The Zulums in Our National Polity.

By Joseph Orjime

His Excellency Prof Babagana Umara Zulum is the executive governor of Borno State, North East, Nigeria. Born in Mafa town,in Mafa Local Government Area of the state some 52 years ago, Zulum’s foray into the murky waters of of politics began when, in 2015, he was appointed the Commissioner for Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement in the state by the then incumbent governor Kashim Shettima, a position he held till 2018.

His brilliant performance in office as commissioner has been widely adjudged to be what motivated Shettima to “anoint” him among 21 aspirants who contested the governorship primaries in 2018. Experience reveals that Prof Zulum has, not only the enthusiasm for service to the people of Borno State, but also the guts to take tough decisions when it comes to churning out his policy prescriptions. As a University professor, Zulum is seen to have the tact as well as
possess the intellectual capacity to demonstrate competence in governance.

In the past three years in office, the professor of Agricultural Engineering has proven beyond any reasonable doubt that indeed,there are no poor states but poor managers of resources. Within this said period too, he has demonstrated evidence that even with myriads of security challenges, massive infrastructural development is possible. With the execution of over 400 capital projects within a short while, the governor has exceeded all expectations.

While most of his contemporaries have embarked on white elephant projects, and in most cases, for parochial gains, Zulum has chosen to construct world class primary schools for the children of the poor. While others are blaming their gross ineffeciency or abysmal performance on insecurity in their states, and accusing their predecessors for allegedly leaving empty treasuries behind, Zulum is linking rural areas to the city centres with good roads and bridges for ease of transportation, building standard medical facilities for improved health care, constructing ultra-modern skills acquisition and vocation training centres to curb the menace of unemployment, and other capital projects too numerous to mention.

Prof Zulum remains the only governor in the history of this country who has survived four assassination attempts in one year. Confronted with the overwhelming humanitarian crisis resulting from the twin evil of Boko Haram insurgency and Islamic State of West African Province (ISWAP) in the state, his care for the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) is second to none. This is evidenced by his constant supply of relief materials to cushion the suffering, and his frequent visits to identify with the displaced who are forced to live under dehumanizing and unpleasant conditions. It is in the course of his visits to the affected areas and the displaced that he has been exposed to several assassination attempts.
It would surprise you however, that the more the assailants strike, the more the professor remains undaunted,delivering people oriented projects.

Within few years in office in a state most plagued by a terrorism of global scale, initially grossly misconstrued for religious crisis, the detribalised governor has adequately discountenanced the insinuation of any crisis of whatever proportion given a religious colouration. To him, there can actually be no religious crisis even in a pluralistic society like Nigeria, but political crisis dressed in religious garbs.

With Prof Babagana Umara Zulum on the saddle, Borno has recently joined the league of the fastest developing states in Nigeria.

There is a Zulum in all the 774 Local Government Areas in Nigeria. Most of them are living in obscurity. All we need is a Shettima that will discover them and bring them to limelight, putting national interest over and above parochialism.
As 2023 general election approaches,it is time to search for the Zulums in all our villages,towns and cities, and send them to the State Houses of Assembly, Government Houses, the National Assembly, and the Aso Rock Villa. If what we care for in Nigeria is good governance, we must beam our searchlights beyond religious, regional, ethnic and political affiliations, and seek the emergence of more Zulums in our national polity.

Joseph Orjime (Aondo Hemba) is an Abuja based journalist and public affairs analyst.

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