Governor Kashim Shettima has said Borno State has been dragged 50 years back because of attacks on lives and property by the Boko Haram terrorist group.

The governor disclosed this yesterday in Abuja while presenting a request to the National Universities Commission (NUC) for the recognition of Borno State University.

He revealed that a total of 5,335 classrooms and other academic buildings were destroyed by insurgents in 512 primary schools, 38 secondary schools and two tertiary institutions in the state.

According to him: “Borno State has been taken 50 years backward, no thanks to the vicious Boko Haram terrorists we inherited in 2011. As we all know, hate for education is the fundamental principle of the group. This explains why they focused their attacks on educational institutions.

The NUC Executive Secretary, Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, said the commission was working assiduously to ensure the smooth take-off of the new university.

Meanwhile, the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, has said more cooperation from the citizens would help the military to end terrorism in the country.

Buratai also described the death of Lt. Col. Mohammed Abu-Ali, the Commanding Officer of the 272 Tank Battalion as a great loss to the nation.

He stated this during an interview with journalists at a seminar on “Assessing the threats of Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria.”

According to him: “The death of Lt. Col. Mohammed Abu-Ali is a challenge to all of us to understand that the fight against insurgency is a collective effort by all Nigerians and indeed globally to ensure that terrorism is defeated.”