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By Bridget Tikyaa-Ikyado
Eleven is an insignificant quantity in a reference to the number of months expended in the ritual of governance for an administration with a 4-year span.
An alluring scorecard, has however, helped the masses Governor, Hyacinth Alia to give significance to a 11-month account of his stewardship in Benue State.
With this, he has stunned dissenting voices and left critics spellbound. Indeed, his landmark achievements within a shorttime has left many green with envy and some others to explore uncharitable options to degrade his character.
Addressing the Nigerian Professionals Forum during the World Bank meeting in Washington DC, Thursday last week, Alia harnessed the power of collaboration and partnerships to reaffirm the need for sustainable development and positive change in Benue State and even beyond.
The Peoples’ Governor observed the Nigerian diaspora resources were too attractive to ignore based on their investment potentials and he emphasized a synergy with Nigerians living abroad for the task to rebuild the nation and to set the economy on a rebound.
The priest in politics explained that over $25billion remittances from the diaspora in 2023 further underscored the implicit value of Nigerians living abroad in investment and he affirmed a readiness to attract the resources to Benue State with a focus on agriculture, healthcare, power, mining, infrastructure, and water reticulation stressing, “We have restructured the Benue Investment and Property Company to attract Foreign Direct Investment in the state by deployment of resources and expertise.”
Alia outlined the development priorities of Benue State with emphasis on seven key areas in sync with the Renewed Hope Agenda of the federal government, particularly in security, human capital, infrastructure, agriculture, commerce, ICT and governance.
An update of his milestones in governance in the last 11 months reveal urban renewal in Makurdi and Gboko, infrastructure provision and a drive for a Civil Service with a digital orientation for efficiency and transparency.
Despite bedeviling challenges, Benue State, he noted, was the bride to court for investments due to its rich resources and location coupled with a B-grade in Fitch Ratings which underlines the financial stability of the state in a recent novel external validation.
The agent of inspiring revolution in Benue state, disclosed a reduction in cost of governance by his administration, the elimination of waste, improved fiscal responsibility, increased internal revenue aside helping to stimulate economic growth, investment enhancement in agriculture and a support to the real-sector through various intervention schemes.
Governor Alia has justified his mandate through a renewed focus on education, massive infrastructural development and the revamping of ailing state owned establishments, each giving credence to his pledge to grow a new Benue where the people are proud of an upliftment from a glorified village to a fanciful and inspiring city of hope.
Against this backdrop, Governor Hyacinth Alia, has built 16-new roads in Makurdi, with a historic overhead bridge in both Makurdi and Gboko alongside the revamping of the Benue State University Teaching Hospital.
In addition is the complete renovation and furnishings of the state secretariat, renovations of government houses and lodges and reconstruction of Benue State House of Assembly. Governor Alia has not defaulted in the commitment to workers wages but is consistent in payment of salaries, gratuities and pensions.
His further veneration stems from the payment of 15-thousand naira as allowance to Youth Corps members in the state, the payment of 100-thousand Naira to Corps doctors and a monthly allowance to medical students of Benue state origin nationwide.
With Alia-Cares, the poor and most vulnerable group in the state have exchanged their worries and despair for hope and laughter through unfailing access to stipends while a strategic initiative to secure the state and end the spate of banditry and insecurity has taken Benue State some niches higher.
The task for a new Benue State is chaperoned by Governor Hyacinth Alia with images of optimism and a spark of goodwill distinctly on the horizon. His meeting with delegations from the United States Chamber of Commerce and Agroforestry Impact and Regeneration (AIR) group in Washington, further, enhanced his investment drive as he seized the opportunity to showcase the agricultural potentials of Benue State and to solicit assistance to bolster its image as the Food Basket of the nation.
Challenges of reconstruction in the face of dwindling revenue, reliable approaches to effective management of resources, innovative drive for sustainable agriculture and a friendly business environment are attributes of the Alia administration that the international business community are currently abreast with and the hope of a greater Benue has become brighter.
The new Benue state envisioned by Governor Hyacinth Alia is one with a robust economy to offer gainful employments to indigenes, ensure a flourishing trade and commerce, a hive of industrial activities, and a peaceful dwelling place where education, agriculture, mining and a host of profitable engagements become her exceptional quality.
Indeed, Governor Alia is on the steering wheel of the engine of a new Benue State, he has with him, a team of experts to assist him in the onerous task, some of them as respected scholars and technocrats, others as seasoned politicians, statesmen and bureaucrats and there is no call for panic but required is our collective goodwill and support to an evolving era of bliss and prosperity in our beloved state.
By Bridget Tikyaa Ikyado
Principal Special Assistant to the Governor on Media ,Publicity and Strategic Communications