Columns
Mai Mala Buni: The Unsung Hero

Mai Mala Buni: The Unsung Hero
By: Ibrahim Jirgi
The universal definition of unsung hero is a person who has achieved great things or committed acts of bravery or self-sacrifice, yet is not celebrated or recognized. An unsung hero may be someone who acts bravely in battle without notice, or someone who sacrifices himself for the good of the group, without recognition.Situating the Governor of Yobe State, Mai Mala Buni in this context, one sees a simple young man leading aa state through and out of a decade of devastating conflict into flourish.Largely unsung, Mai Mala Buni has recorded giant strikes in every developmental sector in the state he governs, though noiselessly.
Buni’s numerous achievements in Yobe that can be seen and felt remained however largely unsung until President Muhammadu’s recent visit to commission some of them. The President himself was elated as he was taken round the projects undertaken by Governor Buni across the state.President Buhari was so excited by the level of development he saw in Yobe that he could not help commending and recommending the Buni model at his next port of, Katsina State, the same week.They included the Damaturu ultra-modern market, Maternal and Child Health Complex at the Yobe State Teaching Hospital, the 2600 Housing Estate in Potiskum and the Damaturu Mega School at new Bra-Bra.
Others were the ultra-modern State Command Headquarters, the Police Tertiary Hospital and access roads, and Police Secondary School.These are just a few of the physical projects executed by Governor Buni that Buhari was able to commission in the short time available for his visit. Physical infrastructure aside, Buni has recorded gigantic achievements in the area of human development involving educational uplifting, training, empowerment of youth and women and skills acquisition.
Just recently for instance, Governor Buni approved the employment of 2,670 Degree, Diploma and NCE holders to provide graduates with job opportunities, and to fill existing gaps required for efficient service delivery in the state.The breakdown of the beneficiaries include 890 University Degree graduates, 890 Higher National Diploma and National Diploma holders, and 890 National Certificate of Education graduates.
The beneficiaries were drawn across the 178 political wards of the 17 local government councils.Thus the Buni government has provided all parts of the state with equal opportunity and sense of belonging and ownership of governance.Three years after he was sworn in as governor, Buni has been untiringly creating, restructuring, and reshaping the education sector of the state, and his projects have taken Yobe to another great level of excellent achievements from the basic to the higher levels.
In this regard, Buni has introduced various educational plans, scholarship programs, rehabilitation of school buildings, teachers’ welfare, and other standard implementations.He came up with a plan to build modern schools around the state. He began with the projects of model primary schools in the areas of Buni Yadi, Damaturu, Geidam, and Potiskum local governments. The schools were built with modern academic standards.
Each school has 48 well-furnished classrooms, 12 staff rooms, and several computers for E-learning and other facilities as a means of revamping the educational status of Yobe State.Buni has also focused on school feeding programs by disbursing billions of naira to support students’ meals, this serves the aim of encouraging children to be punctual and concentrate more on their studies.
On top of that, it also serves as an element to draw the attention of those out-of-school children to get enrolled in school. The school feeding program has helped thousands of pupils fight malnutrition and drastically reduced the number of out-of-school children in the state, if not eliminated.Similarly, the Governor has carefully looked at the welfare of teachers by ensuring stable payment of their salaries and promoting them based on their dedication.
Most of the teachers from the public schools have shared positive reviews on the receipt of adequate welfare, which encourages them to teach the pupils diligently. The Governor’s performance on promotion is another key role in revamping education in Yobe because every staff member faces equal treatment.Buni went ahead with school renovation, from basic to higher institutions.
READ ALSO: https://newsng.ng/bosg-to-partner-apwen-for-empowerment-infrastructural-development/
The projects which commenced across all the local government areas of Yobe State have led to reforms in the outlook of the most dreaded buildings, learning facilities, accommodation, and other academic amenities needed to carry out educational programs.Basic education has benefited from the rebuilding and transformation of school projects and from looking after the well-being of teachers.
Most of the schools with old buildings and excessive need for facilities benefited from the rebuilding projects all over the state. The teaching materials were also provided with enough space in buildings to accommodate thousands of students, for the essence of outgrowing education status in Yobe State.
The idea of reforming schools by the Buni administration is to change the system of education in Yobe and to bring about a new development policy of drawing back the minds of young children and their parents to get them enrolled in schools with a good standard of teaching and learning for a better future.
At the higher levels, Buni, has displayed an unbeatable performance in various institutions of the state. He provides new departmental buildings at Yobe State University, construction of laboratory rooms, lecture rooms, and roads in Shehu Sule College of Nursing and Midwifery, Damaturu, and similar projects in higher education fields.
