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Borno Health Sector coordination: How to build a contemporary risk communication sub sector against mounting emergencies

Published

2 years ago

February 29, 2024

Borno Health Sector coordination: How to build a contemporary risk communication sub sector against mounting emergencies.

By: Bodunrin Kayode

Sometimes the speed at which journalists poke their noses into important matters that concerns the truth when government authorities are involved is welcome. Especially when it involves sensitive sectors of the economy like health and the welfare of the people and it is obvious that the managers are inept or economical with some truths, it usually annoys such powers that be when reporters refuse to mind their businesses. Some senior public servants in government in Nigeria usually do not like being challenged when they do wrongs regardless of their professional learnings. They want to be the last to speak and it should be the final like we had during the likes of a former health minister, name withheld who always wanted to assert his weight in spite of his small stature on the union leaders who refused to be intimidated by him. Speaking after they have vomited their sometimes advertent mistakes in a meeting, is a taboo especially in the medical sector where life is involved directly. A pharmacist who tries to correct the mistakes of a medical doctor is frowned upon as insubordinate. A journalist contributing to make things work in the public health sector team by trying to rectify their excessive misuse of acronyms, makes some of them angry that someone is interfering in their business.They rather prefer the obvious disunity within the medical sector to linger instead of moving as team players as is the case in sanner climes.

But sadly the world does not work that way anymore. Some of those who express these worries hardly want to think outside the books especially when it comes to their turf even when the world has gone far in the realm of “risk communication” for instance in the public health sector. And most times big mistakes are made as a result of wrong communications from the so called experts from the world bodies charged with fixing health. And that has been the bane of the risk communication sector of the Borno Health sector partners coordination meeting before the advent of Dr Lawi Meshelia as incident manager. But thank God that for the first time in the last decade, 14 pillars have been created and professionals in the meeting are meant to think in one accord which is very important for the progress of the “emergency machinery” which Governor Babagana Zulum is interested in. We now have these pillars firmly rooted including the sensitive “surveillance” who are the epidemiological secret service who go around hunting down emergencies and ensuring that the house is fully briefed. The risk communication is also being straightened up to meet emerging emergencies as they come and collaborating with the surveillance and security which I had suggested should be made a pillar in one of our meetings and the head of the police hospital should be given that task. Whenever he is busy, he can always send a representative. There are many areas still marked as dangerous which the risk communication cannot penetrate because they will walk into the insurgents and be killed so they must be escorted by the security.

Before I proceed, we must keep in mind that “risk communication is the real time exchange of information, advice and opinions between experts or officials and people who face a hazard or threat to their survival, health, or economic or social well being.” Having said that, we should be mindful of the purposes and reasons for the risk communication pillar which is very vital in reaching out to the vulnerable people we are supposed to protect in the Borno insurgent war theatre. We cannot stop cholera from moving like a dangerous wizard from one council area to another if the risk communication is as brutally divided as it is now in the state and unprotected.
The WHO and UNICEF must work together as a team under the supervision of the state ministry of health and not the other way round. What we have is two world bodies flexing their muscles in different rooms, churning what they think is best for Borno but which is usually confusion. That is a wrong and it must be reversed as quickly as possible if the risk communication should be uplifted to where it should be. You cannot because you are spending donor funds treat people as if they are beneath you. It’s not right. Whatever meetings they want to hold in their respective agencies should never rubbish the risk communication pillar meeting which should have only one head from the state ministry of health who speaks for all of us during critically challenged periods of emergencies. The cliche of he who pays the piper dictates the tune can’t work in this instance because we are talking of our shared humanity with people dying for the wrong reasons. It’s a boring cliche that has killed this country and brought us to the sickening level we find ourselves now where humanity is thrown to the dogs. It is not permissible for Unicef and WHO to speak on behalf of the state in such meetings. They speak only when asked to contribute. What happens when that fellow is transferred? The head must be a ministry staff and both agencies must answer to him. That is the law and order which the present IM Dr Lawi brought in when he took charge.

