By Usman Abati
Mazeeton Technologies.
The honour bestowed on His Excellency Prof. Babagana Umara Zulum, CON, mni, FNSE, FNIAE, as the Digital Governor of the Year 2025 stands as a powerful national endorsement of a transformation model that is both visionary and deeply people-centred. For a state that has endured more than a decade of insurgency, forced displacement, and infrastructural collapse, the pace and scale of digital recovery taking shape today are nothing short of extraordinary. This award affirms a digital blueprint built on inclusion one that places the most underserved, the most affected, and the most forgotten citizens at the centre of development.
In receiving the award, Governor Zulum dedicated it to the resilient people of Borno State, acknowledging that the true rebuilding of a society battered by conflict goes far beyond physical reconstruction. It requires rebuilding people, their knowledge, their confidence, and their opportunities. It demands modernising systems that shape governance and ensuring that communities once cut offÙhgž from the digital world are not left behind. From the perspective of a technocrat with over in digital governance, what stands out in Borno’s journey is the clarity of its commitment to digital equity, ensuring that transformation reaches every corner of the state without discrimination.
Perhaps the most striking symbol of this commitment is the establishment and activation of twenty-two Digital Literacy Centres spread across twenty-two Local Government Areas. These centres were built not in privileged urban corridors, but in the very communities that suffered most from insurgency, places where schools had collapsed, electricity had been unreliable, and digital opportunity had been absent for years. Today, they operate with solar power, equipped with modern computers, high-speed broadband, trained instructors, technical managers, and security support. They are deliberately spread across the three senatorial districts, ensuring that participation in the digital economy is not a privilege reserved for a few but a right extended to all. Already, more than 10,000 people, young men and women, displaced persons, returnees, widows, vigilante volunteers, artisans, local government workers, and traditional community members have acquired practical digital skills that are now reshaping livelihoods. For communities long defined by insecurity and deprivation, these centres represent not just classrooms, but gateways to a renewed future. They transform places once known only for conflict into emerging hubs of digital entrepreneurship, civic participation, and economic possibility.
This rising trajectory has been further strengthened by the remarkable collaboration between Borno State and a diverse network of local and international technology partners. Beyond global names like Google, Cisco, ZOA International, NITDA NIGCOMSAT, NDPC, and Development Hub, several innovative homegrown tech institutions have played critical roles in accelerating the state’s digital renaissance. Local tech hubs such as Mazeeton Technologies, CIATECH Africa, and Rhema & Titles Solutions Ltd have been central to nurturing emerging talent through innovation challenges, startup incubation, and technically structured mentorship programmes. Their contributions include incubating tech-driven ideas among secondary school students, supporting harmonization and modernization of state websites, and delivering hands-on capacity building in emerging technologies such as AI fundamentals, cloud literacy, robotics, digital agriculture technologies, and data-driven entrepreneurship.
These hubs have hosted bootcamps, prototype labs, hackathons, and innovation fairs in partnership with BICTDA under the leadership of Executive Secretary Engr Kabir Mohammed Wanori FNSE, helping young people transition from curiosity to creativity and ultimately into viable innovation pipelines. Their close collaboration with the agency has made it possible for otherwise overlooked talents, especially those in post-conflict communities to access opportunities that once existed only in Nigeria’s major tech cities. The synergy between government vision and grassroots innovation has produced a model where global expertise strengthens local ingenuity, resulting in a uniquely inclusive and sustainable ecosystem.
Beyond digital literacy and innovation, the transformation of Borno’s governance architecture has been comprehensive. Land administration has been modernised through BOGIS, resulting in the issuance of more than 2,500 digital Certificates of Occupancy, improved transparency, and faster service delivery. Revenue generation has reached unprecedented levels, with BIRS surpassing ₦28.3 billion in 2024, driven by automation tools such as e-TCC, electronic filing systems, centralised billing, and real-time digital verification. The education sector has been revitalised through the Borno Digital School, the deployment of ICT laboratories, and systematic teacher capacity-building, while the health sector now utilises telemedicine, digital diagnostics, and real-time monitoring systems such as HeRAMS to strengthen service delivery. Even emergency response has evolved through the Borno Rescue Management System, which has saved lives, reconnected missing persons, and strengthened public trust in the state’s crisis-management capacity.
This progress has been amplified by the state’s bold broadband policy, particularly the decision to waive Right of Way charges to Zero Naira for three years. This catalytic move unlocked major private-sector investment, accelerated fibre and satellite deployment, and expanded connectivity to areas long considered inaccessible. Broadband, once seen as a luxury in many parts of Borno, is now becoming a fundamental pillar of education, health, commerce, security, and civic participation.
Governor Zulum, while receiving the award, expressed appreciation to the management and staff of the Borno State Information and Communication Technology Development Agency (BICTDA), acknowledging that their dedication and competence have been central to this transformation. Yet beyond the agencies and the systems they operate, the real story is that of a population reclaiming its future. Borno is demonstrating that even after years of conflict, digital literacy can restore dignity, expand opportunity, and lay the foundation for long-term prosperity.
At this moment of well-earned recognition, it is fitting to extend sincere gratitude to Governor Zulum for his courage, clarity of purpose, and unwavering commitment to reshaping the destiny of Borno State. May the Almighty continue to guide him, protect him, and grant him the wisdom and strength needed to steer the state safely through the challenges ahead. May Borno continue to flourish, prosper, and rise stronger, smarter, and more united than ever before.
As these achievements continue to unfold, it becomes increasingly important for His Excellency to look inward and reflect on the enduring value of the legacy he is building. The sustainability of these reforms, the protection of the institutions he has nurtured, and the consolidation of the systems he has put in place will matter far more than the political considerations of who comes next. The true measure of leadership is not only in what is achieved during one’s tenure, but in how strongly those achievements endure long after.
And as Borno continues on this transformative path, one truth stands timeless and clear:
“A leader’s greatness is not measured by the office he occupies today, but by the future that continues to thrive because of the foundations he laid.”
May Borno continue to rise.
