By; SADIQ ABUBAKAR, Maiduguri
President Muhammadu Buhari has conferred the national award of Commander of Order of Niger (CON) on Borno State Governor, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum.
Zulum was conferred the award on Tuesday at the International Conference Center, Abuja among hundreds of awardees from across the country.
A total of 450 people benefitted from the National Honours Award Investiture 2022 Programme, bringing the total number of Nigeria’s national honours awardees to 5,341 since 1963 to date.
Out of the total number of the 2022 national awardees approved by President Buhari, six were awarded Grand Commanders of the Order of Niger (GCON), 55 bagged Commanders of the Federal Republic (CFR), 74 were awarded Members of the Order of Federal Republic (MFR), 77 people received Order of the Federal Republic (OFR).
Others include 110 recipients of Order of the Niger (OON), 55 also bagged Members of the Order of the Niger (MON), 65 people were given Commanders of the Order of the Niger (CON), while four others received Federal Republic Medal- First Class (FRM I) and four, Federal Republic Medal- Second Class (FRM II).
Governor Babagana Umara Zulum of Borno State bagged the national honour award of Commander of the Order of Niger (CON ).
He was born on August 25, 1969. He is a Nigerian professor and politician. He has been the serving Governor of Borno State since 2019 under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
After elementary schooling in Mafa Primary School from 1975 to 1980 and secondary education in Government Secondary School, Monguno from 1980 to 1985, Zulum studied at the University of Maiduguri, where he obtained a degree in Agriculture Engineering after which he served as a youth corps member with Katsina State Polytechnic.
He proceeded to the University of Ibadan from 1997 to 1998, where he obtained a master’s degree in Agriculture Engineering. In 2005, he enrolled for a PhD in Soil and Water Engineering with the University of Maiduguri which he completed in 2009.
Babagana’s first appointment was in 1989 with Borno State Civil Service as an Assistant Technical Officer in the State’s Ministry of Agriculture. In 1990, Babagana moved into Borno State Unified Local Government Service as Senior Field Overseer and later Principal Water Engineer. In 2000, he took up an appointment with the University of Maiduguri as an assistant Lecturer where he rose to the rank of Professor.
Babagana was Deputy Dean and Acting Dean, Faculty of Engineering in 2010 and 2011 respectively. In 2011, Babagana Umara was appointed the Rector of Ramat Polytechnic. Meanwhile, he retained his teaching position in the University of Maiduguri.
He is a fellow of many prestigious professional bodies.
In 2015, he was made Commissioner of Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement by Governor Kashim Shetima of Borno State, a position he held till 2018.
Zulum also served in various capacities for so many years until his election as Governor of Borno State, where he assumed office on May 29, 2019 to date under the umbrella of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
It was also gathered that several Borno State indigenes were also conferred with national awards among them are, tye Managing Director NNPC Ltd, Malam Mele Kolo Kyari, National Security Adviser, Major General Babagana Monguno rtd, APC Vice Chairman North, Senator Abubakar Kyari, Member of House of Representatives, Hon. Mukhtar Aliyu Betara, Emir of Biu, His Royal Highness Mai Mustapha Umar Mustapha II.
Others include the Chairman Tertiary Education Trust Fund, Mutawalle Kashim Ibrahim Imam, Founder and Director General Future Prowess Schools Maiduguri, Barrister Zanna Mustapha, former Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt. Gen. Tukur Yusuf Buratai (rtd), the former Chief of Staff to the President (COS), late Alh. Abba Kyari among others.
