Gov Zulum identifies poverty as major cause of Boko Haram insurgency in North-East

Babagana Zulum, the governor of Borno State, said on Friday that the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East is directly caused by poverty.

Zulum claimed that there were connections between poverty, crime, and the insurgency during a meeting with members of the Barewa Old Boys’ Association (BOBA) at the Government House in Maiduguri.
On November 17, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported that multidimensional poverty affects at least 133 million Nigerians.

However, according to Zulum, effective leadership is the answer to the Boko Haram conflict.

The Boko Haram insurgency, which began in Borno State in 2009, had resulted in over two million people being displaced in addition to hundreds of thousands of deaths.

The governor said: “For we the leaders, there is the need to do the needful, create the enabling environment for people to find their means of livelihood. The nexus between peace, security, and development should not be over-emphasized, if there is no peace, no development.

“The constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has clearly spelt out that security is under the control of the Federal Government but that does not mean that the state governments are not important, but they also played a critical role in the situation within the state.

“Once there is no good leadership, nothing can be achieved. As leaders, we need to ensure discipline and accountability and above all monitoring and evaluation.”