May 12, (THEWILL) -The Special Adviser to the governor of Benue state on Media and Publicity, Mr Terver Akase, has decried what he referred to as ‘a sponsored online publication’, aimed at smearing the reputation of Governor Samuel Ortom and the Speaker, Benue State House of Assembly, Mr Titus Uba, in which authors of the piece attempted to cast the administration as one thriving only on loans.
“While we are not bothered by the jaundiced intent of those behind the article, we find it pertinent to put the records straight for the benefit of Benue people, who may be misled by the politically motivated publication.”
He explained that since 2015 when Samuel Ortom became the Governor of Benue State, the only thing critics have desperately tried to use against him is payment of salaries and pensions.
According to him, such critics also know that Governor Ortom was not responsible for the recession which Nigeria went into in 2016, making it difficult for 27 states including Benue to pay salaries and pensions.
“The Ortom administration, like those of other states, in 2015, applied for the bailout which the Federal Government had resolved to give to states to cushion the adverse effects of the recession and enable them to pay the outstanding salaries and pensions.”
Mr Akase said, Benue State Executive Council sought the approval of the State House of Assembly and applied for N69 billion bailout which would have addressed the backlog of the emoluments.
“The Federal Ministry of Finance and Central Bank of Nigeria, for whatever reason, approved and released only N28 billion of the bailout, leaving N41 billion pending. Out of the N28 billion that came to the state, N15.5 billion was for the 23 local government areas, while N12.5 went to the state for payment of outstanding emoluments.”
The Special Adviser recalled that Kogi and some other states, later revalidated the 2015 bailout application and were given the balance of the total amount they originally requested, while Benue State Government also made several efforts to get the N41 billion balance released to it, but such efforts could not yield results.
“The N41 billion loan facility the Benue State Assembly approved a few days ago was only a revalidation of the application for the pending bailout of N41 billion and not a fresh loan approval. Out of the N41 billion, N17 billion will go for payment of the arrears of salaries and pensions at the state level, while N24 billion will go to local governments.”
In a statement in Makurdi on Monday, Mr Akase noted that those that authored the online publication don’t want the people to know; saying their fear is that once Governor Ortom is able to get the funds and clear the arrears of salaries and pensions, they will no longer have anything to hold as a tool to tarnish his image and that of his administration.
“They are the real enemies of Benue workers and retirees. As far as their aim of painting the Governor in bad colours is achieved, the interest of the workers and pensioners does not count. In their desperation, the authors of the same piece have dragged the Speaker of the State house of Assembly, Mr Uba, into their campaign of calumny, branding him with all manner of names.”
Mr Akase pointed out that Benue Assembly is not a Titus Uba house, but a legislature made up of representatives of all Benue people where other political parties also have members who unanimously supported the approval.
He stated that to single out the Speaker for attacks is not only unfortunate, but also a smack of shameful vendetta and called on members of the public to disregard such publication in its totality.
