Breaking News - Gov. Zulum takes 2nd tour of battered communities second weekend in office

Prof. Baagana Umara Zulum, Borno state governor spends his second weekend in office in Gomboru Ngala, one of the major commercial towns in the state.

Borno Celebrities has reported last week that the governor was in Bama and Gwoza local governments where he promised the people the rehabilitation of their destroyed communities and commencement of farming activities among other things. Ngala is the third local government he has visited since he assumed power a fortnight ago. Few days to the March 9 elections, the then governor-to-be's convoy was attacked along the local government by Boko Haram when he traveled with former governor, Kashim Shettima for campaign.

In 2014, the terrorist group sacked the commercial town and in the process, burnt down the Gomboru Market and forced the people to flee. In a 2017 interview with YEN, the then caretaker chairman of the local government, Abdulkarim Abdulrahman, said 'properties worth billions were destroyed in the attacks', adding that 'President Idris Derby of Chad attributed recession in his country to the activities around the border'.
The Maiduguri - Ngala Road is among the commercially most important roads in the state, with a commercial network that spans across 'Chad, Niger, Cameroon, up to Central African Republic'.

However, this all-important road is not in good shape and it has suffered many years of neglect.
Abdulkarim in 2017 appealed to the federal and state governments to take the initiative to rehabilitate the road.
Gov. Zulum has assured the people of Gwoza last week that he would engage the federal government to ensure the rehabilitation of the Gwoza - Limankara - Uba Road, another commercially important road, to allow for movement of people and goods.

Zulum is also expected at Rann, headquarters of Kalabalge local government. Rann was in the news last year for the capture and eventual killing of aid workers by Boko Haram. It is also among the local governments sacked by the terrorist group in 2014.
Though there are no details as to the reason for the visit, it may not be unconnected with reopening of the town for farming and commercial activities.

Similarly, there are towns of people living in refugee and internally displaced persons camps along the Cameroonian border. It is not out of place to believe that the governor will proceed to assess their condition in preparatory for their eventual return to their communities or other relatively safer places in the state