Vice President Kashim Shettima has officially commissioned 375 fully refurbished tractors in Borno State on Sunday, June 8, 2025. The tractors, which were originally owned by the Borno State Government, were refurbished by the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) through the National Assets Recovery, Refurbishment and Redeployment Project, also known as the Asset Restore Project.
The commissioning ceremony took place on Sunday at the Borno State Agricultural Mechanisation Authority (BOSAMA) headquarters in Maiduguri. During the event, Vice President Shettima applauded the role of NASENI and Governor Babagana Umara Zulum in supporting agricultural growth and sustainable mechanisation across the region.
“My greatest commendation to the Governor of Borno State for his commitment to providing leadership in the state,” Shettima said. He also highlighted NASENI’s broader impact, stating, “We have seen NASENI at work, playing critical roles in our interventions in compressed natural gas (CNG) retrofitting, renewable energy technologies, and agricultural mechanisation.”
The Vice President emphasized the need for local solutions to Nigeria’s challenges, particularly in agriculture and energy infrastructure. “We are reminded more than ever that we can’t create durable Nigerian solutions to Nigerian problems unless we localise global technologies,” he added.
Governor Zulum, who spoke earlier at the event, recognised the Vice President’s contributions during his tenure as Governor of Borno State from 2011 to 2019. He revealed that the tractors were first procured by Shettima during that period.
“Let me bring to the kind notice of this gathering that these tractors were procured by my predecessor, Senator Kashim Shettima, when he was the Governor of Borno State. He procured 1000 tractors and their implements,” Zulum stated. “He did not stop at that, but he also procured 250 units each of groundnut diggers, fertiliser broadcasters, rotovators, bailers and 25 units of combined harvesters.”
Highlighting long-term investments in agricultural equipment, Zulum said, “At a time when it would have been politically safe to focus only on short-term interventions, he chose instead to make a long-term investment in the future of our people.”
In a related development, the Vice President also commissioned 351 newly delivered farm implements procured by Zulum’s administration. According to the Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Engr Bawu Musami, the implements include 121 disc ploughs, 180 disc harrows, grain threshers, rotary slashers, and 6-cubic-meter diesel tankers.
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Both the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, and NASENI Vice Chairman/CEO, Khali Sulieman Halilu, praised Zulum for his visionary leadership in agricultural development.