• Home
  • Anti-Corruption
  • Fact-Check
  • Economy
  • National
    • Government
  • Security
  • Features
  • State
  • Event
    • PR Nigeria Award
  • E-Paper
Search
  • Home
  • About
  • Adverts
  • Contact
Sign in
Welcome! Log into your account
Forgot your password? Get help
Password recovery
Recover your password
A password will be e-mailed to you.
PRNIGERIA PRNigeria News
PRNIGERIA PRNIGERIA
  • Home
  • Anti-Corruption
    • ICPC Secures Conviction of Rector for Running Unaccredited Degree Programmes

      Engr Abba Babagana Dalori

      Engr Dalori Forfeits Galaxy Hospital, Petrol Station, Properties & Cash

      Chinese nationals jailed in Lagos

      Court Jails Nine Chinese Nationals for Cybercrime in Lagos

      ASUU

      Tackle Corruption, Institutional Decay – ASUU Charges FG

      EFCC Arraigns Bauchi Accountant General Over N8bn Fraud as Court Sentences…

  • Fact-Check
  • Economy
    • PRNigeria Fellows and CEO IMPR Yushau A Shuaib

      PRNigeria Fellowship: A Model for NIPSS Kuru

      Africa’s Economic Ties Deepen as Nigeria, Benin Sign Joint Trade Plan

      Customs Partners US Mission to Prevent Expanded Visa Ban

      Nigeria Customs Partners China on Smarter Ports, Officer Training, Reforms

      Comptroller General Nigerian Customs Bashir Adewale

      Customs Moves Against 223 Importers in N379bn Permit Breach

  • National
    • Police Officer

      Security Forces Eliminate 2 Bandits in Bauchi as Police Inspector, Civilian…

      Former Agriculture Minister, Chief Audu Ogbeh, Dies at 78

      WAEC

      WAEC Revises 2025 SSCE Results, English, Maths Pass Rate Rises to…

      Omoyele Sowore

      Sowore of Sahara Reporters Released after Police Explain Reasons for Detention

      NIPR President Ike Neliaku and a recently inducted PR professional from Kano

      PHOTOS: NIPR Inducts 80 New PR Professionals in Kano to its…

    • Government
      • Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf, Kano State

        Kano Governor Sacks Two Aides Over Misconducts

        NAHCON

        JUST IN: NAHCON Announces Fare for 2026 Hajj Exercise

        Omoyele Sowore

        Rights Groups Condemn Police Over Alleged Assault and Detention of Omoyele…

        court Judiciary

        Court Fines Zenith Bank, Police N85m for Freezing Customer’s Account with…

        Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO), Bayo Ojulari

        Let Bashir Ojulari Drive NNPC Reforms By Abdullahi Mohammed

  • Security
    • Police Officer

      Security Forces Eliminate 2 Bandits in Bauchi as Police Inspector, Civilian…

      Omoyele Sowore

      Sowore of Sahara Reporters Released after Police Explain Reasons for Detention

      Armed officers of the Mining Marshals

      Mining Marshals Seal Illegal Quarry in Abuja, Arrest 13 Suspects

      Military Troops in Action

      Military Foils ISWAP Attack, Eliminates Scores of Terrorists in Borno

      Police Officer

      Kaduna Police Nab Suspected Gunrunners, Recover Firearms

  • Features
    • Police Officer

      Security Forces Eliminate 2 Bandits in Bauchi as Police Inspector, Civilian…

      President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and CG Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi

      That Presidential Endorsement of the Customs Boss

      Niger State Governor, Mohammed Umaru Bago,

      Badeggi FM and the High Cost of Governor Bago’s Overreach

      Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO), Bayo Ojulari

      Let Bashir Ojulari Drive NNPC Reforms By Abdullahi Mohammed

      Tinubu, Atiku and Peter Obi

      Atiku, Obi and the ‘Confused Marriage’ Called ADC

  • State
    • Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf, Kano State

      Kano Governor Sacks Two Aides Over Misconducts

      Armed officers of the Mining Marshals

      Mining Marshals Seal Illegal Quarry in Abuja, Arrest 13 Suspects

      Military Troops in Action

      Military Foils ISWAP Attack, Eliminates Scores of Terrorists in Borno

      Police Officer

      Kaduna Police Nab Suspected Gunrunners, Recover Firearms

      Niger State Governor, Mohammed Umaru Bago,

      Badeggi FM and the High Cost of Governor Bago’s Overreach

  • Event
    • Regional Vice President Western and Central Africa at the World Bank, Mr Ousmane Diagana pays a courtesy visit to Baze University

      World Bank Vice President visits Baze University, Commends Educational Standards, Assures…

      NIPR President Ike Neliaku and a recently inducted PR professional from Kano

      PHOTOS: NIPR Inducts 80 New PR Professionals in Kano to its…

      Nigerian Teen Nafisa Aminu

      Pantami Urges Presidential Rewards for Nigerian Teen, Nafisa Aminu Who Topped…

      NIPR President Ike Neliaku and Customs Boss Bashir Adewale Adeniyi

      NIPR Lauds Customs’ Reputation Reforms, Announces Annual PR Officer Award

      Prof Pate donates laptops to UNIMAID

      Prof Pate donates 20 Laptop Computers to UNIMAID

    • PR Nigeria Award
  • E-Paper
Home Features Professor Zulum and his ‘empty seat of power’
  • Features

Professor Zulum and his ‘empty seat of power’

By
Isa Gusau
-
January 31, 2022
The Governor's seat

Professor Zulum and his ‘empty seat of power’

By Isa Gusau

From the most part of March 2020 to date, I have observed that Borno’s governor, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum, abandons the executive red chair, and desk in his main office at the Government House in Maiduguri.

