The talented Borno man used components of a lister engine which is originally made for water pump, to construct a ploughing locally made machine which works like a tractor that is being pushed by hand.
By SADIQ ABUBAKAR, Maiduguri –
Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State has doled out the sum of five million naira to support the innovative skills of a talented almajiri, Laminu Mohammed, who fabricated a manual-push farming plough machine for tilling and ploughing farmlands.
Zulum, a professor of irrigation farming, was impressed by Laminu Mohammed, a 25-year-old from Gubio Local Government in northern Borno State, who had never attended any formal school except the eastern education, popularly known as the traditional Quranic education ( Tsangaya) in Borno which is also called almajiri education system across the northern Nigeria.
Laminu was said to have used components of a lister engine which is originally made for water pump, to construct a ploughing locally made machine which works like a tractor that is being pushed by hand.
Zulum was informed of Laminu’s talent by a government official. The governor as an Agricultural Engineer, invited Laminu, and during technical interaction with the governor, Laminu proved his skills for inventing such a machine and the governor rewarded him with N5 million.
The Governor said the amount is aimed to inspire the ‘unschooled engineer’ to produce more ploughs and possibly, other agricultural machineries that can serve farmers in Borno.
It will be recalled that Governor Zulum’s support for Laminu came barely two weeks after the Governor approved over N5 million for a 13-year old primary school boy who used mud to copy-design Borno’s first flyover located at Customs Area of Maiduguri Metropolis.
In another development, Governor Zulum has presented five mini buses and N20 million cash to a young Borno youth who specializes in converting buses with petrol engines into solar-powered electric vehicles.
The support was passed to Phoenix Renewable Energy Group owned by the beneficiary.
