Feature
Opinion: Of competence and Olaiya’s inclusion in Tinubu’s cabinet

Opinion: Of competence and Olaiya’s inclusion in Tinubu’s cabinet
By: Kemi Daniels
Professor Abideen Olaitan Olaiya is a member of the APC Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) that secured the victory of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as President -elect of Nigeria. His political trajectory dated back to the mid 90s. He contested for the position of APC National Secretary in 2022, he was the running mate to Late Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala in the 2019 gubernatorial race in Oyo state.
He hails from Oke Oluokun, Ibadan and bagged his Ph.D in Agronomy from the University of Ibadan in 2006.
His political experience dated back to 1995/96 when he contested for Chairman of Ibadan South East Local Government through the Zero party platform and subsequently under GDM and PDP. He contested for the Oluyole Federal seat in 2007 under Labour party with Former Governor Rashidi Ladoja as the leader.
He joined ACN in 2010 under the leadership of Chief Lam Adesina to produce Late Chief Abiola Ajimobi as Governor of Oyo State. Professor Olaiya together with Otunba Alao-Akala rejoined the APC in a political merger in 2019 to support the party in Oyo State. He has since contributed to the development of the party in all ramifications.
Olaiya, 56, lectures at the Department of Plant Physiology and Crop Production, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta.
Tinubu’s Government of National Competence and the overwhelming choice for Ministries Lead
A few days after the ‘almighty’ 2023 Presidential election was won and lost, some individuals called Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to form a government of National Unity to persuade the aggrieved and chart a call for unity in the country. This statement caused a swift flashback to the fearless statement of MKO Abiola where he promised the then Abacha’s Military Junta to form a Government of National Unity in an effort to reclaim his mandate of June 12, 1993. Were the circumstances similar in 2023? Of course, NOT. Did we need a Government of National unity? Yes, but we need to even step more further. And here the concept of competence sets in.
A Government of National Competence; first or second agenda?
No doubt, one of Asiwaju’s unique selling points is his talent for hunting talent. No one in the history of Nigeria’s political success has achieved better than him in regard to building a strong team and mentoring them to become leaders. To date, his Commissioners back in his governorship years is super relevant after 20 years. So, one’s attention was drawn to a statement credited to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu that he would form a government of national competence, this is a welcome development as against the proposed government of national unity.
An author once said “The secret behind the success of Dubai is in its leadership. Dubai Ruler, Sheikh Mohammed knows what he wants, and it is impossible for these projects to happen without his consent and personal supervision. It is obvious that he is giving men and women in Dubai full powers, but, at the same time, he holds them accountable for the outcome and the promises they make.” On this premise, it is certain that the first task for Asiwaju is not forming a government of National competence, rather, it is to have a clear understanding of what he wants for Nigeria. Thereafter, getting the team to deliver comes next.
Renewed Hope: Action Plan for a Better Nigeria
In answering the question of what Tinubu wants for Nigeria, let us take a quick look at what Tinubu’s plan entails as contained in his manifesto for Nigeria entitled Renewed Hope . The 80-page action plan is fully loaded with beautiful thoughts. It’s an action plan that needs a serious-minded team to execute. In some cases, these plans had their goals and intended solutions. Of all the plans, the flawless plan’s vision for Agriculture in Nigeria is superb. It’s actually fascinating, to say the least. The promise to bring back the commodity board which had been abandoned for so long, the creation of grain reserves and food storage, rural infrastructural development, irrigation, access to finance, farm cooperative among others are well thought out.
That’s just on agriculture, he still have unambiguous plans on national security, economy, power, oil & gas, education, and health care among other very important sectors.
The cabinet formation and list of competence
It is an open secret that the race for appointment in the Tinubu’s government has begun. The struggle is in two categories, presidency and ministerial. Under the presidency, we have the following as offices to be filled – Chief of Staff, CoS, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Special Advisers, SAs, and Senior Special Assistants, SSAs.
The name of the likes of Nasir El-Rufai, Abdullahi Ganduje, Femi Gbajabiamila, Babatunde Fashola, James Faleke, Wale Edun, Dimeji Bankole, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Bayo Onanuga and several others are all over the media space.
