KASHIM SHETTIMA: BLIGHTED BY BOKO HARAM CRISIS, LIMITED GOVERNANCE

Kashim Shettima, an agricultural economist, former lecturer and banker, is perhaps the best brain to govern Borno State. He came into office six years ago looking prepared with a master plan for the state. But the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-east has been a pain in the neck for him as the terrorists have made development of his state near impossible. This has been compounded by the humanitarian crisis and over 2 million displaced persons that have put a major strain on the state’s finances.

With the insurgency now abating, Shettima is settling down to the work, focusing on reconstruction, rehabilitation and resettlement. Already, quite a bit has been achieved by his government, working in over 20 different sites. Many devastated communities have been rehabilitated to meet certain standards: schools, district heads, palaces, central mosques, primary healthcare centres, and water supply boreholes destroyed by the insurgents have been re-built.

Equally rebuilt are housing estates, police quarters, general hospitals and dispensaries, local government secretariats, police stations and barracks, and other public buildings that were destroyed by Boko Haram.

Still, Borno remains a shadow of its former self and is a long way off from where it should be. Shettima continues to be faced with periodic bombings and an asymmetrical warfare waged by remnants of the insurgents, rendering his state an unattractive investment destination for businesses that could pool desperately needed resources and create jobs for the masses.

The food and humanitarian crisis in the state is of major concern that has attracted global calls for serious interventions to cater to the over three million displaced persons in the state. The only way out for Borno, which has been at the epicenter of the insurgency, is massive aid from internal and external donors. But for this to happen, greater transparency in the way monies pouring in for the reconstruction of the state is utilised must be guaranteed.