Furthermore, there was a scholarship provided by the governor for 233 indigenous students of Yobe State to Glocal University in India, and hence to other countries such as Russia, England, and others. The scholarship program is to promote the system of education in Yobe State and acquire professional courses for helping people.Also, Buni has ordered the massive employment of 2,670 teachers with a Diploma in NCE, and Degree certificates with the number of unemployed graduates drastically reduced across the state.
In the field of politics, Buni as National Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) of the All Progressives Congress, has without doubt succeeded in reviving, energizing and repositioning the party for victory in future elections.Under Buni, the fortunes of the party has been brightened by the re-organisation and reconciliation of members across the party, so that adding with the work done by the Buni committee, the party has bounced back to life.He was able to achieve this feat in the face of multiple crisis that engulfed the party leading to litigations and presenting a picture of selfishness and division.
***Jirgi, a journalist and Managing Director, Triple Cee Media, writes from Abuja.
Mai Mala Buni: The Unsung Hero
Columns
Simon Bako Lalong: Where Are The 400 Deutz Fahr Tractors? (1)

Simon Bako Lalong: Where Are The 400 Deutz Fahr Tractors? (1)
By: Balami Lazarus
As young schoolboys in Zaria, we were privileged to spend our time interacting with our peers within and around the academic environment of Ahmadu Bello University (A.B.U.) main campus at Samaru. This period gave my peers and me a wide range of exposure to various facilities, faculties, departments, schools, colleges, and units of the university. Being boys full of life, adventures, and events, we were not bored with their academic programs but more interested in their social and practical activities.
Institute of Agricultural Research (I.A.R.), Division of Agricultural Colleges (D.A.C.), and the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and other related units are where we were more attracted to because of their implements/tools and equipment. The tractors and their components, like harrows, ploughshares, and harvesters, have awakened the aspirations of some of us to be agricultural experts, farmers, and university dons in agricultural sciences, and others as researchers.
Agricultural tractors have been one of the most important machines in the cultivation of commercial and mechanized farmland, providing food/cash crops and agro-allied raw materials for industries and factories, hence the economic development of Nigeria.
Therefore, tractors like Massey Ferguson, John Deere, Ford, Fiat, and Styre were common sights for us.
When I decided to do some investigations on the whereabouts, or to say disappearances, of the 400 Deutz Fahr tractors belonging to the state government and the people of Plateau State. It was really not easy for me because individuals who were in the stream of affairs, past and present, are not willing to speak on this matter. And I began to suspect there was connivance/conspiracy in the disappearances of these tractors by some collective individuals.
Questions are being asked over and over by the citizens of Plateau State about the 400 Duetz Fahr model tractors made in Germany, which were procured by the state government during the administration of former Governor Simon Bako Lalong (2015-2023), whose tenure was nothing to write home about except for his poor performance in governance. Unlike the beginning of the good governance of the present administration of Governor Caleb Manasseh Mutfwang.
In the course of my investigations and findings, I was told that the one and only person who had asked questions severally and was still speaking on the matter was one Ehis Akugnonu of JFM 101.9 FM. Jos (aka Osama), whom I met on this matter, our discussions lacked adjectives to qualify the disappearance of the 400 Deutz Fahr tractors on the Plateau, a state blessed with fertile land for farming and production of food and cash crops in all seasons.
Agricultural programs have always been the priority of the government, both state and federal. Institutions of learning—universities, institutes, and other research centers—are not left out of the scheme of agricultural activities. Individual and organized private sectors are also playing significant roles in the development of the nation’s agricultural economy, adding value to the agricultural food chain.
Former Governor Simon Bako Lalong of Plateau State procured the 400 Deutz Fahr tractors to boost agriculture to enable farmers to cultivate more farmland through the utilization of these tractors. Surprisingly, they were never distributed to farmers in the 17 local government areas. Sources within Government House Little Rayfield Jos told this writer that “there was a clandestine arrangement that played out in the disappearance of the 400 Duetz Fahr’. In simple arithmetic, if and only if these tractors were distributed to the 17 local government areas, each would have gotten 23, leaving 9 tractors for other purposes, but the disappearance has dampened the spirit of the state farmers. “No single individual is happy about this matter.”. We will continue to ask questions until these tractors are brought back to us’. Said a concerned citizen.
Recently, the Executive Governor of the State, Barr. Caleb Manasseh Mutfwang, in his good governance programs, procured 200 new tractors of the Massey Ferguson model that were immediately, without delay, distributed to organized farmers’ groups across the 17 local government areas. This gave hope, wiping away tears on the faces of small and medium-scale farmers on the Plateau.
In tidying up this write-up, I was informed that the disappearance of the 400 Deutz Fahr tractors paved
way that saw the carting away in a thievery manner and the gleaning of government house items at Little Rayfield Jos. While fingers are pointing to Senator Simon Bako Lalong on the whereabouts of the 400 Deutz Fahr tractors worth hundreds of millions of naira, which could have changed the agricultural landscape of Plateau State.