So far, Prof has left that elegant ‘seat of power’ largely idledfor nearly two years.

On Thursday, May 30, 2019, Professor Zulum, for the first time, sat on that powerful red seat, flanked by two Nigerian flags in the elegant office of the governor. He continued to sit on the same red seat whenever he was at his office.

Suddenly, around March 2020, the Professor began to neglect that red seat of power. But why?

By his nature, Professor Zulum is exceedingly a workaholic, an extraordinary goal-getter and he is very time-conscious. It is difficult to hold a 15-minute dialogue without Prof unconsciously talking about one project, programme or policy.The governor’s mind and office are always about work.

While Zulum was using the red chair, he often had to move back and forth between the cosy red seat and a green conference table surrounded by nine chairs at the centre of hisoffice. He prefers to hold meetings on the conference table rather than surrounded around the red seat.

Ahead of every work day, Prof would line up a number of individuals or groups of persons he either invited or gave appointments. For each person or group, he would allocate time, and always conscious of the time he sets. When anyone arrives, Prof would start with a brief salutation and go straight to the point, aiming to conclude individual sessions within five to 10 minutes and offering slightly more time for groups, depending on the issue in focus. Severally, the governor would host commissioners with heads of establishments under their supervisions and technical officials relating to particular projects around the green conference table. Perhaps, because Prof is too time-conscious, the speed with which he hosts meetings and deals with all kinds of issues, makes it less necessary for him to shift from the green conference table back the red ‘seat of power’. With time, Prof unconsciously stopped alternating between the red ‘seat of power’ and the green conference table. It is now nearly two years since Professor Zulum has only been operating from that green conference table, at the expense of the red ‘seat of power’.

I beg your pardon, I think from March 2020 to date, Professor Zulum did sit on the red ‘seat of power’, about 10 to 15 times, and in most instances, he was video recorded for state-widebroadcasts in the heat of the COVID-19 pandemic back in 2020, ahead of the June 12 democracy days in 2020 and 2021, and over some serious issues of public concerns.

Aside those momentous occasions, the red ‘seat of power’ stayed empty. Prof continues to operate from the green conference table whenever he is at the office.

But is there a potential message in Professor Zulum’s‘addiction’ to his office’s conference table rather than the red seat?

Read Also:

  • Kano Governor Sacks Two Aides Over Misconducts
  • Security Forces Eliminate 2 Bandits in Bauchi as Police Inspector, Civilian Shot Dead in Benue
  • Former Agriculture Minister, Chief Audu Ogbeh, Dies at 78

In her 2019 research article on the ‘psychology of conference tables’ published by Science of People.com, a behavioural scientist, Vanessa Van Edwards, infers that conference tables convey meanings of serious business and each seat, from that of the boss, to every seat around the conference table, conveysa particular meaning. She implies that anyone walking towards a conference table is bound to develop the mentality of becoming work-focused and less of sociality, whichdefinitely fit into the very nature of Prof Zulum.

As a Professor, who writes and reads a lot of research articles, Zulum apparently realized that seating around a conference table, rather than on the red ‘seat of power’ sends a message to everyone coming into the governor’s office – it’s nothing but work.

Of course, Professor Zulum’s operation from a conference table does not mean that other governors and chief executives who use their official ‘seats of power’ are not dedicated orefficient. It is a matter of style! After all, Zulum himself is far more addicted to working in the field, an attribute from his engineering training, a professor at that discipline.

And as I once wrote, Zulum is an early riser. His work clock begins from 6 am and ends between 11 pm and 12midnight.

Most times, he would send invitations at night to assemble government officials who head organs of particular sectors, particularly education, healthcare and humanitarian services. The officials converge between 6am and 7am next day at the government house. Prof would then appear, often driving himself, to lead a small convoy of two or three private vehicles. At that point, officials who may have fallen short of meeting project targets after being funded may then start praying that the Prof does not visit their projects’ sites. Perhaps, the Prof, as a strict religious adherent, offers counter-prayers earlier at dawn before he sets out. So, he ends up heading straight to the sites that the officials do not want him to visit. Zulum detests poor performances and he rewards productivity so fast, and so well.

