I’LL BORROW FOR THE 1ST TIME IN 2025 – ALIA
…The Benue governor is a big liar – Group
Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue State says his government will begin to take heavy loans when he clocks two years in office in May 2025.
The Governor revealed this during a thanksgiving service organized for him and his appointees by his mother, Mrs Martina Alia at Government House chapel, Makurdi.
Alia claimed that since he took over power as governor, his government has not borrowed even a single penny, despite what he called “massive development” and payment of salaries.
Alia’s assertion however runs contrary to the reality on ground as his critics have constantly accused him of running a government of zero transparency and accountability, in the midst of increased monthly allocations to the state, following the removal of fuel subsidies.
The Secretary General of a popular pro-democracy group, Network For Transparent Governance (NTG), Comrade Oliver Omenka described Governor Alia’s claim as the height of deceit and corruption. Omenka pointed out that other state governors have since cleared the backlog of salaries, pensions and gratuities which they inherited, because they now have enough resources at their disposal.
“Governor Alia thinks that everyone is a fool so he can continue to deceive us with his tissue of lies. When this man was campaigning, he promised to clear the arrears of salaries, pensions and gratuities, but it is almost two years into his tenure and he has failed to keep his promise, the same way he failed the internally displaced people (IDPs) who are still in camps that he will return them to their ancestral homes within his first 100 days in office”, the NTG scribe stated.
Omenka continued:
“Alia is receiving monumental allocations from the federation’s account. The Chairman of BIRS revealed the other day that the board under him is generating a minimum of N2 billion every month for Governor Alia. Where has the money gone?”
“He Alia himself announced during the 2025 budget presentation that the state Bureau of International Cooperation and Development has received grants from donors totalling N85 billion. What is the governor doing with all such voluminous money?” Omenka queried.
Fact-checks by The Informant indicated that Governor Alia lied to the congregation during the church thanksgiving service and many others who were watching the live streaming of the event when he claimed that his government has not taken a loan since the 29th of May 2023.
Records available to this newspaper showed that the Alia administration has taken loans, including N34.69 billion in August 2024. The Informant discovered that the total loans accumulated under Governor Alia’s leadership have reached an astonishing N167.69 billion in less than two years.
The people of Benue State must be questioning what their Governor is doing to be able to look them in the face and speak so dishonestly.
Meanwhile, condemnations have increased on Governor Alia’s decision to purchase a private jet (a Bombardier Challenger 850) at a staggering cost of $7 million (N11.2 billion).
At the time of this report, Governor Alia or his media handlers were yet to react to the report that he had acquired a private jet. Calls and messages to the governor’s spokesmen regarding the issue were also yet to be returned or replied.