Flowing from names being touted in the media, it is expected that the bulk of people that will work in the presidency and in the cabinet are Tinubu’s core loyalists and competent members of the party.
For ministerial lobbying, this area comes with many complexities, scheming, and state political peculiarity. Notwithstanding all these, Asiwaju must look deep for productive personalities and not replicate a retirement benefit for former governors or political big-wigs.
Oyo State and her long list of ministerial aspirants
Oyo state stands out amongst others being a pacesetter with regards to Ministerial nomination permutations. It is going to be another form of battle royale reminiscent of internal intense party primaries. The scheming, no doubt, is similar in many other states as well.
The mere fact that Teslim Folarin of APC was unable to unseat the incumbent Seyi Makinde of PDP during the March 18 governorship election in Oyo state had made the ministerial contest even more competitive among the gladiators. Folarin has a national political war chest within the APC, and many had speculated that he may be compensated for losing the Guber race by a ministerial nomination. But this reminded me how Sunday Dare was appointed minister and Adebayo
Adelabu of APC who lost to Makinde of PDP in the 2019 governorship election was not compensated. Sunday Dare, the current Minister of Sports got the slot instead as an Asiwaju’s boy, and so he can’t be written off too in the new dispensation. The likes of Sen. Soji Akanbi, Prof. Adeolu Akande, Adebayo Shittu, KK Raji, Prof. Abideen Olaiya, Engr.Rauf Olaniyan, èrstwhile Deputy Governor to Seyi Makinde and many others are names on the radar.
Of all the names being bandied around, Prof. Abideen Olaiya stands out going by his credential in politics and profession as a good catch for Asiwaju’s passionate drive for Agricultural revival and food stability. Olaiya has the pedigree to do the magic in the agriculture ministry especially at this critical time when Asiwaju needs extraordinary performers and technocrats. More importantly, the Ministry of Agriculture had been managed by all kinds of non-agricultural experts since 1999. Aside Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, who had his degrees in Agricultural economics, no other minister till date can be said to have background in core agricultural discipline.
Ministries of Finance, Power, Education, Petroleum, Health, Foreign Affairs, Labour, and Employment are also ministries that deserve expert and committed individuals.
Olaiya preference stemmed from the fact that he is a loyal member of the party that have severally sacrifices his ambition for party success. He stepped down for APC governorship candidate in 2019 in Oyo state without any compensation . He was also asked to step down for national secretary at the last APC convention with the promised of refund not yet fulfilled till date by the party.
Olaiya was a strong supporter of Asiwaju presidential project, belonging to several support groups and PCC.
He is sincere and dedicated advocate of good governance with an NGO, Political Awareness Group (PAG) formed to his credit.
He is a competent professional in the field of agriculture, education, value reorientation and Youth development.
Olaiya is not just an ordinary Academic farmer but has personal farms scattered around Oyo, Ogun, Osun and Ondo States as well as supplying farm products and practical trainings/consultancy services to the farming communities.
Prof Olaiya was also involved in the establishment and management of private educational institutions from basic to tertiary levels, contributing immensely to attainment of millennium development goals in educational sector.
For competence in all ramifications and well suited personality for any presidential and cabinet position, Olaiya towers above his peers especially from Oyo state with intimidating credentials and academic excellence that fits in into Asiwaju’s Renewed Hope agenda for Nigeria.
Kemi Daniels , a public analyst, writes from Ibadan.
kemidaniels@yahoo.com
Feature
REMEMBERING MY ONE YEAR STAY IN YOBE State

REMEMBERING MY ONE YEAR STAY IN YOBE State
By Afolabi Gbajumo
Reminiscently, I was one of the first batches of Graduate Youth Corpers posted by NYSC in 1992 (33years ago)to the then newly-created Yobe State after the FGN carved it out from Borno State. We had our rigorous Camp Training consisting of graduates from various tertiary institutions in Nigeria and overseas at the Institute of Management Studies,Potiskum, headquarters of Fika Emirates.
