Zulum @57: Tribute to a Trailblazing Teacher

Zulum @57: Tribute to a Trailblazing Teacher

By: Inuwa Bwala

I have read a lot of tributes to Borno state Governor, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum on his 57th birthday anniversary.
In most, Nigerians celebrate many things about Professor Babagana Umara Zulum.

To many, his unique leadership style, to others, his developmental strides and yet to others his many ventures into danger zones, the rebuilding of schools, his sleepless nights on duty and many other things.
I want to celebrate something quieter, and maybe more rare: seeing him as the teacher that he is, using

Borno as a big lecture hall, in which he deploys his teaching technique.
I dare say that, Governor Zulum goes to schools unannounced, not for photo shots, but to check attendance, to ask pupils questions, to see if the teacher is teaching. That is a lecturer’s habit.
He commissions hospitals and ask about drug inventory and rosters. That is a supervisor’s habit.

He stands in the rain with displaced families, not to make a speech, but to take notes. That is a researcher’s habit.
Most politicians campaign on promises, but he he is not seeking any position and does not need to campaign. He does things out of passion for true development.

At 57, Zulum reminds me that leadership is not about sitting in the office of power. It’s about sitting on the floor with students, under a tree with farmers, and in the dust with people who have lost everything, and then going back to “prepare the next lesson plan” for Borno redemption.

People often say a leader must choose between the office and the field, the book and the gun, and between the seminar and the street. Governor Zulum seems to have broken that rule by chosing both. And ir is working for Borno.

For me, today, I do not just celebrate a governor turning 57, I celebrate a teacher who took his entire state as his assignment, and refused to submit it half-done.

As the only Governor in Nigeria, who foes not aspire for any other political office after this, he may be retiring into a future only God know about, but one must not fail to state, that, Governor Zulum’s strength lies, not in the paraphenilia of governance but in the dedication of a leader who work, teach to graduate Borno into peace, dignity, and pride.

Happy 57th Birthday, Proffessor Babagana Umara Zulum.

Zulum @57: Tribute to a Trailblazing Teacher