Within the almost comatose health sector which existed in Borno from 2009 when the war started, health practitioners must be called to account to the people they claim to be dishing out dividends of democracy to even if it is on a humanitarian level which makes it free. And I believe it’s because of this accountability that the sector partners meeting was formed to evaluate and make progress.
It’s about ten years now into the rebuilding of the Borno emergency health sector and some of us who have been around since then can gladly say well done to all the managers who have passed through the system till date injecting their own expertise in one way or the other. The world bodies inclusive and the non governmental organizations.

Attracting more media practitioners into the risk communication

Colleagues, of a truth, the media practitioner is not out to witch hunt anyone but purely to ensure that every one accounts for his stewardship as leaders in the sector. A practitioner’s presence in the risk communication like myself or even Madam Pauline in the polio sub sector is to assist in disseminating the good news when there is need to do so. If Cholera has killed hundreds in the last ten years, we say so. Why? So that the people will take corrections from the way they have been living to what the health authorities have designed for them to stay alive. This is because no Commissioner of Health or trained doctor wants his patients to die out of ignorance. So they need the risk communication which is definitely tied to latest skills in contemporary media practice. And if you lack knowledge of the workings of the media even if you are from the world health organization (WHO) or United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) you will surely fail in most of your plannings as it concerns the people. Media related practice is needed in every profession that is involved in communication. From security to teaching to medicine. You cannot succeed in modern medicine without effective communication or even the media. And when I emphasize media, I am not talking about radio which is believed to be the widely used to hear from government by the northern illiterates in the country. The so called radio which is believed to reach at least 50% of the population is a luxurious instrument now in Borno because at least 40% of that 50 or 60% which could be reached if their surrounding transmitters have not been blown off by boko haram cannot afford to buy a mini radio of N1000. With the floating of the naira, this figure may even be an understatement in the market.
TV is ruled out for the most vulnerable who even if you give a free radio set to listen to cholera or covid jingles will rather sell same to buy his immediate needs. So how do we correct these lapses? Simple.
Ensure that over 60%of your communication is interpersonal by using megaphones and Outside broadcast vans to reach the vulnerables. It is the most reliable means for communication in Borno for now till the war ends.
And for the radio which the old fashioned people still hold on to, more practitioners should be attracted to health.
We should involve the media more proactively by creating of health desks in the media houses. Health desks cannot be just one person. I made this point during a round table at the NUJ in maiduguri recently and someone showed me a health correspondent in a radio station. The fellow obviously does not know the difference between an ideal health desk and just one correspondent. For maiduguri, just one correspondent covering emergencies and the entire health ministry is not right. In fact, that is a huge joke as long as insurgency persists. A minimum of three to five persons should form the fulcrum of a functioning health desk. A senior correspondent or line editor and a bevy of reporters ready to cover the primary, secondary and tertiary centres where things happen daily. One person is just a correspondent not a desk and is grossly inhibited. You do not parade just one person to handle emergencies and non emergencies it’s a sick joke that can fly anywhere without a war but not in Borno or Yobe because of our peculiarities and sometimes high mortality rates from infectious diseases. The creation of health desks in the near future will produce a massive army of professionals ready to handle the risk communication even in the entire BAY states. That is the ideal. And it is very much possible to handle if the Commissioner visits the general managers and advocates for their creation with support from them. Getting a sound professional as information officer in the parent ministry of health will also help because it is he who will be the go between after the courtesy calls which speaks more than a mere memo.

The voice of the journalist as the fourth estate of the realm is equally the voice of the people. So when they call for accountability within the news managers about the health sector for instance to appear before them in the Press Centre, they are simply saying account for your stewardship before the people. They do not mean to disrespect anyone who is a “big man” who may not want to appear before the gentlemen of the media as if they are before their Lordships in a court of law as it were.

