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Babagana Zulum and the Moral Courage of Rebuilding Borno

Published

9 months ago

December 25, 2025

By Dayo Israel, National Youth Leader APC

There are moments in the life of a nation when leadership stops being an abstraction and becomes a living force that people can touch, see, and trust. In Nigeria today, Governor Babagana Umara Zulum represents one of those rare moments. In a country often fatigued by promises, he has chosen the harder road of presence, persistence, and proof. His leadership in Borno State is not merely administrative, it is moral, historical, and deeply human.

Last week, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu returned once again to Borno State to commission projects executed by Governor Zulum. It was the eighth such presidential commissioning in Borno under his watch. That fact alone tells a compelling story. Presidents do not repeatedly travel to commission projects in the same state unless there is something real to see, something concrete to affirm, something consequential to endorse. What President Tinubu witnessed was not a performance of governance, but its substance.

Borno is not an easy place to govern. It is not a state that rewards superficial leadership. It is a territory that has known grief, displacement, loss, and terror. For over a decade, insurgency attempted to break its spirit, scatter its people, and erase its future. Schools were destroyed, communities emptied, livelihoods shattered, and hope placed under siege. To lead such a place requires more than competence. It requires courage that is both physical and moral, and a clarity of purpose that does not retreat in the face of danger.

Governor Zulum understood early that post conflict recovery could not be treated as an emergency response alone. It had to be a long, deliberate rebuilding of society itself. He recognised that security without development would only pause the pain, not end it. He recognised that rebuilding infrastructure without restoring dignity would be incomplete. Most importantly, he recognised that the future of Borno would be decided not only on the battlefield, but in classrooms, farms, hospitals, and resettled communities.

This is why education has become one of the defining pillars of his administration. Governor Zulum has built over one hundred mega schools across Borno State. These are not token structures erected for applause. They are large, modern, well planned educational environments designed to absorb thousands of children who would otherwise be lost to displacement, poverty, or radicalisation. In communities where insurgents once tried to close schools permanently, Zulum responded by building bigger ones. In places where learning was once silenced by fear, he restored it with scale and confidence.

Education in Borno under Zulum is not just about literacy. It is about healing. It is about restoring normalcy to children who have known abnormal lives. It is about giving parents confidence that their children have a future worth staying for. It is about weakening the grip of extremism by strengthening the power of opportunity. Every classroom built is a declaration that terror will not define destiny.

Yet his vision goes far beyond schools. Governor Zulum’s approach to post conflict recovery is holistic, practical, and relentless. He has prioritised the resettlement of internally displaced persons not as a statistic to be managed, but as citizens to be restored. Entire communities have been rebuilt, with housing, water, healthcare facilities, access roads, and security support. He has insisted that people should not remain in camps indefinitely, because dignity cannot thrive in perpetual displacement.

Agriculture, once disrupted by insecurity, has been revived through deliberate investment and protection. Farmers have been supported with inputs, irrigation schemes, and access to land, even in previously inaccessible areas. This is not only about food production, it is about restoring livelihoods and stabilising communities. When people can farm again, trade again, and feed their families again, peace becomes sustainable.

Healthcare delivery has also received focused attention. In a state where conflict stretched already fragile systems, Governor Zulum has rebuilt and equipped health facilities, extended services to rural and conflict affected areas, and invested in primary healthcare as the first line of recovery. Access to clean water, sanitation, and basic services has followed the same logic of inclusion, ensuring that recovery is not confined to urban centres alone.

What truly distinguishes Governor Zulum, however, is not only what he builds, but how he governs. He leads from the front. He shows up personally in frontline communities, often unannounced, listening directly to people whose voices are usually absent from policy discussions. In doing so, he has redefined what it means to be a governor in a post conflict environment. His presence alone sends a message to citizens and adversaries alike, that the state has returned, that leadership is not hiding, and that the people have not been abandoned.

This style of leadership aligns naturally with the broader governance philosophy of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. President Tinubu believes in building systems, empowering sub national leadership, and rewarding performance. His repeated visits to Borno are therefore not just symbolic gestures. They are acknowledgements of effective leadership and affirmations that the federal government stands with states that demonstrate seriousness of purpose.

