An Open Letter to His Excellency, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum, Executive Governor of Borno State.

By Suleman Ayuba

Your Excellency,

I write with profound respect and genuine gratitude for your latest act of leadership and compassion: the decision to give every family returning from Cameroon the sum of Five Hundred Thousand Naira (₦500,000) as repatriation support. This is not just money; it is a loud declaration that the people of Ngoshe, Kirawa, Attagara, Agapalawa, Ashigashiya, Warabe, Gwoza hills, Pulka, and every other mountain and valley community are still sons and daughters of Borno, not forgotten refugees. For this, Sir, accept my deepest thanks and the thanks of every family now preparing to cross the border back home.

But Your Excellency, gratitude must walk hand-in-hand with truth.

The same communities they are returning to Ngoshe, Kirawa, Attagara, Agapalawa, and so many others still lie in ruins. Houses are burnt shells. Schools are without roofs or teachers. Health posts are empty. Farmlands are overgrown or mined. At night, fear still rules because insurgents have not been completely pushed out of the surrounding hills. Five hundred thousand naira is a powerful seed, but it cannot grow where the soil has not been prepared.

I have spoken to returnees who are already back in Ngoshe and Kirawa. They tell me the money helps them buy food and a few zinc sheets, but after that, they sleep in church buildings or under trees because there is no coordinated reconstruction. Children in Attagara and Agapalawa are eager to resume school, yet the classrooms remain destroyed. Mothers in Warabe and Ashigashiya are afraid to farm far from the town because there is no guarantee of safety.

Your Excellency, you have rebuilt thousands of homes, schools, and hospitals across the state. We have seen the miracle in Kawuri, in Bama, in Konduga. Now the people of the Mandara Mountain axis Ngoshe, Kirawa, Attagara, Agapalawa, and beyond—need that same miracle. Without it, the ₦500,000 risks becoming not the beginning of a new life, but the end of hope.

Our returning brothers and sisters deserve more than transport fare and cash. They deserve: Reconstructed homes in Ngoshe, Kirawa, Attagara, Agapalawa, and every affected ward, with government-supplied blocks and roofing materials so that the ₦500,000 becomes a contribution, not the entire burden. Immediate rehabilitation of schools in these communities and free enrolment plus feeding for returnee children who have lost over ten years of education. Permanent security posts and regular patrols so families can sleep without one eye open. Seeds, fertilisers, and farming tools distributed before the next planting season, so the money can be invested in land instead of consumed in hunger. Mobile clinics and trauma counsellors deployed to these mountain communities, because the wounds of war are not only physical.

Your Excellency, the world is watching Borno’s repatriation effort. Let us make it a complete success not just bringing people back from Cameroon, but bringing life back to Ngoshe, Kirawa, Attagara, Agapalawa, and every village that once echoed with children’s laughter.

Thank you again for the ₦500,000 per family. Now let us match that generosity with the roofs, classrooms, and security that will turn repatriation into true restoration.

With highest regards and unwavering hope,

SULEMAN AYUBA

Concerned citizen,victim of the circumstances.