Risk communication within the Borno health sector

Risk communication in Borno particularly can never succeed without the major imputes of journalists within or even outside the Health sector. This pillar equally needs the massive support of the translators in the programs department which may not necessarily be journalists but media practitioners in their own rights. We cannot go to northern Borno and be speaking English with resident internally displaced people (idps) for instance. Such messages must be knocked down into Kanuri not even hausa because these are people who do not understand the hausa language no matter how international you may think it is. These are some of the challenges that have characterized the health sector meetings. The Borno radio television can boast of translators in Shua Arab, Kanuri, kibaku, Bura, and margi languages any day we need them.
The world bodies will be harming the recipients of messages if they sit down in Abuja and draft messages for the risk communication sub sector only in English and Hausa and forgetting that there are about 15 dialects in Gwoza some of who barely understands the hausa language which was virtually forced on them by virtue of recolonization. That could be applicable in the north west of the country surely not north east and central. There are always willing hands in the media ready to help out to produce these sound bites if they make proper enquires. You do not go to Limankara in Gwoza and start speaking hausa if you want them to drop some daring wrong habits which invites killer diseases. You look for someone who understands their dialect and make him do the translation from hausa if you are one of the fixated professionals who assume wrongly that hausa is a general language in the north. It would sink better than hausa which is obviously general in the north west of the country. These are the solutions which would help us from watching people die from meningitis for instance when we could help keep them alive.

The Borno health sector is in a critical buildup situation in which some forms of basic communications must be handled by local people who studied, communication, journalism or even some form of social science or public relations. Risk communication is not something you can handle simply because you did general studies in medical school or in public health colleges. Far from it. Its something you must study to apply same so you save yourself from the pains and embarrassments being faced when it comes to the nitty gritty and you are watching people die from cholera, COVID-19 or diphtheria. That is why the intervention of the ministry of health into the various newsrooms by way of “lobby” for a health desk is very pertinent. No general manager will refuse sponsorship of reporters for refresher courses in the health sector as is applied in the more developed climes. Send them abroad for three months and by the time they come they will forget departments of politics or sports and follow health as if it was their initial calling. That is the only way we can attract more hands on deck to perfect further the myriads of mistakes being made by the risk communication pillar in the Borno health sector. I have tried severally to drag in my colleagues to join me in the sector meetings but they do not see the attraction to come in especially with the stereotypical mentality of some practitioners who do not in the speed of the social media. We have to create the attraction by following the tips I gave above. We are in an emergency and must carry a regimented mentality until all these pass us by.

Finally, now that we all know that a lot of damage has been done to our transmitters in the state rendering the capability of the old fashion radio to get to at least 50%of the population, the plan B option left to the sector is interpersonal communication as I stressed earlier and that is done by using vehicles to all the crannies of the state whenever there is an emergency to ensure that the people get to know what is going on. It’s is obvious that less than ten percent of this 50% of the affected population can afford phones. Let’s say we teach them how to tune to their radio in their phones, how many of them will be able to listen to jingles in their native dialects? When you have at least 70% of the population of the people as stark illiterates as alluded to by Governor Babagana Zulum, how then do you continue to reach out to them in English or hausa?
It is the duty of the risk communication people to size up the environment they want to penetrate and communicate in the language they will get maximum effect and not waste the scarce resources on radio stations that package programs purely for the elites. English language should be made a secondary language of communication in Borno until the war ends and emergencies subside.
Lastly, there are many areas that vehicles may not access in the local councils of Borno State. The director of health in the councils can be drafted into any of the pillars he is wired to handle. As they hold their sub sectoral meetings at council level, he should be able to produce his own army of translators who will be on standby to enter any corner where strange diseases are coming up to kill people. And they should be able to feed Mallam Modu and his team or directly to the EOC manager Dr Simon for onward transmission if they can’t get their pillar heads directly. By my assessment, risk communication volunteers in the entire council areas should not be less than 54 while that of the state should not be less than 20 very fluent in diverse languages and dialects of the people. That is the ideal. The
Commissioner of Health should be able to liaise with his colleague in transport ministry to ease the stress on the resident communicator in each council areas. By resident I mean each council area should have one personnel trained for the job because all the resident media houses in Borno cannot be able to supply enough personnel for the job even if they are just 20. The risk communication people should be given bikes and megaphones to get to those places and shout if need be to change the narrative of any wicked emergency. That is the drill my dear colleagues for excellence at these harsh emergency periods .

