The inauguration of a Catholic priest in Benue state as Governor, Rev Fr Dr Hyacinth Alia was heralded with fan and fun fare particularly as the state had been in bondage over wanton maladministration, confrontation with the Federal government, with lack of infrastructure and social services staring on the face of the populace under the last administration.
These negative tendencies had grown to disproportionate level of insecurity, unemployment, lack of payment of salaries of workers at all levels, including over 60 months pensions and arears owed retired civil servants.
Aside not paying salaries to workers to the workforce by the Samuel Ortom of PDP led administration in Benue, the state became prone to all sorts of external and internal insecurity owed largely to the hype in political participation of the state government, rather than concentrating on governance and management of the state meagre resources.
Benue was largely relying on donations from other state governments, statutory federal allocations from FAAC and other sources been depleted and cornered through joint accounts into private pockets, that made it difficult for the runnings of both state with local government areas worst for the glaring leadership gap in the state consecutively for eight years.
The local government administration that was supposed to be the third tier of government saddled with the day to day runnings became a conduit pipe for funds pilfering and siphoning to the detriment of workers, that led to percentages payment of salaries and outright non- payments of salaries for months.
Benue had been lucky with the leadership under the clergy men, as late Rev Fr Moses Adasu, though with a brief stint cleared alot of mess left behind while at the mantle of leadership in the then administration, providentially, the coming of Rev Fr Alia on May 29, 2023 was another good chapter in the books of Benue state.
Having wrested power through the will of the people that led to the APC victory at the March governorship election from the shackles of PDP leadership charade, that was merely a biting dog that knows no leadership wisdom, Alia set the ball rolling by taken meaningful decisions to return the state from the lost glory.
He quickly and without further delay put in place a machinery to work out the level of indebtedness of the state to the state workers at the State and Local Government levels and offset part of the salaries without delay, as he paid salaries to workers in the state , the first time in seven months and in 2023.
He reviewed and cancelled the last minute employments and appointments made by the last administration under Governor Ortom and also removed forthwith the local government chairmen in line with the constitutional convention and provisions.
Worried by the level of both infrastructural decadence and bad governance, he quickly instituted a committee to recover public properties looted by members who served in the previous administration to ensure all public assets are returned to government coffers.
With renewed zeal and determination to right the wrongs, Governor Alia good start will in no distance future correct all anomalies been witnessed in the last eight years of the former administration under Governor Ortom, that had not only pauperized the citizenry, but decadence in governance and decayed infrastructure scattered across the state.
Yusuf Writes from Abuja and can be reached on yus.abubakar3@gmail.com.
