By Dauda R PamMaiduguri
President Muhammadu Buhari has called on elected political leaders to emulate the sterling leadership qualities of Prof. Babagana Umara Zulum, for his selfless service to the people, as opposed to buck-passing and game blame syndrome.
He made the call on Thursday, during a one day state visit and security assessment of Operation Hadin Kai theatre command headquarters in MAIDUGURI, where he took time-off, to commission seven out of the 556 capital projects executed by the Borno state Governor, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum’s two years in office.
Hear him, “I am highly impressed by the very dynamic leadership that, Governor Babagana Umaru Zulum, has been providing in Borno State in the last two years.
He is very selfless and has been taking a lot of personal risks in order to guarantee the safety and welfare of his people.
I wish that every other person who has responsibility for the people at various levels will emulate Governor Zulum, instead of squandering so much time on unhelpful buck-passing and blame games. I have gone round to commission some of the capital projects executed by the Zulum Administration in two years. I am very happy with what I saw”.
At the Muna Vocational Training Institute, the President described it as, “a very dynamic answer to skills acquisition and job creation efforts” which has the potentials to drastically reduce youth unemployment in the state.
The institute, it was gathered, was designed to train about 1,500 persons annually, it has 14 workshops for Automobile and Mechatronics, Electrical Installation, Solar Installation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration, Leather Works, Barbing and Cosmetology, Plumbing and Pipe Fitting, GSM Repairs, Welding and Fabrication, Maisonry and Building, Carpentry and Joinery; Tie and Die, ICT, as well as Tailoring and Fashion design.
It also has, six hostels of about 200 rooms, a kitchen and common room, as well as an Auditorium, administrative building, and sporting facilities.
The President commissioned the Borno State University, which was completed by the Zulum administration including the senate building, two large hostels with 150 rooms for 1,200 students,34 units of duplexes and bungalows for Professors, senior and intermediate staff.
Other projects included, seven kilometers of road and drainage network, landscaping works across the University, just as, the major infrastructural works were earlier done by the Kashim Shettima’s administration, the founder of the state university.
Also commissioned, were two mega-size Government Day Technical Secondary Schools in Njimtilo and Goni Kachallari and a higher Islamic School, near the Shehu’s palace, all of which have 60 air-conditioned classrooms for at least 2,400 students; vocational workshops, laboratories for sciences and ICT, auditoriums and sporting facilities.
It will be recalled that, Zulum, has built 16 of such schools across Borno State within the two years in office..
Others commissioned were Abbaganaram Maternal Healthcare Centre, which has 50-bed spaces, theatres, diagnostic equipment, blood banks and laboratories and another replicated in Gwange.
Roads and drainages were not left out, as the President also commissioned roads and drainages constructed in Jiddari Polo and first phase of 10,000 resettlement houses he had approved for Borno State from which 4,000 have been completed.
In another development, President Buhari has directed the Federal Ministry of Health to work with Borno Government in identifying areas through which the FG can support on-going construction of Borno State University Teaching Hospital through intervention, equipment and manpower.
The support, according to him, is to compliment the state government which, in two years, executed 58 capital projects on health, which included establishment of 74 primary healthcare centres, new doctors quarters, and the overhaul of eight hospitals.
Also delivered were, 10 capital projects on security; 13 capital projects on Agriculture; 15 capital projects on commerce and industry and 28 capital projects on Jobs creation, Youths Empowerment and Humanitarian support.
As well as 53 capital projects executed on Reconstruction Rehabilitation and Resettlement which involved more than 6,000 resettlement houses for IDPs and Refugees in 15 towns.
On capital projects,59 delivered on water and environment; 63 capital projects on governance, and another 63 capital projects on roads, transport, rural and urban development, with education having the highest number of 194 capital projects including rehabilitation, completion and fresh construction of Mega-size government technical colleges and primary schools in different communities.