Borno Health Sector coordination: How to build a contemporary risk communication sub sector against mounting emergencies

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What Borno’s Servant-In-Chief, Zulum, Served Southern Borno Last Week

Published

13 hours ago

January 14, 2026

Ochuwa Ibrahim

What Borno’s Servant-In-Chief, Zulum, Served Southern Borno Last Week

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 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 Abba 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 are 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 said each of the three schools comprises three blocks of nine classrooms and is 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 is, as is the case with all its sister Islamic Colleges, to integrate the traditional Sangaya system of education into the formal sector. It is to also to serve as a platform to counter negative ideologies and provide authentic Islamic teachings.

“As part of our campaign promise 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 Mohammed Ramat, the NOHA’s Medical Director, who conducted the governor round at 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 immediate 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 Servan-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 Biyu, 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 grassroots development and fostering self-reliance in the post-insurgency recovery phase.

To tackle youth restiveness and promote social stability, Zulum ordered 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 full equipped and staffed,”.

He acknowledged that the visit to southern Borno is one 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 Bornoans, 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/Spokesperson

What Borno’s Servant-In-Chief, Zulum, Served Southern Borno Last Week

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NAF neutralized 10 ISWAP in devastating strikes in Timbuktu Triangle

Published

13 hours ago

January 14, 2026

Ochuwa Ibrahim

NAF neutralized 10 ISWAP in devastating strikes in Timbuktu Triangle

By; Zagazola Makama

The Air Component of Operation Hadin Kai (OPHK), leveraging real-time intelligence and persistent aerial surveillance, has neutralised dozens of Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorists during coordinated air interdiction missions across parts of Borno and Yobe states, including the Timbuktu Triangle.

Zagazola Makama reliably gathered that on Jan. 13, reliable intelligence from Army unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) confirmed the movement and concentration of ISWAP elements along the Ambia Tasha, Ambia Sheruri, Ambia Turo and Shangamaru axis in Yobe.

Based on the intelligence picture, precision air strikes were authorised and executed against identified terrorist assets, including motorcycles. Initial battle damage assessment indicates significant losses. More than 10 were neutralized.

“We observed about 10 terrorists with motorcycles and bicycles gathered under a large, thick tree, with the likelihood of more concealed within the canopy. We were tasked to engage, and the strike was executed precisely. Post-strike observation indicated overwhelming neutralisation, with only one individual seen fleeing the impact area,” the sources said.

The sources reaffirmed the commitment of the Air Component of OPHK to sustained pressure on terrorist networks. “These operations demonstrate our resolve to deny terrorists freedom of movement, degrade their logistics, and protect communities.

Air surveillance and precision engagement will continue in close coordination with ground forces until remaining threats are neutralised,” the sources said.

NAF neutralized 10 ISWAP in devastating strikes in Timbuktu Triangle

News

VP Shettima To Public Servants: Remain Selfless To Sustain Enduring Legacies In Service

Published

1 day ago

January 13, 2026

Ochuwa Ibrahim

VP Shettima To Public Servants: Remain Selfless To Sustain Enduring Legacies In Service

Extols Hadiza Usman’s contributions to public service, nation building at 50th birthday colloquium

By: Our Reporter

The Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima, has charged public servants in Nigeria to imbibe the virtues of selflessness and excellence, marked by a commitment to daily discipline, consistency of effort and strength of character.

According to him, enduring legacies in public service are the ones sustained by a consistent dedication to excellence, resilience and hard work regardless of the challenges of building enduring institutions.