Balami, a Publisher/Columnist
08036779290
Simon Bako Lalong: Where Are The 400 Deutz Fahr Tractors? (1)
Columns
Simon Bako Lalong: Where Are The 400 Deutz Fahr Tractors? (1)

Simon Bako Lalong: Where Are The 400 Deutz Fahr Tractors? (1)
By: Balami Lazarus
As young schoolboys in Zaria, we were privileged to spend our time interacting with our peers within and around the academic environment of Ahmadu Bello University (A.B.U.) main campus at Samaru. This period gave my peers and me a wide range of exposure to various facilities, faculties, departments, schools, colleges, and units of the university. Being boys full of life, adventures, and events, we were not bored with their academic programs but more interested in their social and practical activities.
As young schoolboys in Zaria, we were privileged to spend our time interacting with our peers within and around the academic environment of Ahmadu Bello University (A.B.U.) main campus at Samaru. This period gave my peers and me a wide range of exposure to various facilities, faculties, departments, schools, colleges, and units of the university. Being boys full of life, adventures, and events, we were not bored with their academic programs but more interested in their social and practical activities.
Institute of Agricultural Research (I.A.R.), Division of Agricultural Colleges (D.A.C.), and the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and other related units are where we were more attracted to because of their implements/tools and equipment. The tractors and their components, like harrows, ploughshares, and harvesters, have awakened the aspirations of some of us to be agricultural experts, farmers, and university dons in agricultural sciences, and others as researchers.
Agricultural tractors have been one of the most important machines in the cultivation of commercial and mechanized farmland, providing food/cash crops and agro-allied raw materials for industries and factories, hence the economic development of Nigeria.
Therefore, tractors like Massey Ferguson, John Deere, Ford, Fiat, and Styre were common sights for us.
When I decided to do some investigations on the whereabouts, or to say disappearances, of the 400 Deutz Fahr tractors belonging to the state government and the people of Plateau State. It was really not easy for me because individuals who were in the stream of affairs, past and present, are not willing to speak on this matter. And I began to suspect there was connivance/conspiracy in the disappearances of these tractors by some collective individuals.
Questions are being asked over and over by the citizens of Plateau State about the 400 Duetz Fahr model tractors made in Germany, which were procured by the state government during the administration of former Governor Simon Bako Lalong (2015-2023), whose tenure was nothing to write home about except for his poor performance in governance. Unlike the beginning of the good governance of the present administration of Governor Caleb Manasseh Mutfwang.
In the course of my investigations and findings, I was told that the one and only person who had asked questions severally and was still speaking on the matter was one Ehis Akugnonu of JFM 101.9 FM. Jos (aka Osama), whom I met on this matter, our discussions lacked adjectives to qualify the disappearance of the 400 Deutz Fahr tractors on the Plateau, a state blessed with fertile land for farming and productionof food and cash crops in all seasons.
Agricultural programs have always been the priority of the government, both state and federal. Institutions of learning—universities, institutes, and other research centers—are not left out of the scheme of agricultural activities. Individual and organized private sectors are also playing significant roles in the development of the nation’s agricultural economy, adding value to the agricultural food chain.
Former Governor Simon Bako Lalong of Plateau State procured the 400 Deutz Fahr tractors to boost agriculture to enable farmers to cultivate more farmland through the utilization of these tractors. Surprisingly, they were never distributed to farmers in the 17 local government areas. Sources within Government House Little Rayfield Jos told this writer that “there was a clandestine arrangement that played out in the disappearance of the 400 Duetz Fahr’. In simple arithmetic, if and only if these tractors were distributed to the 17 local government areas, each would have gotten 23, leaving 9 tractors for other purposes, but the disappearance has dampened the spirit of the state farmers. “No single individual is happy about this matter.”. We will continue to ask questions until these tractors are brought back to us’. Said a concerned citizen.
Recently, the Executive Governor of the State, Barr. Caleb Manasseh Mutfwang, in his good governance programs, procured 200 new tractors of the Massey Ferguson model that were immediately, without delay, distributed to organized farmers’ groups across the 17 local government areas. This gave hope, wiping away tears on the faces of small and medium-scale farmers on the Plateau.
In tidying up this write-up, I was informed that the disappearance of the 400 Deutz Fahr tractors paved
way that saw the carting away in a thievery manner and the gleaning of government house items at Little Rayfield Jos. While fingers are pointing to Senator Simon Bako Lalong on the whereabouts of the 400 Deutz Fahr tractors worth hundreds of millions of naira, which could have changed the agricultural landscape of Plateau State.
