Chief Press Secretary to the Benue State governor, Terver Akase speaks with journalists on the Gov. Samuel Ortom-led administration’s efforts at delivering essential infrastructure to the people, including the move to recover N107bn state fund allegedly looted by the previous administration. Emmanuel Uja was there.
When your principal the Governor says he inherited an empty and deficit treasury from the previous administration, what exactly does he mean?
Since the creation of Benue State, the people have never experienced the kind of locusts that hit them under the previous government. At the time Governor Samuel Ortom was sworn into office, the accounts of the state were in red. His predecessor had, in addition to leaving a huge debt burden and unpaid salaries for many months, stopped giving overheads to ministries, departments and agencies; took bank overdrafts and left projects uncompleted. So it was a question of where and with which resources do we start. The government of Gabriel Suswam received federal allocation for the month of May but not even one month’s salary was paid. The gloomy situation necessitated the decision by the government to take a loan of N10 billion, with which it was able to pay salaries for the months of May and June, as well as kick-start governance in various sectors of the economy.
Governor Ortom came with the mantra, ‘If you chop money, money will chop you;’ but his critics are quick to describe his stand against corruption as lip service. What’s your response to this?
Ironically, majority of Benue people believe what their Governor has been saying and doing to eliminate corruption from the closets of governance. The people whom you refer to as describing the Governor’s anti-corruption campaign as lip service are those who benefited from the massive looting of the state directly or indirectly and were hoping for a continuation of the plunder if PDP (Peoples Democratic Party) had remained in power. The very day Governor Ortom declared war against corruption in Benue State, he began with members of his cabinet. He said during the State Executive Council meeting that if anyone of the Exco members was interested in making money, the person should honourably resign and go into business. To set the tone for the success of the anti-graft war, the Governor set up the Justice Elizabeth Kpojime Judicial Commission of Inquiry, which report indicted the former Governor Gabriel Suswam and 51 others for looting N107 billion belonging to Benue State.
Among those indicted was a serving special adviser to the Governor, but as soon as the matter came up, Governor Ortom asked the affected adviser to resign even as the offence upon which he was indicted was not committed under the present administration.
The governor has also taken steps to restore sanity in the system. As we speak, there are two bills before the Benue State House of Assembly. One of them is on public procurement, better known as due process. The other is on fiscal responsibility. These bills are the first in the state and when they become law, the battle against corruption will reach an unprecedented height in Benue.
Critics of your principal have also accused him of following the same pattern, with little to show. Tell us about this government’s record of achievements in brief.
You see, the opposition party in Benue State has recruited mercenaries, whose only job is to hurl daily insults on Governor Ortom and his administration. Their target is to divert attention from the numerous achievements being recorded by the Governor. Falsehood is their vehicle for achieving the impossible task. I call it impossible task because Benue people are wiser, and that’s why their attempts have failed on all occasions. The people have seen through their veil of lies and rejected same. The people know that the economy is generally bad now, so they understand and appreciate the Governor for his efforts despite the current recession.
You surely read about Governor Ortom’s presentation at one of the side events during the United Nations General Assembly this year. That feat was possible because Benue under Governor Ortom became the first state in the country to pay counterpart funds for construction and equipment of modern primary health centres in 33 communities across the state under Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs. The State Government paid N1.2 billion and accessed N1.2 billion from the SDGs office taking the total to N2.4 billion. With the funds, the construction of the health centres, skill acquisition and enterprise development centres, orange packaging plants and boreholes commenced in parts of the state. Most of those projects have been completed as I talk to you.
The Schools of Nursing and Midwifery which lost accreditation three years ago have regained the accreditation. Imagine the massive contribution the two schools will make to the manpower needs of the Benue State health sector. This sector was neglected by the previous government and structures in those institutions were all dilapidated and became an eyesore. Two weeks ago, the Governor gave a directive that 86 casual staff of the schools be given letters of permanent appointment and the directive was immediately implemented.
Are you saying that your principal is addressing both employment and training challenges in the health sector at the same time?
That’s precisely what I am saying. The Governor had earlier done a similar thing for the Benue State University’s School of Health Sciences. Medical students of the university were stagnated and could not graduate for 12 years until Governor Ortom came on board and immediately approved the payment of accreditation requirements for College of Health Sciences and the University Teaching Hospital. Seeing the commitment demonstrated by the Ortom administration, the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria gave the accreditation and opened the gates for the graduation of 40 pioneer medical doctors after 12 years of stagnation.
In education, the success story is equally impressive. The construction and rehabilitation of 740 primary schools in the 23 local government areas of the state is ongoing. Arrangements have been concluded for the procurement and installation of 100 computers and portal construction in primary and junior secondary schools across the state. The Governor also approved the payment of salaries of BSU Technical School Staff after five years of non-payment. Very soon, renovation and rehabilitation of 64 government-owned secondary schools will commence across the state.
In the area of infrastructure, the present government mobilised contractors back to site to complete many roads abandoned by the previous administration, while work on two new road projects is ongoing. The road projects abandoned by the former government are Zaki Biam – Afia – Gbeji, Taraku – Naka – Agagbe, Oju – Obussa – Utonkon, Otukpo – Utonkon – Igumale, Oshigbudu – Ogbaji, Igbor – Ikpa – Wannune, Vandeikya – Koti-Yough – Adikpo, Ge – Ikyobo – Agbeede – Amua – Anshagba, Tordonga – Zaki Biam with spur to Tsewuaze – Tiza – Shila as well as the Daudu – Gbajimba Road. The new road contracts awarded by our administration which work is also ongoing are Mobile Police Barracks – Yaikyo – Apir and the Origbo – Imande – Akpur – Gbajimba Road.
Still on infrastructure, work has already commenced on the Makurdi Cargo Airport, which is a public-private partnership.
Benue is reputed as the food basket of the nation. Interestingly, your boss is a farmer and he made agriculture one of the pillars of his administration. But more than one year down the road, the food basket still looks empty. How is your government keeping its promise of agriculture-driven industrialisation?
The Return-to-farm policy of the Ortom administration is well on course and the agric revolution is sweeping across the Benue valley like a hurricane. One of the first things the Governor did was to subsidize fertiliser for farmers by 38%. The subsidy and the method of distribution ensured that fertiliser got to the actual farmers at affordable prices. Though there were isolated cases of complaints in some quarters, the exercise was a major improvement from what the people experienced under the previous administration. As we interact this minute, public-private arrangements have been concluded to enable Benue farmers purchase and own tractors and other agriculture equipment at subsidised rates. Marketing Boards will soon be established to boost commercial agriculture in every part of Benue State. When the rains stop, clearing of mass hectares of land for dry season farming will commence while dams will also be built. The investor who has taken over Taraku Mills has set aside about N6 billion for only the purchase of soya beans from Benue farmers this year. The State Government last week, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Bank of Industry to jointly provide N2 billion loans to farmers of the state. This move will no doubt place the needed capital in the hands of our farmers and you bet that the economy of the state will be better for it.
– To be continued
