Zulum Rejects Naming School’s Facilities After Him

Michael Olugbode

The Borno State Governor, Professor Babagana Zulum, yesterday, rejected the naming of two blocks of hostel in his honour, at the Ramat Polytechnic in Maiduguri.

Zulum was at the polytechnic owned by the state government to commission the hostels for 1,500 students, which was recently renovated and reequipped by the state’s ministry of higher education, technology and innovation.

The twin-project, which funds were internally generated from the polytechnic’s commercial activities, was named “Engr. Professor Babagana Umara Zulum Male Students’ Hostel” but soon as it was announced, Zulum categorically asked that it should be renamed.

He said: “No, no, I will not allow any project named after me while I am in office. It should be after my tenure of office.”

Also, while reading a plaque he unveiled to commemorate the commissioning, Zulum skipped the part his name was mentioned and instead said, “in commemoration of the commissioning of male students’ hostel”.

Zulum, however, paid glowing tribute to the Commissioner for Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr. Babagana Mustapha, for the remarkable turnaround of the polytechnic’s fortunes.

The polytechnic has been under the Commissioner’s direct supervision since September 2021, when Zulum suspended the management of the school.

Zulum took the action, when he undertook an impromptu visit to the school and was disappointed with the state of affairs.

He lamented that some facilities he knew well at the school, including laboratories, were no longer functional.

Zulum was rector of the polytechnic from 2011 to 2015. He was also a student from 1986 to 1988 for National Diploma in Engineering, before going for Bachelors Degree, Masters, and PhD at the University of Maiduguri and University of Ibadan.