Balami, a Publisher/Columnist
08036779290
Simon Bako Lalong: Where Are The 400 Deutz Fahr Tractors? (1)
Columns
My Binoculars: A tribute to a former Controller of customs Borno state Joshua Angbalaga

My Binoculars: A tribute to a former Controller of customs Borno state Joshua Angbalaga
By: Sam Kayode
Indeed Angbalaga was a reporter’s delight. Firm yet welcoming. His demise is a sudden blow to some of us who have basked in his warmth and detribalized nature. He was of a different make from the generality of uniformed personnel some of us are used to, sharp witty with a strong ability to interface from one generation to another. He was a trained sociologist from the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria where he graduated in 1984. Taught for sometime at the FCT which gave him the unique ability to understand his generation and all the ones after his.
His training as a customs official since 1988 had taken him to many States including the commercial capital of Nigeria Lagos and many other cities. Controller Joshua Angbalaga was easy going and kept an open door for most of us journalists who came into contact with him through exclusive interviews. He was open minded and was ready to tolerate most of our young colleagues who sometimes displayed slight intolerance for uniforms at news conferences because of the insurgents lurking around.
In Controller Joshua Angbalaga buried today in lafia nasarawa state, I have a personal loss of a man who was an exemplary news maker. He was a public figure who had immense knowledge about the weaknesses and strengths of the gentlemen of the pen. He was a good representative of his controller General. He understood the body languages of most of our intolerant younger colleagues and gave his subordinates in the office then a standing directive that any time any of us comes to see him, we must not be kept waiting unnecessarily if he is free. He was far different from previous controllers who had come and treated reporters like condemned criminals who should never be allowed to come close to the controllers office upstairs.
Some of them in sister agencies especially the ones in the immigration service gave standing orders that journalists should be turned away from the gate as if we were insurgents. This was because some of them were never financially transparent as we learnt from their boys so we understood why they were so vehement at stopping journalists from conducting their constitutional activities. A lot of Angbalaga’s paramilitary colleagues marveled at his dexterity with the gentlemen of the fourth estate.
Our paths met in April 2017 when he reported to Maiduguri as controller and Borno/Yobe area Commander of the Nigerian customs. That was three years after I reported in Maiduguri as correspondent of the nation newspaper.
From then on we continued to work together with him and his entire management team in making expected progresses within the war theatre.
We had several news conferences with him especially on how he had been able to make tremendous progress in turning things around in spite of the insurgency which was at its peak by then. Angbalaga was a rare news maker in uniform because of his belief that none of his officers were too rotten to resist reforms. They were all in sync with his policies to make the state better than he met it. When it was time to go, he left maiduguri on transfer to Abuja where he later retired in 2020. He was involved in stopping a lot of contrabands including hard drugs which is the main fuel keeping insurgents at alert.
On retirement, we kept our communication intact and friendly. Oga Angbalaga was a very studious officer who had already prepared himself for leadership roles by completing his master in public administration in 2000. Feeling a bit bored and not tired in retirement, he went back to school for his PhD program in University of Abuja. He told me recently that he was close to finishing his course work and was kicking to go to the next challenge as God directs. We bantered on the phone while I wondered if he was going back to teaching but he laughed and asked for Gods will to be done. We had a one hour call last year with an invitation to me to visit him during the last yuletide 2024. So with a promise that I would be in lafia to see him for the yuletide, we rounded the call. But due to certain conditions not under my control, that was the last time we would talk as friends. I missed the trip due to I’ll health. Controller Angbalaga is no more as the Lord wills. He has answered the solemn call of nature which sends all mortals back to their creator regardless of age, status, character, race or creed. Death has shown that it’s a leveler of all mankind and my friend oga Angbalaga as I used to call him lived a forthright life before bowing to immortality. May the Lord console his friends at Mount St Gabriel Makurdi, St John Bosco Doma, the entire family of the Nigerian customs service, immediate family and the entire eggon nation where the Lord used him to touch several souls before his passage.
Have a nice sleep oga Angbalaga. From Biodun as you used to call me.
My Binoculars: A tribute to a former Controller of customs Borno state Joshua Angbalaga
-
News1 year ago
Roger Federer’s Shock as DNA Results Reveal Myla and Charlene Are Not His Biological Children
-
Opinions3 years ago
THE PLIGHT OF FARIDA
-
News1 year ago
EYN: Rev. Billi, Distortion of History, and The Living Tamarind Tree
-
Opinions3 years ago
POLICE CHARGE ROOMS, A MINTING PRESS
-
Columns1 year ago
Army University Biu: There is certain interest, but certainly not from Borno.
-
ACADEMICS1 year ago
A History of Biu” (2015) and The Lingering Bura-Pabir Question (1)
-
Opinions1 year ago
Tinubu,Shettima: The epidemic of economic, insecurity in Nigeria
-
Politics7 months ago
Kashim Shettima: Of Sentiments, Their Opinions, and the 21 billion Naira VP’s Official Resident