from the shackles of poverty and education backwardness has led to rise in budgetary provisions and fund releases for the education sector and key ministries that are aimed at empowering the common people.  

For the 2024 buget,  the Ministry of Education was  allocated  the sum of N39 billion to carry out its activities- this effort , amongst others , has removed over one million out- of – school children off the streets of Borno and returned them to the classrooms where their future are being positively shaped to become responsible and productive members of the society.  

”  Out of 1.8 million out -of- school children in 2021, we have taken measures to reduce the number to less that 800. We’re still working assiduously bring down the number ”  Commissioner of Education,  Science , Technology  and Innovation,  Engineer  Lawan Abba Wakilbe said 

No doubt,  the more than a decade long  insurgency in Borno  State had led many children and their parents to flee trouble areas,  thereby obstructing their education where massive destruction to education facilities across the state was evident .

At  a recent function during a public  lecture  held at University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID ) which form part activities to mark the exit of the former Vice Chancellor of the Institution, Prof . Aliyu Shugaba  after completing  his 5 year tenure,  Prof Zulum didn’t mince words when he charged the sea of erudite scholars  present at  the occasion, majority of whom are indigens of Borno State to think outside the box and collaborate to use education as tool for liberating the people of the state .

Zulum was quick to trip down memory lane and revealed how he battled through pletoral of obstacles in his unquenchable quest to gain quality education that has since transformed his life to become a professor of  Soil  and Water Engineer and currently serving his second term as governor of Borno state. 

” coming from my background,  I know how I  suffered , where we do not have competent teachers to teach us in our primary and secondary school.  I never thought I would be a professor,  because both of my parents were not educated,  nobody ever told me to do my assignment while in primary school,  I was on my own.” Zulun said . 

It was therefore not surprising when Governor Zulum recently released the sum of N4.8 Billion as scholarship award to 524  postgraduate  students  from the state , including orphans and less privileged persons.  

 The  scholarship  award according to the governor is meant for  foriegn and local postgraduate students in Science, Technology,  Engineering and Mathematics ( STEM) 

In his usual humanitarian and compassion towards the the less privileged irrespective of ethnicity,  tribe or religion governor Zulum during an early morning visit to a school in Maiduguri,  the state capital gifted a woman form the South East part of the country- a teacher in the  school with the sum of N100, 000 cash for always  showing up eally to her duty post . 

Also , recently,  during a visit to launch grains given to the state by Federal Government , Prof Zulum, shortly after the occasion went towards the direction of the local guard guarding the premises and immediately ordered that the sum of N500 000 be given to him – an amount that is more that his 12 month salary.

The 80 year Chadian  local guard who had lived in Nigeria for over four decades and has over 20 Children was stunned by the governor’s gesture and said the money will go a long way in ameliorating his financial challenges.  

Furthermore, 63 year old Cecelia Joseph, a widow and mother of six children who  was part of the one hundred thousand households that benefited from massive food support scheme carried out by the Borno State Governor.

The aim of the food  support according to Goverenor Zulum is to ameliorate economic hardship being experienced by many vulnerable families across state  including the likes of Cecilia whose husband, a commercial taxi driver was gruesomely murdered by suspected Boko Haram Terrorists over ten years ago. 

Since the demise of her husband,  Cecilia  who had continue to feed from hand to mouth  with her six children revealed that Governor Zulum is the first to have reached out to her with any form of assistance- the food support , she said ” will assist me and my six children immensely ” 

Prof Zulum had ordered that the food support should  be given to all vulnerable residents irrespective of  tribe , religion and political affiliations hence paving the way for Cecilia who hails from far away  Osun State, a devoted Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) member as well as other beneficiaries who are not indigens of the state .

” I’m so grateful to Governor Zulum for wiping away my tears with this food support. But I would appreciate more support from the governor and other well meaning citizens  for the education on my children.  ”  Cecelia  who currently lives in a rented accommodation on the outskirts of Maiduguri , the state capital said .

Governor Zulum had revealed during one of the many food distribution in  the state that  ” We have never distinguish between Christians and Muslims in our food distribution.  What we’re doing is not partisan either , it’s not based on ethnicity or religion ; we advised the community to select one hundred thousand most valuable and bottom poor and this will go a long way in ameliorating the suffering of the masses ” 

While warehouses were being looted acros the country during  the # EndSARS protests,  residents of Borno  state were full of gratitude to Governor Zulum for always coming to their aid with his unprecedented distribution of food ,  cash and clothing to assist the less privileged.  

Following the release of N2 Billion intervention by the President Bola Tinubu  led Federal governmen to cushion the effect of fuel subsidy  removal Prof.  Zulum had announced raising the number of households being targeted for palliatives from 300,000 to 400,000 households. 

Each household according to the Governor,  will be made up of six family members and  multiplied by 400,000 which, by implication, moves Zulum’s new target to two million and four hundred thousand  individuals. 

“Governor Zulum has continued to stand in the gap for many of the less privileged people in Borno state ”  Umar Ali, one of those that recently benefited from the food support scheme established by the governor.

Zulum: A Beacon Of Hope To Borno’s Less Privileged People

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Nigerian Air Force Neutralises Terrorists in Successful Air Interdiction at Maisani

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Nigerian Air Force Neutralises Terrorists in Successful Air Interdiction at Maisani

By: Zagazola Makama

The Nigerian Air Component of Operation Hadin Kai have executed a coordinated strike on a major terrorist enclave located at Maisani in the Timbuktu Triangle general area of Borno State, killing several ISWAP terrorists.

Intelligence sources told Zagazola Makama that the air interdiction mission conducted on May 4, 2025, at approximately 1800 hours, was informed by credible intelligence and sustained surveillance, targeted terrorists’ structures cleverly concealed and camouflaged under thick shrubs in the area.

