Ortom Hands Over N187bn Debt To Successor

The outgoing governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, yesterday, officially hands over to the governor- elect Revd. Hyacinth Iormem Alia of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Performing the ceremony at Government House Makurdi, Governor Ortom said the income accrued to the state during his eight years of governance stands at the N734.9 billion.

He added that expenditure and others gulped N735.6 billion admitting that the debt of the state was on a high side.

According to him, “My administration is handing over N187.5 billion debt made up of salary arrears, loan, contractual obligations and others.

“Although the administration has taken proactive steps to negotiate and ensure significant reduction/relief, so by the time you discount or factor in the negotiated debt swap and the expected inflow the state would attain a debt reduction, bringing down the state debt profile to N45.2b.”

He said, “This handover note contained not only structure but activities of my eight years administration but also contain sectoral briefs of the agencies, ministry and  departments.”

“It contains three volumes;  volume one is handover of all MDAs, volume two comprises of  policy document of my administration, (the Benue development plan) the part B is the comprehensive briefs submitted by ministries and agencies and part three contained  highlights  of debt profile and pension.

“The revenue and income from all sources; federation account, Value Added Tax, grants, loans and others stand at N734.9 billion as at the end of April while the expenditure

stand at N735.6b as at the end of April.”

The outgoing governor added, “the debt situation of the state might appear on high side  but government had taken significant steps to reduce this through debt swap with federal government.”

Ortom informed the incoming governor to make use of funds that will soon be available for him such as backlog of stamp duty and N61 billion loan facilities approved by the federal government from the Central Bank of Nigeria for a smooth take off.

In his brief remarks, the incoming governor, Revd. Fr. Alia appreciated Ortom for his service to the state.