One funny scenario was as if NYSC inadvertently desirous to fine-tune or re-charge my mentoring tutelage on human rights’ advocacy/struggles allied to my boss the Great Gani Fawehinmi, SAM, SAN (of Blessed Memory) whom we earlier in 1988 honoured revolutionarily with Senior Advocate of the Masses (SAM) under our OAU Students’ Union at the then University of ife. (the Great Ife)
We equally started fighting for his release from the dreaded Gashua Prison the preceding few years in 1989 while I was in school. Surprisingly, NYSC posted me to the same Gashua where he was incarcerated which really gingered my spirit.
Incidentally, while some of our camp colleagues were pressing frivolous buttons of “man-know-man,” at the top echelon of NYSC for reposting from that very..very.. far-North back to the South, I deliberately in principle, refused that corrupt practice by preferring to spend my youth service year in Yobe state.
This was because I believed in conscientious sacrifice giving rise to true developmental interest of our dear Nigeria and Africa as a whole. Hence, without any objection or influencing anything,I, and another Great Ife colleague Bunmi Adamolekun moved to where we were posted for our primary duties and we were to serve as Lecturers at the College of Education, Gashua (COEGA),Yobe State (now Federal University).
Indeed, the terrain over there in the North-East Nigeria was quite arid with a lot of sand making it look almost like a desert. But the good news then was that there was no boko haram terrorists plying the Savanna.
Observably, however,I saw the build-up to that gangsterism from the body language of a huge number of under-aged innocent children thrown to the streets as beggars devoid of any parental or societal care in what they tagged “almajiri” (literally meaning the wandering disciples in quest of Islamic knowledge) wandering around the streets. I painstakingly initiated efforts to assist in reducing that menace by introducing an enlightening forum aimed at solving the issue of almajiri through a compulsory course named Citizenship Education I lectured in that COEGA.
There was a slight resistance from one of my students Usman a little older than others in the over100 of them students in that NCE 1 class who even boasted that he was 25-year-old and his male children were already almajiris in another place.But I was able to convincingly neutralize that slight resistance with my knowledge of the Qur’an and Islam which he was parochially referring to as source of that wandering syndrome.
But I enlightened him and others by bringing out my own Qur’an in Arabic as a practicing Muslim and told him to show me and the entire class where Allah (SWT) want him to surfer his male under-aged children of 5 to 9 years-old to travel far away to fend for themselves in a strange environment from where him the father/parent was residing.That almajiri syndrome was and is still the trend in virtually all parts of where I traversed in the north e.g.Katsina, Sokoto,Zamfara, Niger, Kaduna, Kano,
Jigawa, Yobe and Borno States. I was in Gashua (Bade LGA Hqtrs., Damaturu( Yobe Capital), Potiskum, Nguru, Jajere, Dapchi,etc., and Maiduguri the Borno State Capital including UNIMAID and traces of these kids roaming about for food was all over the place.
Funnily,as a youth Corp member 33 years ago,each of us received stipend allowances of #350 monthly in the midst of rising costs of living under the SAP economic policy of the barbaric regime of Gen.Babangida (rtd.) that ‘sapped’ the country since then.
Myself and other Corp members had to orchestrate legitimate protest agitating for increment to #1,000 before the jackboot regime had to jack-up our ‘allowance’ from N350 to N700 only.
Meanwhile, because the so-called “leaders” in government enjoyed diverting resources that ought to be used in helping those innocent kids educationally, socially and faithfully to be better in life from that tender age while they sent their own male and female children with those diverted commonwealths to better schools and trainings at developed cities at home and abroad.
What emanated from that experience rallied with my foresighted prediction while in Yobe based on those intimidating facts on the ground about those abandoned kids 33 years ago.There and then I said a time will come when those abandoned kids will be used by evil-minded elements to foment future calamities which later occurred unbearably since 2009 (16 years ago) till date when the so-called boko haram ( meaning western education is forbidden and condemning formal education) sprang-up their terrorisms like hell fireworks in that Borno then it spread to Yobe and then Adamawa States. Other variants and fall-outs of such violent-killers-crime today are banditry, abduction for ransom,cultism,rape, etc.
