The National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) has applauded the Borno State Governor, Babagana Umara Zulum for not just restoring peace in the state but for the development stride he has achieved.
The Director-General of the NIPSS, Ayo Omotayo gave the commendation when he led a delegation from the Institute to the Government House in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.
“The governor is exemplary of what NIPSS can do, he is the only NIPSS member occupying a governorship seat today in Nigeria.”
“We are here on a mission for growth, to better our society, we are here on a mission to move Nigeria forward. We choose to be here in Borno for two reasons, Governor Zulum is one of us from NIPSS and secondly, Borno State is a peculiar state, is a state that has international borders with 3 different countries it’s a very unique state in Nigeria.
“We are also here to see how the state is recovering from the long fight against the insurgency, Borno State is a case study for us in terms of striving to rebuild the devastating effects of the insurgency.
“We all know if a place is under war a lot of destruction will affect the infrastructural development of the place.“
Governor Zulum expressed gratitude to the governing body of NIPSS
“One of the reasons you are here is to strengthen local governance in Nigeria, Challenges, options and explore opportunities, Borno will provide an opportunity for your team to learn more.
“The insurgency has created social degradation, infrastructural deficit, poverty in the North-East sub-region but we thank God Almighty for the relative peace we have now we also have to thank the Federal Government in conjunction with the Nigeria military, paramilitary our gallant civilian JTF who are all doing everything possible to ensure the lost glory of the state is regained.
“In strengthening the local governance at the local government level, corruption should be checkmate. Recently the Borno State government has verified the local government staff and found a huge number of ghost figures, ghost workers massive corruption at the grassroot level that translate to the state up to the federal level. Unless we address the issue of corruption Nigeria can move forward.
“Out of the 2 billion naira we pay for wages, we were able to save 400 million from the ghost figures in our payroll, which has been weighing down the effort of the government in providing social welfare to the citizens in the state. I wish you a successful assessment and to come up with better solutions and ideas to move the country forward.“
PIAK
