Reasons we awarded Zulum, by The Sun Board of Editors
Receiving the award, the Chief of Staff, Prof. Marte, explained that governor could not attend the event because of Borno’s peculiar challenges which required the governor’s constant high level engagements and movements over critical humanitarian needs in local government areas where many citizens had urgent needs for food and shelters.
According to him, Zulum moves all the time to identify and meet the needs in communities with challenges, and to inspire public confidence in ways that make it increasingly difficult for insurgents to recruit displaced persons who could have joined them out of hopelessness.
The Chief of Staff thanked The Sun and its publishers for honouring the governor with the award which Zulum dedicated to the resilience of the IDPs and refugees who are determined to pick up the pieces of their lives.
The Board of Editors of The Sun has explained the reasons it gave the Courage in Leadership Award to Borno State Governor Babagana Zulum.
The Board affirmed that the governor’s courage and leadership qualities had translated to excellence and glory.
It specifically testified that Zulum had brought courage to bear in his various assignments and had amplified it as a governor today in a state with a high degree of insecurity.
The Board stated: “For a man who does not see himself as a politician, his style and activities in government remain an inspiration. The daunting challenge of Boko Haram insurgency did not subdue his courage. Today, his imprints dot the entire landscape of the state.
“In his ‘10-Pact Transformation Agenda’, he undertook 375 projects, beefed up security across the length and breadth of the state with over 300 patrol vehicles, established a Security Trust Fund, instituted a rapid security response team, provided a special protection component for farmers tagged Agro-Rangers, procured security gadgets and motivated security men.
“Zulum, against all odds, has maintained regular visitations to high-risk security areas for citizens’ needs assessments, among others. Not dithered by security concerns, he also constructed 6,544 suburban and low cost houses for the resettlement of internally displaced persons and refugees. He established 21 new schools, 37 new primary healthcare centres and rehabilitated roads as well as the state’s first flyover in Maiduguri, the state capital.
“Also, council
secretariats, lodges, police stations, courts and palaces of resident traditional rulers were built in addition to 213 new boreholes, 18 electrification projects, eight agricultural projects, and seven vocational skills and entrepreneurship development. These people-oriented projects have restored hope to the traumatised people in the midst of adversity. They are like soothing balm to the morale and psyche of the people battered by insurgency.
“For his courage to dare, in the midst of Boko Haram insurgency, he is winner of The Sun Courage in Leadership Award.”