Final solution is simply that the so-called ‘leaders’ in the North, and across Nigeria, should stop diverting money and resources meant to sustainably educate,grow, develop, employ and productively engage the younger ones and others so as to finally abolish the present and future disasters of having a huge population of criminally enthrenched citizens and ‘leaders’ mis-governing the resourcefully-destined assets of Nigeria so that everyone will be pleasant to live in peace and not pieces that we have to-date.
REMEMBERING MY ONE YEAR STAY IN YOBE State
Feature
My Binoculars

My Binoculars
A feature on the reflection on 2024: Bitter Lessons from the flood in greater Maiduguri which terminated over 150 lives
By: Bodunrin Kayode
The recent flood which swept almost 200 lives off the face of the earth in Maiduguri has become a landmark of destruction which no resident in his right senses would wish for a reoccurrence. The Borno state capital Maiduguri is the home of extreme temperatures but surely that flood was not meant to cool down the city. It was a raging flow of Alau dam water which locked and killed many in their homes because it came at a very odd hour of the night when residents were asleep. Imagine waking up in your sleep by a surge of cold water touching the edge of your bed. Peeping through the window to see that both your locked doors and windows have been inundated by water waiting to take you out of this world. That was what happened to a fifteen year old boy name withheld and myriad of other vulnerable residents of greater Maiduguri.
Indeed many State capitals in the country have witnessed such deluges but not all due to unnatural factors as was in the case of the collapse of the Alau Dam which has become an albatross on the shoulders of Governor Babagana Zulum the Chief security officer of the state. I actually sympathized with Prof Zulum within my inner man when this damnation befell the city centre of Maiduguri. This is
because the man’s battle with the bloody 15 year old insurgency is far from over. And then came this tragedy with the flood raging into the low level areas of the city centre living sorry, tears and sudden death for those who could not swim out of their homes by that wee hour of the night of September 10th 2024. Most residents in parts of Konduga, Fori, Gwange, customs market and fly over, bayan quarters, Moro Moro, Aabaganaran, Shehu’s Palace area, Post office and Monday market, the State specialist hospital, zoo area, state secretariat, 505 Housing estate and many wards too numerous to explain were surrounded and killed while crying for distant help which never came. The flood suffocated the life out of some residents who took solace on their roof tops yet became submerged with their roofs caving after hours of waiting for help. Everyone was terrified about the speed which which the flood took over habitations of residents who could not escape. Those who took chances to swim could not behold the beauty of the first light of the following day. Even those who could swim lost control because the entire submerged city centre became an appendage of Lake Chad with roof tops doting about like the Tumbus islands over 300km away before that fateful 10th September 2024.
Bitter lessons and questions coming out of the raging flood water
Gentlemen, partners, there are so many lessons to learn from the recent flood which burst the sims of Alau dam and enveloped the city centre of Maiduguri. The obvious carelessness displayed by federal water engineers responsible to keep the Alau Dam stable and their inability to acknowledge that it would soon burst out of its sims was a major lesson to learn not to allow to be repeated. That the city of Maiduguri has been inundated by water once in which about 37 souls perished was also supposed to have been on the minds of the engineers as a lesson to have stuck into their brains. The very fact that the city had been laid waste before by similar angry floods was equally supposed to have propelled the resident engineers to have dived in to save the dam before the beginning of the rains but they failed. Rather they lied to the secretary to the state government Tijani Bukar who visited to ascertain the stability of the Dam and caused the government to drop its guard that all was well. That was the mother of all lessons which must never be forgotten.
The federal owners of the Dam knew that there was a threat underneath but instead of acting accordingly they left it to the mercy of the heavy rains to plunder the city of Maiduguri from almost 25 km away sending over 150 souls to the great beyond. That wicked flood incident of 2024 can never be forgotten by those who lost loved ones and properties which was dear to their existence in this world. The questions to ask ourselves after the devastation are many and it should bother both the federal managers and the state government. As a matter of fact, so many questions have been left unanswered after that damnation of 2024.
