‘Boko Haram has taken Borno 50 years backward,’ Governor says

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November 8, 2016 2:22 PM

Shettima earlier said that he had stopped riding around in bullet proof cars in order to challenge the terrorists.

Borno state Governor, Kashim Shettima

Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima has said that the Boko Haram insurgency pulled the state back by 50 years.

Shettima made the comment on Monday, November 7, when the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Adamu Rasheed announced the commencement ‎of the Borno State University.

“At the risk of sounding repetitive, Borno State has been taken 50 years backward, no thanks to the vicious Boko Haram we inherited in 2011. As we all know, hate for education is the fundamental principle of the Boko Haram,” he said.

“This explains why they focused so many attacks on educational institutions. Executive Secretary, Sir, in the educational sector alone, a total of 5, 335 classrooms and other academic buildings were destroyed by insurgents across 512 primary schools, 38 secondary schools and two tertiary institutions in Borno State.

“The objective was clearly to bring down education in a State that has a long history of learning. As far back as 625 years ago, Sultan Uthman Bin Idris of Borno in his communication with Sultan Barquq of Egypt in 1391, portrayed Borno empire as one that takes pride in writing and learning.

“We shall continue to invest heavily on education. Borno State has 7 tertiary institutions and despite the Boko Haram insurgency and its huge financial impacts, we are in the category of States that pay the best salaries to tertiary workers and most importantly, we do not owe salaries.

“I know it will be a major responsibility to add a University to our too many expenditures that include ongoing reconstruction of destroyed communities, but then, if we are serious about ending Boko Haram, if we are serious about rebuilding Borno and repositioning it for the future, there is nothing like providing quality and affordable education to our teeming population of uneducated youths. Education is the greatest leveler, it is the key to solving variety of social problems” the Governor added.

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