Babagana Umara
Date of Birth: 26 August 1969
State of Origin: Borno
Gender: Male
Qualifications: PRIMARY SCHOOL CERTIFICATE GENERAL CERTIFICATE IN EDUCATION DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
Elections Contested: 1
Bio
Babagana Umara Zulum is a Nigerian professor and politician born on 1969-08-26 in Mafa Local Government Area of Borno State. He attended Mafa Primary School (1975-1980) and Government Secondary School, Monguno (1980-1985), earned a degree in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Maiduguri, completed NYSC with Katsina State Polytechnic, obtained a master's degree in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Ibadan (1997-1998), and completed a PhD in Soil and Water Engineering at the University of Maiduguri (2005-2009).
His public-service and academic career began in 1989 as an Assistant Technical Officer in Borno State's Ministry of Agriculture. In 1990, he joined the Borno State Unified Local Government Service as Senior Field Overseer and later Principal Water Engineer. In 2000, he joined the University of Maiduguri as an assistant lecturer and rose to Professor, serving as Deputy Dean and Acting Dean of Engineering in 2010 and 2011; in 2011, he was appointed rector of Ramat Polytechnic, Maiduguri, while retaining his university teaching position.
In 2015, Governor Kashim Shettima appointed him Commissioner for Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement. He has published local and international journal articles in Agricultural Engineering, won the APC Borno governorship primary on 1 October 2018, and was elected governor of Borno State in the 9 March 2019 election with 1,175,440 votes. He has served as governor since 2019 under the All Progressives Congress (APC), and in 2023 he ran with Usman Umaru Kadafur as running mate.