Primary among them was, did the Dam managers learn any big lesson from the 2024 flood? Were they negligent in allowing the Dam to burst its sims? Was it possible to save the Dam before its collapse? Who were the federal staff on ground that should have saved the situation? Was there any state staff involved in this dangerous dereliction of duty? Would there be repercussions for this mass murder of people due to the carelessness of some professionals? Is there any guarantee that maiduguri will not be flooded again from this same Dam? Can the residents be given an alternative source of drinking water other than what comes from Alau Dam? So many questions to bother the government and partners. And the whole world is waiting to see how many heads will roll while trying to answer these burning questions.
It is sad to note because the city of Maiduguri had been flooded in 1994 when heavy rains caused the banks of the Dam to burst emptying it’s contents into the same Maiduguri. 400,000 people were displaced then but over a million residents were displaced this time around. Many people climbed up trees to escape then but trust me there were no trees to climb this time because it caught them in their homes at the wee hours of the night. A few who sat on their strong roof tops were seen by military boats released by the 7div of the Nigerian army which had arrived by first light looking for who to save quickly.
The entire city centre including the Maiduguri specialist hospital was submerged under water. Driving in from baga road, I had to stop afyer the construction of the western area fly over of the town because the post office looked like a sea of some sorts. This was because everything below two metres were submerged leaving only rooftops for people to see. And sadly because Maiduguri is founded along the Ngadda river which usually disappears along the Firki swamps surrounding lake Chad, it took several days for the water to go down and for residents to return to their residences. The bursting of the man made Alau dam had destabilized the natural order of the surrounding swamps so everyone had to be on stand still till the extra water receded into the lake Chad sources for residential sanity to prevail. The Muna garage axis housing 505 housing estate was the last to receded making return to the place very difficult. The flooding brought in myriads of confusion as most agencies of government couldn’t realize the reality of the challenge associated with the flood until SEMA started dropping the mortality figures. Some even competed among themselves like petty human beings who introduce competition into every thing they do. Imagine one week after the health emergency sector started briefing reporters, that was when the information ministry started work at the complex of the ministry of RRR. It was wrongly called a situational room with just one commissioner present. All other stake holders were clearly absent.
Painful as it was, it took almost a week for the organized health sector to be reorientated from emergencies from insurgency and be activated into flood actions by the Commissioner of health Prof.. Baba Mallam Gana. Well for a health sector that was battling with monkey pox, diphtheria and several other challenges unearthed daily from the surveillance pillar, flood was the least challenge expected on their mind. There were much more important challenges which had to be fixed as quickly as possible. Nobody thought the challenges of the flood would advance to such a massive level as to cause so much damage as it did.
Mistakes made before the declaration of Cholera
While Professor Usman Tar was briefing newsmen intermittently at the RRR complex, the health commissioner was doing his at the emergency centre on damboa road with a much larger crowd of stake holders and collaborators in the business of saving lives. That itself was confusion because the newsmen interested in the details behind the news were confused. Expectedly, many mistakes were made managing the very flood by ministries, departments and parastatals which were supposed to work as a team. The information management of such disasters are done as team. Not the way it was done with the ministry of information holding a separate news conference and the health counterpart doing theirs separately. In organized climes, this kind of disasters are usually handled as a team. What was expected was that the health ministry should have worked with SEMA, ministry of health and any other ministry which had some clearance to make in a situation room which would disseminate the right kind of information to residents and the outside world.
When cholera was declared the Commissioners of health, information and State emergency management Agency (SEMA) should have been on the same table briefing news men while statistics of the mortality rates which was toyed with as if it doesn’t matter would have received maximum attention. There was nothing shameful about giving the exact number of people that died in the disaster because nobody expected less from a flood of that magnitude.
Again for emphasis, news conferences are not meant for everyone to attend. Journalists are never civil servants and do not understand how too play the eye service game like the bureaucratic class of people whose primary goals are to please their excellencies. We work for the common man who only we owe our allegiances to and not to the big men in authority. As a result, the next time the Commissioner is declaring another Cholera disaster as he did during the flood the hall should be populated by only the reporters invited and the commissioner and his permanent secretary. Health sector partners should not be taken out of their tight schedules to witness news conferences. It’s not their business to speak for government in such cases. It’s either the commissioner, his permanent secretary or incident manager and one or two other vital director who will assist the Professor with further details during the conference. What happened last year by the time Commissioner of health was briefing without the key partner for emergencies which is SEMA was a big wrong that should not be repeated in future briefings.
