OF GOVERNANCE AND THE ZULUMFICATION OF GOVERNANCE IN BORNO: RANDOM MUSSINGS ON GOV. ZULUM’S 3RD YEAR 2ND STANZA

OF GOVERNANCE AND THE ZULUMFICATION OF GOVERNANCE IN BORNO: RANDOM MUSSINGS ON GOV. ZULUM’S 3RD YEAR 2ND STANZA

By: Inuwa Bwala. inuwabwala3@gmail.com

By the time I put down my pen, the media space would have been awash with narratives about the achievements of Mr President and governors, as a mark of celeberation of their third year in office.

I will not bother chronicling what will be told of their achievements, rather I want to look into the curious magic wand that made my own governor to stand differently tall.

One will not find the definition of title coinage for this piece in any conventional English lexicon, but no Nigerian will claim ignorance of what it signifies in our present governance discourse.

Many words have today been personified after certain people, who popularize an idiosyncritic mannerism.

And so, in Borno’s 15-year war against insurgency, Governor Babagana Umara Zulum seem to have chosen an unconventional playbook: governance style, reminisceint of an emergency doctor, not a distant administrator, which led to above coinage.
Three idiosyncrasies define his second term in particular, and the gains are showing on the ground to the effect that, these idiosyncracies gave rise to the coinage: Zulumfication.

Zulum’s trademark has been his unannounced visits; 2am checks on General Hospitals, surprise trips to IDP camps in Monguno, Baga, Damboa and others. Sudden stops on bad roads in Gwoza and unsheduled night overs in dangerous localities, as his routine.

He inspects projects with torchlight and asks hard questions: sometimes sacking absentee staff on the spot.

And the gains have added speed and discipline to government Contracts and civil servants.

They promptly deliver, knowing Zulum could appear any day any time.
This obviously explains how, 238 projects got completed in year one of his second term and 1,195 projects in five years. That urgency earned Governor Babagana Umara Zulum the Nigeria Union of Journalist’s Good Governance Award on Education in 2023.

And while Borno spent about N100bn on security in 2025, Zulum kept prioritizing people, with N727m going to 28,801 tertiary students. N1.5bn covered nursing students’ fees, besides the cash support reacheming 343,293 women.

His logic, has been that, “Education is the real antidote for insurgency. The payoff is human recovery.

Records indicate that, over 1,000 teachers were recruited, 150+ schools rebuilt, and the 104 Mega School Initiative launched. And so, when President Tinubu commissioned three mega schools in Maiduguri in 2026, he called them “tangible evidence of effective governance.” Kids who once hawked on Maiduguri streets are back in class because opportunity replaced despair.

Again, Zulum is known to have zero tolerance for waste. He has queried commissioners live on TV, sacked ghost workers, and confronted contractors who abandoned sites. It nay be uncomfortable in politics, but it works. Borno scored 89.7/100 on the 2025 Governance Accountability & Transparency Index, up from 86.3 in 2024, ranking among Nigeria’s top 10. Ministries now expect scrutiny, and leakages have shrunk.

Zulum blends this with reconstruction plus reconciliation. While 20,000+ resettlement homes house over 1 million returned IDPs, his “Borno Model” has convinced 200,000+ fighters and families to surrender and got reintegrated. Markets in Bama, Dikwa and Gwoza are reopening. Roads are being rebuilt, though insecurity still stalls some projects in southern Borno.

He remains low-profiled but with very high-output, avoiding political noise and letting the work speak. The Muslim News Nigeria honored him with its 2025 Transformational Leadership Award for “courage, accountability, compassion.”

Perfection is not claimed. Pockets of violence persist, and security costs strain finances, but Zulum’s style proves a point
In a crisis situation, presence builds trust, empathy rebuilds people, and accountability restores institutions. Borno is moving from “state of emergency” to “state of reconstruction” — one unannounced visit produces uncommon results.

Thiese in my opinion are amingst the exceptional things governir Babagana Umara has done, which have given rise to his national acclaim as an outstanding performer.

OF GOVERNANCE AND THE ZULUMFICATION OF GOVERNANCE IN BORNO: RANDOM MUSSINGS ON GOV. ZULUM’S 3RD YEAR 2ND STANZA