Babagana Umara Zulum is a Nigerian professor and politician who won the 2019 governorship in Borno state with 1,175,440 votes.
Biography
Babagana hails from the Mafa local government area of Borno State. He is of the Hausa tribe.
Zulum was born on the 25th of August, 1969, and is currently 52-year-old but in August 2022 would be 53 years old.
Education
For his education, he started at the Mafa elementary primary school in 1975-1980 and rounded up his secondary school at the government secondary school, Monguno in Borno State until 1985.
Despite the challenges of money to fund his schooling, he didn’t halt his education. Instead, he proceeded. He had earlier combined farming with his primary and secondary education.
“Every day, I trekked for seven kilometers to reach my father’s farm from our home,” he was quoted to have said.
He became a commercial driver of taxis, particularly Peugeot 404.
Zulum later went to Ramat Polytechnic, Maiduguri, where he obtained a National Diploma in Irrigation Engineering in 1998.
He later gained admission into the University of Maiduguri where he bagged a degree in agricultural engineering.
Babagana attended University of Ibadan for his master’s degree from 1977 to 1998. The academic didn’t stop. From 2005 to 2009, he went ahead for his PhD in Soil & Water engineering at the University of Maiduguri, Borno state.
The professor pay his tuition dues by becoming a taxi driver until he finished his master’s degree. Babagana did this for nothing less than 16 years; from 1984 to 1999.
Appointments and Political career
Babagana’s first appointment was in 1989 with Borno State Civil Service as an Assistant Technical Officer in the State’s Ministry of Agriculture.
In 1990, Babagana moved into Borno State Unified Local Government Service as Senior Field Overseer and later Principal Water Engineer.
In 2000, he took up an appointment with the University of Maiduguri as an assistant Lecturer where he rose to the rank of Professor. Babagana was Deputy Dean and Acting Dean, Faculty of Engineering in 2010 and 2011 respectively.
In 2011, Babagana Umara was appointed the Rector of Polytechnic. Meanwhile, he retained his teaching position in the University of Maiduguri. In 2015, he was made Commissioner of Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement by Governor Kashim Shetima of Borno State, a position he held till 2018.
Zulum’s journey to politics began when he became the Borno commissioner of reconstruction, rehabilitation, and resettlement in 2015.
He held this position till 2018 and come the following year, 2019, Zulum contested for the governorship of Borno State.
On the 9th of March, 2019, Babagana became the governor of Borno State. He’s still the governor of the state.
Accomplishments
In two years as Borno governor, he inaugurated 556 projects. Here’s a breakdown of the project;
- 194 capital projects for education,
- 63 projects on transport, road, plus rural and urban development.
- 58 capital projects on health.
- 59 capital projects on water & environment.
- 13 capital projects on agriculture
- 63 projects on governance.
- 28 capital projects on job creation, youth empowerment, and humanitarian support.
- 15 capital projects on commerce and industry.
- 10 capital projects on security.
- 53 capital projects on reconstruction, rehabilitation, and resettlement.
Wife and children
Zulum is married to Dr. Falmata Umara Zulum and blessed with bountiful children. As of 2022, Babagana boasts $ 3 million.
Assasination attempts
Zulum has been the target of several failed assassination attempts by the group Boko Haram.
His convoy was attacked by Boko Haram insurgents on July 29, 2020, on Maiduguri-Damaturu highway. Five people were killed including three policemen.
On 26 September 2020, Zulum and his convoy were again attacked by Boko Haram near Lake Chad. At least 18 people were reportedly killed, including 14 police officers and soldiers and 4 civilians. It was later discovered that the attack claimed about 30 lives as more bodies were found.
Three days later, on the 29th, Zulum’s convoy noticed a donkey on the road and shot at it. After the donkey exploded, insurgents came out of hiding and fired at them. A number of insurgents were killed, whereas no one in the convoy was injured.
On 22 November 2020, convoy belonging to Zulum was attacked while he was traveling to meet with government officials in Baga. Seven soldiers and two civilians were killed in this ambush, but the governor was unhurt.
Disclaimer
The information in this article was curated from online sources. All details cannot be independently verified by NewsWireNGR or its editorial team.
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