The sources said that using advanced platforms, the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) conducted a focused Air Interdiction (AI) mission, resulting in the destruction of the identified enemy hideouts and the neutralisation of an unconfirmed number of insurgent fighters.

According to the sources, Post-strike Battle Damage Assessment (BDA) obtained from our Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) platforms confirmed that the airstrike achieved its intended objectives, dealing a significant blow to terrorists.

Nigerian Air Force Neutralises Terrorists in Successful Air Interdiction at Maisani

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Nigeria Looks to World Bank to Tackle Challenges of National Capital Accounting

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Nigeria Looks to World Bank to Tackle Challenges of National Capital Accounting

By: Michael Mike

As the world marks the 2025 Environment Day, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has appealed to the World Bank for support on capacity building, data and in addressing the challenges poised by Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) in the country.

Head of Department, National Accounts Energy and Environment at the NBS, Dr. Baba Madu made the appeal at the 2025 Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) Conference on Thursday in Abuja with support from the World Bank in. collaboration with the NBS and the Federal Ministry of Environment.

Madu while noting that the NCA was a new area Nigeria must exploit to further boost the nation’s economy, said for Nigeria to grow and be at par with other developed nations, there was need to account for her natural resources.

He said: “NCA has been tasked with the crucial role of integrating natural capital into economic measurement. It is impossible to measure the economy accurately without accounting for natural resources. Issues such as environmental degradation, afforestation, desertification, and climate change all directly impact productivity.

“Productivity in turn, influences output—one of the core components of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). These environmental factors must be reflected across all economic activity sectors to present a more accurate picture of national output.”

While stating that Nigeria currently has data on NCA in Nigeria, the NBS official however raised concerns over the huge data gap from relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in the environment sector.

He said: “We are not doing badly but we need to improve on what we are doing. In terms of data sources, I can tell you there’s a big gap because these are new areas needed to be exploited.”

Programme Leader on Sustainable Development at the World Bank, Vina Vutukuru, said there was need to jointly
explore the vital role of national accounting in national development plans and to brainstorm on how Nigeria could institutionalize it.

He said: “Establishing the national capital accounting as part of the national account system will allow us to measure the economic value of ecosystem services such as clean air, water and biodiversity which are essential for our well-being and economic prosperity.”

Vutukuru commended Nigeria for having “very bold ambitions” as far as responding to climate change was concerned saying, “That shows the commitment of the policy makers here towards the issue of climate.

“But I think to back up that aspiration and the aggressive goals that Nigeria has set for itself, the foundational thing for those goals to materialize those objectives to come true is a very strong natural account system.”

Head of Media, National Council on Climate Change Secretariat (NCCCS), Chioma Azie who represented her Director General, Dr. Nkiruka Maduekwe at the event, described Nigeria as a very ambitious country, stressing that natural resources was instrumental to achieving all the objective of climate action.

She said: “Technology, policy reforms, behavioral changes has a role to play but natural resources is very key because they’re underpinning the mitigation and adaptation for climate action.

“If you look at Nigeria’s NDC, the NCA is an avenue to provide raw materials that we could use to develop mitigation and adaptation strategies.

“If you look at what we have done in terms of this NDC in 2020.which is the second leg of the NDC, we identified a lot of mitigation activities within this mentioned sectors of ours. In agricultural sector we talked about smart agriculture. What is smart agriculture without natural resources?

“We talked about biomass, what is biomass without natural resources? We also spoke about land use changes and that is natural resources, we talk about natural solutions and we talked about also afforestation, reafforestation. Those are mitigation potentials of our NDC. So, we cannot achieve our NDC without SEEA.

“What you cannot be able to account for is recorded as if it is not done so if we know what is existing in terms of the reservoirs we have for natural resources, it can inform the scope of the mitigation activities we’re going to be imputing in the NDC 3.0,” she said.

Nigeria Looks to World Bank to Tackle Challenges of National Capital Accounting

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NIMC Insists All Its Verification Services, Functional, Accessible

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NIMC Insists All Its Verification Services, Functional, Accessible
.. Says Police Service Commission Not Denied Access

By: Michael Mike

The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has said all its verification service platforms are functional and accessible to all partners including all security agencies.

The Commission, in a statement on Thursday by its spokesman, Dr. Kayode Adegoke said it is aware of the purported ”inability of the Police Service Commission (PSC) to access the NIMC verification server,” insisting that the “information is not only misleading but also inaccurate.”

Adegoke said: “To set the record straight, the NIMC granted verification access to all Nigerian Police formations for the verification of the National Identification Number (NIN). The NPF, PSC and other security agencies have been enjoying uninterrupted verification services for over five years.

“NIMC has provided top-notch verification services for recruitment into the Nigeria Police Force, as conducted by the PSC and at no time have there been any complaints or issues regarding NIN Verification by the NPF or PSC.”

Adegoke, in the statement, claimed that: “The Commission has a robust and harmonious working relationship with the Nigerian Police Force and the Police Service Commission. The Information Communications and Technology (ICT) department of the Nigeria Police Force is actively managing the long-standing verification and integration service between the NIMC and all Nigeria Police formations. NIMC will continue to provide flawless verification services for the purpose of recruitment, security mapping, cybercrime control, and any other security matters.”

He explained that: “The framework by which NIMC provides services to the security agencies was recently restructured for standardization and effective implementation, following consultation with the Office of the National Security Adviser, and NPF has confirmed the verification services have continued to be available. We therefore believe that any service interruption experienced by PSC may be due to internal matters.”

He promised that: “NIMC is committed to providing excellent verification services to the PSC, NPF and all its partners but the terms and conditions inherent must be adhered to for uninterrupted flow of service.”

NIMC Insists All Its Verification Services, Functional, Accessible

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