Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue State has revealed his administration inherited a debt burden of N359 billion through the non-payment of staff salaries, pensions, and gratuities, including domestic liabilities from his predecessor.
He described the debt inherited by his administration as a dent to his government in the state.
Alia, who met President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa Abuja, at the weekend, said his administration would see how those debts can be renegotiated to put the state on a better perspective to offset it gradually.
He said once such moves were perfected, workers in the state would be getting their salaries on the 25th of every month to fulfil his pledge on resumption of office in May this year.
The Governor also revealed that efforts were on to boost their Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, which will assist in offsetting pensions and salaries.
He said, “Since we came in, I know that Benue State on record has the debts of all over N359 billion being pensions and gratuities, salaries and arrears as well as the debts ranging from the poor and then the domestics.
“What we’re trying to do is to see how we can renegotiate these and then to get back on a better perspective and then to forge ahead with the development of this state.
“For now. We have established the continued payment of salaries each month. If you are a staff of the States or the local government in Benue state, I would have only told you to keep watch on your light on the 25th of every month. Your alert must tell you that you have been paid, and that has come to stay, and that is what we’ve been experiencing in the last four months, and we’re serious about it. A labourer deserves his wages. So, you work, you earn your living.
“So, the state is not going to owe anything to anyone. Again, to those who are retiring since this 2023, we’ve already made it a point of duty that once you retire, it must not take up to four months before you collect your gratuities and your pension. By doing this, gradually we’re going to revisit the backlog of arrears that exists. In fact, we’ve started work on that already.
“So, we’re trying to raise the IGR. So, once it is raised any month, then we have something in there, it goes straight to the arears of pensioners, and then even of salaries.”
Further lamenting the debt burden he inherited, Fr Alia said, “you’ll be shocked to hear that some in the local governments were owed for up to five years of salaries, five years! And then the least we recorded are People who were owed up to four months. There was a list and this is why the debts comes up to 359 billion naira on my head and on the head of Benue State.”
He used the visit to the presidency to laud the Federal Government for the inclusion of Benue State in the recent dole out of palliatives and other interventions, as well as concerted efforts at taming the resurgence of insecurity in the state.
According to him, the gesture had been helpful, especially given the prevailing dire straits in terms of meeting sundry obligations to the people and tackling the challenge of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) prevalent in the state.
“Lots of the support we’re gaining from the federal government. It is our hope that this will continue,” he said, noting that the gesture has also brought relative peace that was, hitherto, absent because of political divisions of the people along party lines in the state.
“That has been very, very helpful. Insecurity in the past was something of trouble. But, we are pleased to know that so much work has been done and relative peace has returned to the state and I will continue to do the work.”
He said, “the aim being that we want to get all the IDPs back home to their ancestral homes and ancestral farmlands. Before May 29, It was very impossible for the IDPs to get back to their ancestral places, even to farm this current season, they were able to go back and do this.
“However, we still have skirmishes of it. All the other security apparatuses are on it and are helping so much. So, it remains our firm hope and resolution that we’ll get them back to their ancestor homes.
“And we cannot thank the federal government enough for assisting us in all ramifications for us to be able to achieve this.
“We have to thank the President for taking care of the federal roads in the state. All the federal roads that cut across the state you know, were awarded and for renovation and I’m happy he took the step in that direction even before I came to plead for further support in that direction.”
Fielding questions from reporters, he debunked reports that a huge sum of money in ransom was paid to kidnappers by the state government to secure the release of his Commissioner of Information, Culture and Tourism, Mathew Abo, who was recently abducted by some unknown gunmen in the state.
“I’ve told you what I know. The state government doesn’t pay ransom. We stand by that statement.
“The Commissioner of information was kidnapped. After six days or seven he was released. Thank God the state did not pay any ransom. It was by negotiations. And then we’re going to be quite strong on flushing out the bad elements in the State,” he said.
Governor Alia explained “The state government tried so much in this case with different security apparatuses to get to work to get into the field to get into the communities and to do a series of dynamics to get this fine gentleman back.
“And that was the exact thing we did. Thank God, you said you heard, so you don’t even know. When you know you have an authority over whatever thing you heard. So, I’ve spoken. This is why authoritatively, I’m relating to you that we were able to get this fine gentleman back home and we even issued a very strong statement.”
The governor warned criminals operating within the state to leave and relocate for good, insisting that they will not be tolerated in any form as the authorities have spread dragnets to track recalcitrant elements in their hiding places.
