Benue State governor, Hycinth Alia, has made a promise to facilitate uninterrupted payments of the extensive backlog of monthly salaries, arrears, and other entitlements owed to the state’s workers by past administrations.
He disclosed this to State House correspondents after meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa.
The governor expressed concern over the staggering N359billion wage bill his administration inherited, describing it as a significant burden on the state’s finances.
He further clarified that his government was actively working to renegotiate the debts and put the state on a more sustainable financial path for future development.
Alia 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.
“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.”
Governor Alia affirmed his commitment to fulfilling his pledge to pay state workers their salaries on the 25th of every month.
The governor also highlighted efforts to ensure that retirees receive their gratuities and pensions promptly, with a goal of reducing the backlog of arrears that have accumulated over time.
He emphasised the importance of increasing the state’s internally generated revenue (IGR) to address the financial obligations.
Governor Alia lamented the severity of the debt burden, revealing that some local government workers were owed up to five years of salaries, with the least arrears being four months, adding that the accumulated debt reached a staggering N359 billion, presenting a significant challenge to his new administration.
The governor lauded the Federal Government for the inclusion of Benue State in the recent palliatives given to States and other interventions, as well as concerted efforts at taming the resurgence of insecurity in the state.
Governor Alia said 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.”
The governor added, “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 ancestral homes.
“And we cannot thank the federal government enough for assisting us by 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.”
Dismissing the reports of ransom in exchange for the recent release of this Commissioner for Information, Fr Alia said: “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.”
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.
“If you are a bad egg in the state, leave, just leave on your own. Because this is a season for peace and nothing less is being requested by people,” he declared.
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