Good Things Other Than Boko Haram Coming Out Of Borno, Shettima Tells Journalists

shettima1Borno State governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima says there are many good things worthy of making the news in the state other than the Boko Haram insurgency.

Shettima, who was speaking at the 2013 Press Week and Northeast zonal meeting of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, said the state is better now than it was two years ago and that the spate of insurgency will soon become history.

“Most Nigerians have imagined fears about Borno mainly due to what they hear or read as news about us. I am sure that our visitors now have a different or less scary opinion of Maiduguri”, he said.

“You must have seen the traffic on the roads contrary to impressions you might have formed that roads were empty; you must have seen commercial activities in place as against fears you might have had that no businesses existed.

“You might have seen some projects, few I must say, from what we are doing across the state; in sharp contrast with an impression you might have had that government was at stand still”.

He, therefore, urged reporters to tell other Nigerians and the rest of the world what Borno is and not what it is thought to be.

He added:”Borno is not all about Boko Haram and I will call on the media to tell more of our real stories. There are many good things happening in Borno State on all sectors.

“I am glad that Maiduguri is today safer than it ever was in the last two years and the rest of the state is also picking up even though we still have some challenges we are working very hard to surmount”, Shettima added.