I should also hint that Prof has a number of trusted youths that he regularly assigns to obtain corroborative footages and photographs on work progresses, to compare with whatever reports he gets from officials in charge of projects and programmes. No matter how much Zulum trusts any official, the Professor rarely relies entirely on a single source of information. Consistently, he demands corroborative evidences from different sources and his style makes falsehoods less likely to come his way.

Regularly, Prof Zulum argues that keen monitoring and evaluation is one of the key enablers of the successes in private sectors when compared with public sectors. Zulum often cites that some workers earn more in public sectors but less dedicated compared to private workers with less pay, duelargely to strict monitoring and evaluation in private sectors.

In the meantime, Zulum had in his 2022 budget address,announced a critical plan to introduce a new system of effective monitoring and evaluation in Borno’s public institutions, starting with schools, hospitals and water services.

Certainly, Zulum’s regular monitoring keep heads of public institutions on their toes, especially when they know that the governor can show up at oddest hours. More so, Professor Zulum does not appear to enjoy relaxing in the office, a(subconscious) attitude that has left largely empty, the governor’s red ‘seat of power’.

Isa Gusau is a special adviser and spokesman to Governor Zulum.

VISIT OUR OTHER WEBSITES
PRNigeria.com EconomicConfidential.com PRNigeria.com/Hausa/
EmergencyDigest.com PoliticsDigest.ng TechDigest.ng
HealthDigest.ng SpokesPersonsdigest.com TeensDigest.ng
ArewaAgenda.com Hausa.ArewaAgenda.com YAShuaib.com
  • TAGS
  • Borno’s governor
  • power
  • Professor Zulum
Previous articleDEFAMATION: JAMB Spokesperson demands N6bn compensation from Human Rights Radio
Next articleICT Hub: PRNigeria, Penlight Centre Train Youths on Graphics Design, Entrepreneurship Skills in Kano
Isa Gusau
Isa Gusau
Xing

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

Police Officer

Security Forces Eliminate 2 Bandits in Bauchi as Police Inspector, Civilian Shot Dead in Benue

Omoyele Sowore

Sowore of Sahara Reporters Released after Police Explain Reasons for Detention

Military Troops in Action

Military Foils ISWAP Attack, Eliminates Scores of Terrorists in Borno

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and CG Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi

That Presidential Endorsement of the Customs Boss

NAF Airstrike fighter jets

NAF Jets Pound Insurgents After Failed Attack on Rann Troops

Niger State Governor, Mohammed Umaru Bago,

Badeggi FM and the High Cost of Governor Bago’s Overreach

NIPR President Ike Neliaku and a recently inducted PR professional from Kano

PHOTOS: NIPR Inducts 80 New PR Professionals in Kano to its 31,000-Strong Membership

Officers of the Nigerian Police Force and delegates from the UN

Nigeria Remains Committed to Curbing Illicit Arms Proliferation – IG Assures UN Delegation

Omoyele Sowore

Rights Groups Condemn Police Over Alleged Assault and Detention of Omoyele Sowore

Navy Destroys illegal refinery

Nigerian Navy Records Major Breakthroughs in Fight Against Oil Theft in July 2025

Military Troops during operations

In Katsina, Troops Repel Bandits Attack, Rescue 3 Captives

Military Troops in Action

Troops Foil Terrorists Attack, Eliminate 7 Terrorists in Borno

Recent Posts

  • Kano Governor Sacks Two Aides Over Misconducts
  • Security Forces Eliminate 2 Bandits in Bauchi as Police Inspector, Civilian Shot Dead in Benue
  • Former Agriculture Minister, Chief Audu Ogbeh, Dies at 78
  • WAEC Revises 2025 SSCE Results, English, Maths Pass Rate Rises to 62.9%
  • Sowore of Sahara Reporters Released after Police Explain Reasons for Detention
  • Home
  • About
  • Adverts
  • Contact
© 2020 PRNigeria. All Rights Reserved.
Latest News
Kano Governor Sacks Two Aides Over MisconductsSecurity Forces Eliminate 2 Bandits in Bauchi as Police Inspector, Civilian Shot Dead in BenueFormer Agriculture Minister, Chief Audu Ogbeh, Dies at 78WAEC Revises 2025 SSCE Results, English, Maths Pass Rate Rises to 62.9%Sowore of Sahara Reporters Released after Police Explain Reasons for DetentionMining Marshals Seal Illegal Quarry in Abuja, Arrest 13 SuspectsMilitary Foils ISWAP Attack, Eliminates Scores of Terrorists in BornoKaduna Police Nab Suspected Gunrunners, Recover FirearmsThat Presidential Endorsement of the Customs BossNAF Jets Pound Insurgents After Failed Attack on Rann TroopsBadeggi FM and the High Cost of Governor Bago's OverreachNAF Taps NIGCOMSAT for Satellite-Based Security, Intelligence SupportWorld Bank Vice President visits Baze University, Commends Educational Standards, Assures PartnershipsPHOTOS: NIPR Inducts 80 New PR Professionals in Kano to its 31,000-Strong MembershipJUST IN: NAHCON Announces Fare for 2026 Hajj Exercise
X whatsapp