Again, you do not invite journalists to news conferences and expect them to stand. That is another big wrong that must bee avoided. Even photo journalists should be given the pleasure of sitting down before the real conference starts. Most of the journalists invited including top officers of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) were standing while unnecessary intruders were troubled out of their tight schedules to fill the spaces meant for journalists to sit down and do their jobs. If someone thinks what goes on in the government house is the ideal, then they are mistaken. That is not our standard at the NUJ nationwide. We just allow it sometimes because of the emergencies surrounding the city of Maiduguri. The next time another emergency wrecks havoc in the city of maiduguri or within the BAY states respectively, we expect to see the Commissioners of health, information, SEMA and any other important stake holder on the same page with facts and figure briefing newsmen under the same roof. You do not impress reporters with the entire crowd of sector members please. Just get the key stake holders and possibly pillar heads where necessary and we would be good to go. Finally never make the mistake of incorporating a news conference inside another program. It is not right and completely against the reason for calling a news conference which is aimed at generating news for the betterment of the people of the state.
Evaluation of the management of the flood by stakeholders
But by the time the flood arrived the city, the government people in the sector realized literally that there was too much fire on the mountain. Consequently, partners had to do something about saving the lives of the residents in the state capital before worrying about the opportunistic diseases like Cholera which actually come out of such situations from experience. Come to think of it all manner of diseases were sucked by the flood which went as far as desecrating the Gwange cemetery digging out corpses that were already buried in shallow graves and spreading same its trail.
However, on a whole, all hands were on deck to save the residents who were still alive. The military saw the extent of the damage and had to step in with boats to certain hard to reach areas to bring out survivors. Those who did not give up because of old age like octogenarians and sat down with rosary in hand meditating and waiting for the water to kill them in a titanic style. Many were rescued and many are still heart broken over the devastation after the water receded.
Finally, the flood left quite a trail of sorrow tears and blood along its routes as over 150 known souls perished as reported by SEMA. The unknown which includes almajiris who could not swim are not part of this statistics. Those who were pronounced dead by the health sector are not included. Those eaten up by wild animals from the zoo are also not part of this because they turned into faeces splashed in the water.
Those who died from shock in their hospital beds are also not included in this. The University of Maiduguri teaching Hospital (UMTH) and state specialist hospital communities will never forget the litany of woes that flood of September 2024 created for them.
My binocular cannot print out all the dark images I saw with my own eyes here but my prayer is that may this affliction never re occur in the land of Yerwa again.
My Binoculars
Feature
THE HISTORICITY OF MARAMA DAY AND THE SYMBOLISM OF CULTURE IN BURA LAND

THE HISTORICITY OF MARAMA DAY AND THE SYMBOLISM OF CULTURE IN BURA LAND
By: Inuwa Bwala
Every year, since 2004, Bura people all over Nigeria converge on Marama: the symbolic headquaters of Buraland, on the 1st of January, to mark Bura Culture Day, also known as Marama Day.
Bura Culture Day evolved from a local cultural festival innitiated by some elites from Marama, who saw the need to foster community togetherness and promote their cultures and traditions. The initial perception was that Bura culture generally has been facing threats of extinction, and there was the need to rescue and restore its dignity, starting from where it was believed to have originated.
It was also conceived as a rhendezvous for rewarding excellence amongst outstanding sons and daughters and promoting partnership with other cultures.
To us, we need to discourage idle activities, like using the Christmas, Easter, or Sallah holidays as a period for alcoholic misadventures and attendant vices, we could convert the periods for more positive enggagements.
And so, what started as a small group initiative, which was sponsored through contributions, has today crystallized into a global attractiveness.