Senator Shettima spoke in Abuja on Tuesday during a colloquium organised to commemorate the 50th birthday of Hajiya Hadiza Bala Usman, Special Adviser to the President on Policy and Coordination and Head, Central Delivery Coordination Unit.

“If we are to raise more generations of Nigerians ready to lead with purpose, to deliver with excellence, and to serve with courage, we must remember this truth: intention without the willingness to pay the price of service remains wishful thinking,” he stated.

Eulogizing the celebrant’s distinguished and unique public service career, the Vice President described Hadiza Bala Usman as a mirror not only for the northern Nigerian girl, but for the nation itself.

He said, “There is no doubt that Usman’s place in our public service history is secure. This is so because it was not built on spectacle, nor did it rely on applause. What she has become was a product of decisions taken quietly, responsibilities carried fully, and institutions strengthened with care.”

VP Shettima said Hadiza Bala Usman earned her influence in Nigeria’s public service, continually shaping the country’s national direction through “a rare combination of gifts: grace, strengthened by grit; clarity, guided by courage, vision and excellence.”

He continued: “What has not been noted enough about our celebrant is that she is emerging from a part of our country where many young women still search for proof that ambition such as hers is permitted.

“Indeed, her journey required courage, and that is why she has become that proof. Its trials were visible. Its demands were exacting. Its rewards were earned. Nigeria watched her grow into responsibility early, stepping into critical policy spaces when many are still finding their voice.”

Maintaining that Usman’s achievements were never accidental, Senator Shettima noted that the celebrant’s rise in public service was deliberate, earned and sustained by a faithful commitment to the difficult work of building a functional nation.

“May your example continue to guide those who still believe that service, when done well, can ennoble a nation,” the VP added.

Earlier, Secretary to Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, said Usman’s life remains a shining example of discipline.

He urged the celebrant to remain steadfast in advancing the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu, expressing optimism that her years ahead will be marked by continuous, impactful service to Nigeria.

For his part, Chief of Staff to the President, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, explained that the gathering was aimed at honouring a life defined by purpose, courage, and an unwavering commitment to service and value addition to the Tinubu administration.

Gbajabiamila noted that when Usman transitioned fully into government at the state and national levels, she introduced structure to governance and clarity in priorities.

He recalled how the presidential aide eventually enforced reforms in one of Nigeria’s most strategic and complex agencies, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), thereby raising the standard of leadership and service within the agency.

Also, the Minister for Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande, recognised Usman’s service and commitment to public institutions in Nigeria, particularly the Ministry of Youth Development.

He noted that her relevance in public service has resulted in her supportive roles in many initiatives aimed at benefiting youths across the country.

The Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Zubaida Umar Abubakar, described Usman as a friend of over three decades.

According to her, the celebrant exemplifies an overwhelming commitment to principles, matched with quiet clarity and conviction, both in private and public life.

Speaking on “Leadership Delivery and the Courage to Serve,” the keynote speaker at the colloquium, a former Director General of the Bureau of Public Service Reforms, Dr Joe Abah, said serving Nigeria at a senior level is a privilege only a few would attain, entailing that those who occupy such roles must positively impact the lives of the citizenry.

Highlighting a number of leadership lessons practically expressed through Usman’s life, he said, “Your work no longer speaks for you,” adding that one must now speak for their work due to the emergence of fake news and critics.

He noted that leading people remains difficult, and that leaders may not see the impact of their actions in government until they leave office.

On her part, the celebrant, Hadiza, said she was humbled by the personalities who graced the colloquium, just as she thanked President Tinubu, Vice President Shettima, and others for contributing to her political career and personal life.

She recalled her roles in election planning since 2015 and at the NPA, and used the opportunity to recommit herself to the Renewed Hope Agenda for the betterment of Nigeria.

VP Shettima To Public Servants: Remain Selfless To Sustain Enduring Legacies In Service