INTERNATIONAL NEWS SYNDICATE

By Adamu Aliyu Ngulde, Nigeria BORNO State has lost infrastructure, electrical cables and other metal assets worth billions of naira to scrap metal scavenging, Governor Babagana Umara Zulum has said, defending a state-wide ban on the trade on security and economic grounds. Zulum said the losses, alongside concerns about the use of scrap metal businesses to support insecurity, prompted the government to prohibit the trade. The ban has raised questions about how authorities can protect public infrastructure and address security risks while preserving the livelihoods of people who depend on collecting and selling scrap materials. Speaking on Saturday to scrap metal operators, locally known as Ajakuta , the governor urged them to submit proposals outlining how they could continue their businesses without contributing to insecurity or damaging public assets. He said the restriction was introduced in the interest of the state, rather than to deprive legitimate oper...

By News Desk  Borno State authorities have allocated 39 of 43 reconstructed shops in the Post Office area of Maiduguri to people identified as the original occupants, the state’s Commissioner for Works and Housing, Adam Bukar Bababe, has said. Bababe made the disclosure during a live interactive programme on Al-Ansar Radio in Maiduguri, where he discussed the redevelopment of commercial areas and the allocation of shops across the city. He said the government conducted a verification exercise to establish the identities of genuine occupants of shops demolished during the redevelopment and ensure that allocations were made to people with verifiable claims. The remaining four shops, according to the commissioner, were allocated to the Borno Transport Management Agency (BOTMA), Borno Express, and associations representing tricycle and bus operators as part of efforts to reorganise the area. Bababe said the demolition and redevelopment of properties around the Post Offi...

By News Desk Borno State Governor Babagana Umara Zulum, represented by the Commissioner for Information and Internal Security, Prof. Usman Tar, on Monday joined academics and other stakeholders at the University of Maiduguri for the launch and presentation of two books examining the relationship between Islam, communication, media and popular culture in Nigeria. The books, titled Communication, Media and Islam in Nigeria: A Multidisciplinary Reader and Islam and Popular Culture in Nigeria , were officially launched at an event attended by academics, government representatives, religious scholars and other stakeholders. Published in 2026, the books were edited by Dr. Ibrahim Uba Yusuf and Dr. Abdulmutalib Ado Abubakar, both of the University of Maiduguri, and Abubakar Alhaji Bukar of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. The publications bring together scholarly contributions aimed at expanding knowledge and understanding of the intersection between communication, m...

By News Desk  The Federal Government has commended Borno State’s investments in livestock development, saying new breeding, poultry and dairy initiatives could position the state as a major livestock production and processing hub in Nigeria and West Africa. The Minister of Livestock Development, Dr Idi Maiha, said this during an inspection of livestock facilities and projects in Maiduguri, including an artificial insemination centre, hatchery and dairy facility developed through collaboration between the Borno Government and the World Bank-supported Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support (L-PRES) project. Maiha said the artificial insemination centre had recently completed an exercise involving 3,000 cattle owned by pastoralists, describing genetic improvement as critical to increasing livestock productivity. He said the centre would also serve as a training facility for staff and certified artificial inseminators needed to support the transformation ...