Benue state governor, Hyacinth Alia says he met the state in a pitiable condition where pensioners were regarded as dead people.
He also said his predecessor, Samuel Ortom left behind a huge debt which is now hanging on his head.
Alia who stated this in an interview with reporters in Makurdi also said while he is not owing workers, he has been unable to offset the salary arrears owed by the Ortom administration.
“When I took over, I met the state in a pitiable condition. Pensioners were regarded as dead people; they were not remembered. Their entitlements were not paid for years. Local government teachers and the rest of the civil servants were nearly totally forgotten. My father was a local government teacher and I felt his pains when his entitlements were not given to him”.
“The state, since its creation, was just a glorified village. We didn’t even have light on the streets in the state capital. Our internal roads were minimally tarred. So many things were not just in place. Benue has more ghost schools and workers than the real ones. You come into the state capital, Makurdi, and it is like you come into a village. I felt there was a need for us to change that narrative”.
“Though we met a huge debt, we have been able to invest in health, roads, and some other infrastructure. Unfortunately, we have not been able to offset the arrears because it runs into hundreds of billions of naira. I cannot take care of that now, but what I have done is to take care of their salaries. Under my watch, our civil servants will not lose any of their salaries”.
