Borno State Governor, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum, has rewarded winners of the 2025 Annual National Qur’anic Recitation Competition with houses, cash gifts and fully funded scholarships up to PhD level, while approving N2 million for each of the 15 judges.
The governor announced the rewards on Saturday evening while receiving the judges and winners on a courtesy visit at the Government House in Maiduguri.
Zulum said each winner would receive a house, N500,000 cash and sponsorship to further their education up to PhD level if they wished, while each of the 15 judges would receive N2 million in recognition of their service.
He expressed optimism that Borno would continue to excel in national and international Qur’anic recitation competitions, stressing his administration’s commitment to promoting Qur’anic education.
The governor also commended the organising committee, led by the Secretary to the Borno State Government, Bukar Tijani, and the committee secretary, Sheikh Khalifa Ali Ahmad Abulfathi, describing the 2025 edition as the best-organised Qur’anic competition ever held in Nigeria.
Zulum noted that the success of the event was driven by the dedication of the committee members, saying financial support alone could not have achieved such results.
Reaffirming his administration’s commitment to restoring Borno’s historical status as a centre of Islamic and Arabic scholarship, the governor recalled that the state’s past rulers conducted official correspondence in Arabic and pledged to revive that legacy.
The governor also received 12 students of the Mustafa Umar El-Kanemi Al-Azhar Institute, Maiduguri, who secured scholarships from Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, to pursue their senior secondary education.
He thanked the Government of Egypt and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar for the scholarship programme and for deploying 20 Egyptian teachers to teach Arabic and Islamic studies in Borno at no cost to the state government.
Zulum assured the students and their parents of additional support from the Borno State Government and disclosed that the ongoing NYSC quarters would be completed before the end of his administration to enable the Al-Azhar Institute resume full boarding operations.
He further revealed plans to recruit more Egyptian teachers to strengthen Arabic and Islamic education, noting that the institute has the capacity to accommodate about 4,000 students, with 70 per cent of admissions reserved for Borno indigenes and 30 per cent for students from other parts of Nigeria.
The governor congratulated the judges and winners for their outstanding performances and reaffirmed his administration’s unwavering commitment to advancing Qur’anic, Islamic and Arabic education across the state.
