Gov Zulum Inuagurates Southern Borno Students Council, Charges Students To Take Their Studies Serious

Governor Professor Babagana Umara Zulum of Borno State has charged Borno students to take their studies serious to realize their noble ambition in life

He also described Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume as a man of humility, commitment, dignity and courage who dedicates his life to the needs of the common man in the society, especially, the poor masses while understanding the needs of his people and intervenes positively.

Zulum who stated this Saturday while inuagurating the newly created Southern Borno Students Council at El Kanemi Hall of the University of Maiduguri, further congratulated both the students and university management for organization and realizing the innovation.

He however noted that in the past 10 years, Boko Haram insurgency has greatly pushed the students away from pursuing their academics vigorously and threatened their future career while at the same time destabilized government policies and programmes in many sectors of the state economy, especially, education and infrastructures.

The governor who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Alhaji Usman Jidda Shuwa , added that the Ndume educational support will in no doubt alleviate the sufferings of the students and will not only save the students, but reinvigorate the students to pursue their studies seriously.

Zulum further said that the gesture was a welcome development today due to the set back of educational facilities and amenities worthy of emulation by others.

Earlier, Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume who was twice at the lower chamber and now on his third term at the upper chamber of the National Assembly as well as one time Minority Leader of the House and one time Senate Leader , said he decided to set up the Organization as part of his philanthropic gesture to comomorate with his 60th birthday last week Wednesday for the sake of the poor students from borno south senatorial constituency whose parents could not afford to shoulder financial responsibilities of their children at the tertiary institutions within the state.

He added that when he nursed the idea, 1000 sudebts were targeted from the 9 LGCs of his constituency, the southern borno comprising of Shani, Bayo, Kwaya Kursa, Biu, Hawul, Askira/Uba, Chibok, Gwoza and Damboa LGAs

According to him, each of the selected student beneficiary that was screened by the SBSC leadership across all the higher institutions in the state will get N10, 000 cash through the students BVN bank account latest by Monday this week as all arrangements have been concluded with the leadership of SBSC, Unimaid and the banks on vetting, posting and receiving of bank credit alerts by the students from a central account in the name of SBSC and controlled as signatories by the leadership of SBSC, Unimaid VC and the initiator, Senator Ali Ndume among others

He noted also that the programme will be a continuous one annually. Funds generated from the account which is intended to be turned into an Endowment Fund for the students and other welfares will be disbursed accordingly.

Ndume said: " This is a personal efforts and not a constituency project which I execute annually, especially, from my business outfits Zakat .

"This is separate from the usual quarterly release of funds for Constituency projects from the National Assembly budgeted N100 billion annual constituency projects that comes in hundreds of millions of naira (N200 million) divided to 4 quarters.

"Which I intend to use to biuld a befitting students hostels at the University of Maiduguri and for resettlements of Gwoza IDPs back to their ancestral homes to continue with their normal lives", Ndume said.

He also noted that another philanthropic effort was being made in Biu axis by his wife where 675 women were being empowered with grinding machines each, 500 additional widows and the old aged are being empowered with N5000 cash to improve their petty trading or be self reliant..

The federal lawmaker said same gesture will be extended to the males, old aged and widowers across the 9 LGCs of southern Borno as appreciation of the love and support his people have for him that has made him what he is today as a federal lawmaker 5 times in his life

He however said another N300,000 cash has been released to the SBSC as take off fund for the proposed SBSC Secretariat which will be located within the Unimaid Campus for the students that the Vice Chancellor, Unimaid, Professor Aliyu Shugaba has pledged to provide for the students and support their activities.

Ndume asserted that the selection of the beneficiaries was purely independently carried out by the students leadership without any interference based in the target of 1000 students from the 9 LGCs but on heirarchy of size and large number of students from specific LGCs that were divided into 3 categories of higher, middle and lower number of students from the 9 LGCs

The Vice Chancellor, Unimaid, Professor Aliyu Shugaba in his remark, thanked the initiator, organizers, leadership of the students and sponsors of the educational support Organization, noting that," no amount of support in accessing education is small and such gestures are very significant with the level of education today and conditions of educational facilities in our institutions of learning"

He said such gestures can never be over emphasized, stressing that, "education should never be left alone in the hands of the Government."

The VC called on individuals, organizaions, NGOs, business community, etc to emulate Senator Ndume, especially, those students who can not afford to pay for their education while congratulating the southern borno students and advising them to be more serious with their studies.

He also promised to provide a space within the University to serve as Secretariat for the SBSC while congratulating the students.

The Chairman of the SBSC, Abdulmajid Haruna thanked Senator Ndume, VC Unimaid, Governror Zulum and students of SBSC for their supports and encouragements while praying God to reward them abundantly.