Under the Tinubu administration, Nigeria is being encouraged to confront its challenges with courage, reform, and realism. Governor Zulum’s work in Borno fits squarely into this national narrative. It shows that even in the most difficult contexts, progress is possible when leadership is focused and accountable. It proves that development is not a luxury reserved for peaceful places alone, but a necessity precisely where peace has been threatened.

For young Nigerians watching from across the country, especially those of us committed to public service and political leadership, Governor Zulum offers a powerful lesson. Leadership is not about comfort. It is about responsibility. It is not about rhetoric. It is about results. It is not about being seen only when it is safe. It is about standing firm when it is hardest.

As National Youth Leader, I am particularly inspired by what his work means for the next generation. The children filling those mega schools, the young farmers returning to their fields, the youths finding purpose beyond conflict, these are the real dividends of governance. This is how nations are rebuilt, not overnight, but steadily, deliberately, and with compassion.

History will remember Governor Babagana Umara Zulum as more than a governor of a troubled state. It will remember him as a builder in a time of ruins, a leader who chose action over excuses, and a public servant who placed the dignity of his people at the centre of governance. Borno’s recovery story is still being written, but its direction is already clear. It is a story of resilience meeting leadership, of pain transformed into progress, and of hope reclaimed through service.

Nigeria needs more examples like this. More leaders who see office as a duty, not a reward. More leaders who understand that power finds its highest meaning when it is used to lift the most vulnerable. In celebrating Governor Zulum today, we are not only praising an individual, we are affirming a standard. A standard of courage, commitment, and conscience.

Borno is rising again, not by accident, but by design. And at the heart of that design is a governor who refused to accept that tragedy must have the final word.

Dayo Israel, National Youth Leader, APC writes from Lagos

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Business

Turning Africa’s Raw Materials Into Wealth: The ARMS 2026 Industrial Agenda

Published

3 days ago

September 29, 2026

The Gleamer

By Joel Ajayi

For decades, Africa’s vast natural resources have powered industries and economies far beyond the continent, while many African countries have remained largely exporters of unprocessed commodities and importers of finished products.

That familiar pattern is now coming under renewed scrutiny as policymakers, researchers, investors and industrialists seek to change the direction of Africa’s resource economy.

At the centre of that conversation is the second edition of the Africa Raw Materials Summit (ARMS 2026), scheduled for October 19 and 20 at the Abuja Continental Hotel, Abuja, under the theme: “From African Feedstock to African Factories.”

Organised by the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), the summit is being positioned as more than another gathering of policymakers and industry stakeholders. It is intended to provide a platform for confronting the structural challenges that have kept African raw materials largely disconnected from local manufacturing.

Africa has for years operated largely within a “pit-to-port” economic model, exporting raw materials while importing expensive finished products.

Speaking at a press conference ahead of the summit on Tuesday in Abuja, the Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of RMRDC, Prof. Nnanyelugo Martin Ike-Muonso, said the event would bring together policymakers, investors, researchers, technology providers and industrialists to develop practical strategies for transforming Africa’s abundant natural resources into industrial wealth.

The challenge, therefore, is not simply the abundance of resources, but the continent’s ability to transform those resources into industrial value, employment, technology and wealth within Africa.

Nigeria alone, according to the RMRDC, has more than $582.4 billion in documented non-renewable natural resources, while the wider continent possesses substantial deposits of critical minerals, agricultural raw materials and industrial feedstock.

Yet, the benefits of this resource endowment have often been constrained by inadequate processing capacity, weak infrastructure, limited technology, financing gaps and fragmented regional value chains.

From Dialogue to Industrial Action

ARMS 2026 builds on the maiden edition held in May 2025, which attracted more than 1,000 delegates from across the world.

The inaugural summit also witnessed the unveiling of the Ten-Year Raw Materials Transformation Roadmap (2025–2034) by the Minister of State for Industry, Senator John Owen Enoh.

The roadmap was designed around areas including technological capability, climate-resilient processing and backward integration, establishing a policy framework for greater domestic utilisation of Africa’s raw materials.

The second edition is expected to move the conversation further by bringing policy, capital, technology and industrial stakeholders around practical mechanisms for turning raw materials into locally manufactured products.

One of the major proposals highlighted by the RMRDC is the 30 per cent Mandatory Value Addition Bill, which seeks to establish a statutory minimum level of value addition to Nigerian raw materials before export.

