By Blessing Tunoh Asso

Borno State Governor, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum, on Monday gave a total sum of N62,750,000 to 846 elders and labourers providing services at Bolori Stores, a popular area in Maiduguri where trailers offload and move variety of wholesale food and non-food products from Borno to other parts of Nigeria and neighbouring countries.

The distribution was in continuation of Governor Zulum’s sustained economic packages aimed at enhancing livelihoods and building resilience of citizens as part of counter-insurgency measures.
Of the 846 beneficiaries, Zulum presented N100,000 each to 409 elderly low income persons operating around the stores, some of who, for many years, have been into manual labour. The elders jointly received a total of N40.9 million.

The governor also presented N50,000 each to 437 younger labourers made up of 387 men and 50 women. They jointly received a total of N21.8 million.

Zulum urged the recipients to use the cash for micro businesses with a view to increasing their sources of income.

He described the labourers as highly a productive population whose line of work helps in making available basic necessities needed by all categories of citizens across Borno State.

The Governor noted that their activities significantly contributed to the state’s economy, noting that many trailers arrive and depart Bolori Stores everyday to bring in food and non-food items into Borno State and move similar products to other parts of Nigeria and neighbouring countries. Such activities, Zulum said, contribute to the state’s economy.

The Commissioner for Sports and Youths Empowerment, Saina Buba, whose ministry coordinated the intervention, said Zulum had supervised similar empowerment programmes in different parts of the state.

One of the beneficiaries was full of gratitude to the governor, saying some of them were receiving such amounts for the first time.

The beneficiaries promised to make good use of the gesture.