The Governor of Borno State, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum, who was present at the 19th Daily Trust Dialogue on Thursday, which theme was, 2023: The Politics, Economy, and Insecurity.
Without fear of contradiction, the Agriculture Engineering graduate from the University of Maiduguri told a large audience at the NAF Conference Centre in Abuja, including former Head of State Gen. Abdulsalmi Abubakar, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, and the Sultan of Sakkwato, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, that he is not a politician.
As he puts it:
“Although I am the governor of Borno state today, I became the governor by coincidence and not the maneuvering, polishing, or vanishing of politics in the pursuit of a career. As I stand before you, and as the year 2023 approaches, the challenge before us should not be who becomes elected as what, but who is qualified to be elected as what. I may be younger than most of the elected leaders in Nigeria today, but I am not aspiring to any position higher than I am today, except if it is destined by God. Unless and until we are ready to set aside differences and go for merit, we shall never get it right in our search for the right leaders”.
Overall, the conversation participants agreed that Nigeria should minimize dependency and promote the public sector, which plays a critical role in developing the economy.
A situation in which state governors converge in Abuja to divide billions of naira on a monthly basis is sheer self-deception.
Corruption can be reduced by providing high-quality government services.
The county can produce enough revenue to feed itself and others through decentralization, privatization, and effective taxation.
And that is the way to go if we want to kill the menace of unemployment, underemployment, and by extension, the insincerity that is leading the country to insecurity.
The take-home from the dialogue being that 2023 is not an election year, but a turning point.
Ojelabi, the publisher of Freelanews, is an award winning and professionally trained mass communicator and a recipient of the D9112 Superstar Icon Award, who writes ruthlessly about pop culture, religion, politics and entertainment.
