Borno State governor, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum, has announced a 90% reduction in food palliative distribution to encourage self-reliance among residents.

The governor made this known on Wednesday while flagging off the distribution of food items to 25,000 households ahead of Ramadan in Maiduguri, Jere and other parts of the state.

According to Zulum, the state government will prioritise long-term development solutions over short-term relief measures like palliative distributions. He highlighted significant investments made by his administration in supporting over one million farmers with essential agricultural inputs such as seeds, fertilisers, water pumps, insecticides and pesticides.

“This strategy will not only promote self-reliance but also substantially reduce government spending,” he said.

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Moving forward, he added, palliative distributions will be limited to only two of the state’s 27 local government areas (LGAs) in 2025 due to their unique challenges.

“The only LGAs that will receive food palliatives next year are Ngala and Kala-Balge because of their peculiar circumstances.

“These areas have suffered severe farmland destruction by elephants and faced significant flooding. Therefore, in 2025, the Borno State government will provide food palliatives exclusively to Ngala and Kala-Balge,” he said.

Zulum emphasised that despite flooding, farmers across the state-both in rain-fed and dry-season farming-have recorded bumper harvests.

Senator Kaka Shehu Lawan, Chairman of the Distribution Committee, commended the governor’s initiative and confirmed that 29 wards in Maiduguri, Jere and two other LGAs would benefit in the first phase of distribution.

He assured that the selection process was fair, devoid of political bias, and based strictly on valid identification.