…Warns the governor to stop falsehood against his predecessor 

Former appointees of the immediate past Governor of Benue State, Chief Samuel Ortom, on Tuesday tasked Governor Hyacinth Alia to account for the over N1.2 trillion in state revenue he reportedly received as inflows that accrued to the state under his watch in the last three years.

The ex-aides are worried that since the inception of Alia‘s administration, he has refused to be transparent with state funds, and has consistently been accusing Ortom of accomplishing virtually nothing throughout his eight years in office, including non-payment of salaries for civil servants and pensioners’ gratuities.

This is contained in a statement issued in Makurdi to mark the Governor’s third anniversary in office.

However, the governor, in a swift reply on the N1.2 billion claim and financial transparency, lauded the budget performance of his administration during the period.

Governor Alia, who gave the clarifications via his Chief Press Secretary, Tersoo Kula, said, “The state’s Budget performances over three years reflect 61.6%(2023); 64.8%(2024) and 81%(2025). Taking an average of over three years, we have a performance of 69.1% from 2023 to 2025.

“‎And it is important to stress that over the three years of the Alia administration, the Benue State Budget, inclusive of FAAC, IGR, grants, aid, and loans (termed Discretionary and Non-Discretionary funds) were approved at N179.7b(2023), N373.1b(2024) and N550.1b(2025), which aggregated to 1.1trillion.

“‎Non-Discretionary funds are grants and aid, which come in the form of kind or health commodities, interventions by donors, etc that are not really cash-backed or cash-budgeted.

“Most of the time, the funds come in terms of the provision of counterpart funding to enable the drawdown of such items or commodities, which the State has no absolute control over.

“‎It is also worthy to note that Approved Budgets do not amount to the actual amount gotten in a year, and the average budget performance is calculated ( whether cash flow or non-discretionary).

“‎Therefore, the actual amount realised as State inflows in terms of Discretionary and Non- Discretionary funds that the State receives is 69.1% of N1.1trillion, which, if calculated, comes to 762.8 billion. (Note, this is inclusive of grants, which come in items or commodities) over the three years. This is an indication that the State could not realise 30.9% of its projections.

“‎Interestingly, the loans left by the same PDP government under Ortom, which amount to 359.6b are still being serviced regularly, with some deductions carried out from the source. (Some in the form of judgment debts or garnishees).

“‎This is why Governor Alia always emphasises that he is pinching the pennies. Because with N762b over three years, if you subtract Non-Discretionary funds of about N280 billion in three years, one is left with about N562b cash-backed or cash budget or Discretionary funds for three years, to offset a loan profile of N359.6billion; pay salaries, run overheads, and fight insecurity (which is really expensive)”.

The statement from Ortom’s former aides was signed by Dr Adzer Abya, Coordinator, and Hon. Joseph Odaudu, Secretary, on behalf of others, in which they described Governor Alia’s claims that the Ortom administration left behind unpaid salaries and achieved little in office as “false, reckless and deliberately misleading”.

They maintained that the Ortom administration paid salaries for 91 out of its 96 months in office despite the steep economic challenges, including recession, declining oil prices, reduced federal allocations, the COVID-19 pandemic, and persistent herdsmen attacks.

The former officials further stated that the Ortom government inherited from Gabriel Suswam a whopping N72 billion in unpaid pensions and gratuities, out of which N42 billion was reportedly paid, alongside over N8 billion contributed to the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).

The group listed “over 1,000 primary school projects, upgrades at the Benue State University Teaching Hospital, including the installation of MRI and dialysis machines, construction of roads, establishment of the Benue Geographic Information Service (BENGIS), and the building of palaces for the Tor Tiv and Och’Idoma”.

They also praised the implementation of the 2017 Open Grazing Prohibition Law, describing it as a landmark policy that protected communities from attacks.

In contrast, the group alleged that insecurity has worsened under Governor Alia’s administration, with increasing displacement of residents and no visible fulfilment of the promise to return internally displaced persons (IDPs) to their homes within 100 days.

The statement questioned what it described as the lack of visible development projects despite huge revenues allegedly received by the state, including N762.9 billion from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), N527.7 billion allocated to local governments, N79 billion in internally generated revenue (IGR), and a N100 billion loan, among other inflows totalling over N1.2 trillion.

“Twenty-one out of the twenty-three local government areas have little or no visible evidence of government presence”, the statement claimed.

The group demanded full disclosure of state revenues, expenditures, loans — including a proposed N250 billion loan — donations meant for IDPs, and local government deductions reportedly amounting to nearly N304 million monthly for relief materials.

They also called on the Alia administration to present a clear security strategy and clarify its position on the state’s anti-open grazing law.

The former aides also implored Governor Alia to stop comparing his administration with that of Ortom, but measure performance against governors in states such as Enugu, Nasarawa, Niger, and Plateau, which they said are recording visible development from post-subsidy revenues.