The Council says the proposed framework could support job creation, import substitution, foreign-exchange conservation and increased manufacturing contribution to the economy.

Building the Infrastructure for Value Addition

The industrial transformation envisaged by ARMS 2026 goes beyond legislation.

A major concern is the “missing middle” between where raw materials are produced and where factories are located.

Poor transportation networks, inadequate cold-chain facilities, weak rural roads, limited testing and certification infrastructure and border-related delays can make locally sourced materials more expensive and less competitive.

Consequently, logistics and infrastructure constitute one of the five principal pillars of the summit.

The objective is to develop more reliable corridors connecting farms and mines with processing centres and manufacturing facilities, thereby reducing losses and improving the movement of industrial inputs.

The Digital Dimension

Technology is also becoming an important part of the Council’s strategy.

The RMRDC says it has developed the Nigeria Integrated Information Statistical System for Raw Materials and Products (NISSRAMP), described as a digital repository containing information on feedstock deposits, specifications, production outputs and industrial absorption rates.

The Council has also highlighted its transition towards paperless operations and its certification as a Data Controller/Processor of Major Importance by the Nigeria Data Protection Commission.

Such digital infrastructure could provide investors and manufacturers with better information about the availability and characteristics of raw materials while supporting more informed industrial planning.

Turning Waste Into Industrial Inputs

Another major component of ARMS 2026 is the proposed expansion of the circular economy.

The summit will examine how agricultural by-products, mine tailings, scrap metals and biomass can be recovered and reused as inputs for new production processes rather than being treated simply as waste.

The RMRDC argues that such an approach could lower raw-material costs while supporting more sustainable and climate-resilient manufacturing systems.

For Africa, where industrial expansion must increasingly balance economic development with environmental considerations, waste industrialisation could become an important part of the continent’s manufacturing conversation.

From National Production to African Value Chains

The African Continental Free Trade Area is another important element of the summit’s agenda.

The RMRDC sees AfCFTA as an opportunity to create regional value chains in which raw materials sourced in one African country can be processed and supplied to manufacturers in another.

Under such a model, Africa would move beyond simply exporting commodities to external markets and develop stronger internal networks for supplying chemicals, refined minerals, agricultural inputs and other industrial materials across national borders.

This approach places regional integration at the heart of Africa’s industrialisation strategy.

Bridging Research and Capital

A recurring weakness in many developing economies is the gap between research and commercialisation.

Innovations may emerge from universities, research institutions and laboratories without receiving the financing, equipment or market connections required to become commercially viable.

ARMS 2026 intends to address that gap through technology commercialisation and capital linkages, connecting research outputs with investors, development finance institutions and industrial off-takers.

The RMRDC has also cited partnerships with the Bank of Industry for commercial-scale post-harvest processing and a South-South technology-transfer partnership with the National Innovation Centre par Excellence in Shanghai, China.

A Larger Industrial Conversation

The scale of ARMS 2026 is expected to be significantly larger than the maiden edition.

The organisers project more than 1,800 delegates from all 54 African countries and global industrial partners.

The programme will feature high-level policy dialogues, technical panels, an advanced raw materials and technology exhibition, industrial site visits and the African Raw Materials Industry Awards.

The exhibition, in particular, is expected to showcase locally fabricated processing machinery, advanced domestic materials, green chemicals and engineered commercial inputs.

Beyond the speeches and exhibitions, however, the real significance of ARMS 2026 will ultimately depend on what happens after the summit.

Africa’s challenge has never been a shortage of raw materials. The more difficult question has been how to transform those resources into factories, products, skilled employment, technology and sustainable economic opportunities.

For Nigeria and the rest of the continent, the proposed shift from “pit-to-port” to “feedstock-to-factory” therefore represents a broader debate about the future structure of African economies.

ARMS 2026 seeks to place that debate firmly on the industrial agenda — with value addition, technology, finance, infrastructure, circular production and regional trade at the centre.

If the commitments and partnerships generated by the summit translate into measurable industrial activity, the event could provide another platform for Africa to examine how its enormous resource base can support stronger domestic manufacturing.

The message from the organisers is clear: the continent’s raw materials should not only leave African soil as commodities; they should increasingly become the foundation for African industrial production

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