Since the start of Ramadan on June 17th the Governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima, has thrown a lavish breakfast party everyday for elite individuals in Maiduguri according to sources.
This breakfast party is held everyday despite the desperate financial state in Borno, which has been exacerbated by routine terrorist attacks by Boko Haram.
“… [Our] democratic governments were allegedly either engaged in senseless looting of public funds or were more interested in corpse dressing by way of making ambitious claims to attract publicity or focusing more on city centres leaving villagers exposed to financial manipulation by insurgents… All leaders are to blame for this [Boko Haram crises]; no one is an exception, including me.” – Kashim Shettima, NUJ Abuja, July 23, 2015
The Borno State House of Assembly recently cut down the number of aides Governor Shettima has from 40 to 20 in an effort to control outrageous expenses from the State government.
Recently Governors from other northern States, including Governor El-Rufai of Kaduna State and Governor Ganduje of Kano State, have taken measures to control spending by their State governments which include eliminating the State-sponsored Ramadan breakfast.