Over the years, since it was first staged, Marama Day has remained a watershed and the symbolism of Bura people’s dedication to promoting and preserving their rich cultural heritage.
It is one event that has tended to serve as a rhendezvous for all Bura people, irrespective of town, religion, or political inclination.
And those who have been following trends of events annually can attest to the fact that, Bura Culture Day or Marama Day remains a pace setter and the richest celebration of the diverse traditions, customs, and values of tribes across Borno Adamawa and Gombe states; where Bura people can be found.
Initiated against the need to revivee a fast disappearing Culture, and to inculcate the spirit of togetherness and, showcase, and reflect on the significance of cultural activities in the lives of people, Bura Culture, is indeed a mark of pride for Bura people, at home and in diaspora.
Over the years, State Governors, ministers, Senators, traditional rulers, captains of industries and the creme de la creme of the country’s inteligesia have been brought together, to watch, and celeberate and to foster a sense of togetherness.
Marama Day has always provided a platform for different people to express themselves, showcase talents, and share stories.
Besides promoting cross-cultural understanding, tolerance, and appreciation: by the participation of other cultural groups from outsude Bura land, Bura Day is also regarded as the climax of activities to mark Christmas and New Year. Through this festival, people tend to learn from each other’s experiences, traditions, and values, and in doing so, it reshaped our outlook and helps people to break down barriers and build bridges of friendship across cultures, tribes, religion and state.
Bura Culture Day has a profound impact on the mental and emotional well-being of people, which explains why all roads led to Marama during this period. It provides an opportunity for our children born outside Buraland to trace their roots, learn to speak the language properly, and interact with the locals.
For those of us who had the privilege of witnessing all the editions, it provides an outlet for stress, anxiety, and other negative emotions and helps us to develop a sense of purpose and fulfillment.
With the belief that culture is a stimulant for economic development and social cohesion, Bura Day creates jobs and stimulates local economies, besides helping to preserve our cultural heritage for future generations.
The 2025 celebrations, was appropriately tagged”Celeberating A Heritage of Excellence”, and those who were previledged to witness it can attest to the fact that, it was indeed a remembrance of the importance of cultural activities in the lives of people.
The cultural displays, dances, rythms, artifacts and personalities left no one in doubt that, Bura Culture Day is indeed the flagship of other cultural activities and has promoted the preservation of the unique cultural heritage of the Bura people.
Borno State Governor, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum and his deputy, Dr Umar Usman Kadafur, as well as the Emir of Biu, the emir of Fika, Shani, as well as the Amna Shelleng and the traditional head of Lunguda people from Adamawa state have over the years strengthened our bond if friendship, which further lead to the the lure of Marama Day. Their presence have facilitated closer cultural linkages, culminating into inter marriages..
In their individual remarks, they emphasized the use of cultural activities as a tool for building stronger, more cohesive communities.
It is not out of place to also state that Bura people have always paid special tribute to these individuals, who have added color to Bura Culture Day celeberations.
Bura people have often honored individuals during the event, and it is on record, that Bura have always honored, Governors of Borno State, especially Professor Babagana Umara Zulum, the Deputy Governor, Dr Umar Usman Kadafur, who is coincidentally a son of Marama, distinguished senator, Mohammed Ali Ndume, and the honorable member representing Askira-Uba/Hawul Federal constituency, Midala Usman Balami and other political and opinion leaders.
Very often, we have tried to insulate Marama Day from political activities, but very often too, some political side events also happen. This is perhaps due to the presence of jey political figures, who use the occasion to market themselves.
Given that having such personalities in the locality at the same time is a rare privilege, Marama people never miss the opportunity to put forward some of their problems.
We utilize such opportunities to inform our guests that the sustainability of Bura Culture Day is contigent upon solutions to some of our problems. We did not allow this opportunity to skip this year, as we outlined some of them.
As I pause, I must state that, Bura Culture Day shall continue to celeberate, our diversity promote our culture: the heritage of excellence; and the years ahead beacons on those who have been reluctant to join, so that together we can make a huge difference.
THE HISTORICITY OF MARAMA DAY AND THE SYMBOLISM OF CULTURE IN BURA LAND
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