Ismail Omipidan
Former Commissioner for Home Affairs, Information and Culture in Borno State, Inuwa Bwala, x-rays President Muhammadu Buhari’s last Thursday’s visit to Borno and explains why the people see the visit as one that was special.
President Muhammadu Buhari visited Borno State and it seems to have elicited so much excitement. What makes the visit so special to warrant the frenzy?
It may appear normal like any visit to a state, but to us in Borno and particularly to our governor, Kashim Shettima, the president’s visit calls for the enthusiasm that attended it, because to us, it was historic, strategic and expository. It was historic because it accorded us the opportunity to tell the world that the story of Borno is not just a story of Boko Haram, but also of development. It gave us the chance to prove book makers who wrote us off to the effect that we were doomed wrong. The president’s visit was an opportunity for us to change the narrative of being a war zone to being an Eldorado, rising from the debris of destruction. It was historic because it has gone down in Nigeria democratic history that we were amongst the first to host Mr. President amidst competing requests from other states in the immediate aftermath of the national elections. We were elated knowing that he was under pressure to ignore Borno and her troubles, but he ignored such calls. Most importantly it marks an era when the security challenges facing us seems to be getting greater attention and global focus is shifting from Borno to other parts where our situation was made to look like a child’s play.
But the visit was short-lived and it might not have achieved the catalogue in your narrative. What makes you think it has achieved so much?
It might have been brief but it so much impressed the president. It accorded him the opportunity to practically verify our claims of the transformation of especially Maiduguri into an emerging modern city, even at a time the state was perceived to be at a standstill. Reports of Mr. President’s happiness with what he saw are enough to make every citizen of Borno proud. He was so pleased and stopped short of calling on the unrepentant critics of Governor Kashim Shettima to hide their faces in shame. The mood of the people who trooped out in their hundreds to welcome him at every point of his visit suggests that Borno is really working.
What makes it expository?
I know as a matter of fact that President Buhari was as surprised as many of those who never saw anything good coming out of Borno were, seeing the level of development in Borno even in the face of the Boko Haram carnage. It was expository because it accorded the state an opportunity to showcase those things Governor Kashim Shettima has been doing even with the distraction of Boko Haram. President Buhari had the opportunity to make a comparative analysis of what he was being told about Borno and what he practically saw during the visit. It would have been difficult convincing the president that so much has been done from the very limited resources that accrued to the state, without the visit. For example, he might not have believed that in the heart of the Sahara there exists an industrial park, capable of producing a variety of products comparable to those found in more developed societies. It may have sounded unthinkable that in the midst of a raging war against education, it was possible to launch a revolution in the education sector, which has brought about a complete turnaround of Borno’s educational fortunes. Until the visit exposed him to them, he might not have also believed that the state -of –the-art equipment that are on parade in our hospitals, do actually exist in Borno. I am sure Governor Kashim Shettima must have been as happy as his citizens with the summation by the president, to the effect that the level of development in the state surpasses his imagination, which makes him proud of the governor.
What do you think is the magic behind the huge successes achieved and the attendant presidential pat on the back for the governor?
Magic has no place in leadership and governance; it was sheer focus and pragmatism. Given the state of near penury in Borno State eight years ago, and the seeming magical transformations of today, every rational person should know that it took reasoning, planning, commitment and sacrifice on the part of leadership. Governor Shettima could not have achieved those things he paraded before Mr. President if he had abandoned the state like many of us did, to seek refuge outside. He could not have moved on if he had despaired. The story would have been different today if he had cracked under pressure and blackmail, which trailed some of his actions. Like President Muhammadu Buhari, many Nigerians now have a different perception of Borno and it is a matter of time before the whole nation appreciates what has been done in terms of governance in this war ravaged enclave.