Borno State Governor, Babagana Umara Zulum, has marked Nigeria’s Democracy Day with the handover of Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles and other logistics support to the Nigerian Army to boost counter-insurgency operations in the North-East.
The equipment, delivered to troops under Operation Hadin Kai, includes MRAP armoured vehicles, Hilux vehicles, and motorcycles aimed at improving troop mobility and protection against improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and ambush attacks.
Governor Zulum presented the support items during a Democracy Day engagement while also joining internally displaced persons (IDPs) at the Madinatu camp in Maiduguri, where he distributed food items, non-food materials, and cash assistance to about 2,500 beneficiaries.
As part of the humanitarian outreach, each beneficiary reportedly received rice, sorghum, clothing materials, and N50,000 in financial support. The governor said the intervention was part of efforts to restore dignity and improve livelihoods for displaced families.
Zulum also reaffirmed his administration’s resettlement drive, stating that over the past seven years, more than two million IDPs have been voluntarily returned to their ancestral communities across the state.
Speaking at the event, he announced that the Madinatu IDP camp would be shut down within one month, describing camp life as a temporary arrangement that must give way to sustainable resettlement and reintegration.
“Living in camps is not a permanent solution. Our goal remains to return every displaced person to their ancestral homes with security and means of livelihood,” Zulum said.
He added that the current distribution exercise may be the final or second-to-last at the camp, depending on the pace of resettlement.
The event was attended by senior government officials and members of the All Progressives Congress, including state party executives and legislators, alongside commissioners and security stakeholders.
