Governor Babagana Umara Zulum on Tuesday delivered a lecture at the National Institute For Security Studies in Abuja.
The Governor had honoured an invitation by the institute, to deliver a paper with the title “Promoting National Security and Sustainable Development: Borno State Experience.”
About 50 participants drawn from the various security establishments both within and outside Nigeria have attended the lecture.
Zulum discussed different aspects of the National Security and Sustainable Development, where he gave an account of his experience as a Governor in the last one year.
Zulum said poor governance, weak institutional capacity, and mismanagement of resources are the major problem of Nigeria.
Zulum also noted that national security and sustainable development are two sides of the same coin, adding that without security there will be no development.
The Governor also talked about the poor quality of education in the country, stressing that Universities have become mere edifice producing unproductive graduates.
Zulum also noted that for Nigeria to attain sustainable national development and security there has to be a commitment both from the leaders and the followers, without everyone playing his role sustainable national development cannot be attained.
The Governor also attributed the crises in most parts of the country to the obsolete/inadequate equipment and personnel. He noted that while other countries are talking of artificial intelligence and other forms of technologies in their security architecture in Nigeria we are still digging trenches to protect ourselves.
Zulum also cautioned Nigerians not to take the security crisis in the northeast as regional affairs, he said “the insurgency not our problem alone, let’s act or it consume us all. There is an increasing budgettery allocation to security since the beginning of this crisis, the resources which we shoud have ordinarily invest in developing our infrastructure is now shifted to the security sector. You see it affect all of us either directly or indirectly.”
Governor Zulum tell the gathering that Borno currently has over 50,000 orphans without access to any form of education, he warned that 50,000 young men growing up without education is serious threat to the national security.
The Governor lamented that the insurgency has forced citizens from Borno to become unproductive, with most have completely lost their means of livelihood.
Zulum also said “It is pity when others are talking about educational development, infrastructure development at the rural areas, we struggling to feed our people”
Zulum concluded that, despite the effects of insurgency on the national security and development, people oriented leadership and governance with support from all levels of government can mitigate the impact.
Speaking earlier, the commandant of the institute, Alhaji Adeleke Said Governor Zulum was chose to deliver the lecture considering his experience of commitment in the face of daunting security challenges in his state.
