The Benue state government has alleged that Governor Hyacinth Alia inherited over 600 bank accounts operated by the immediate past administration of Governor Samuel Ortom.
The state commissioner for Finance and Budget Planning, Michael Oglegba, disclosed this on Thursday, October 19, saying Governor Alia had justifiable cause to freeze all government accounts immediately after taking over from his predecessor
Oglegba spoke when the state Correspondents’ Chapel members paid him a courtesy call in Makurdi, the state capital, stressing that the Governor needed to understand what was on ground.
According to him, the new administration was shown only 25 government accounts operated by the State Government whereas the information at the Nigerian Inter Bank System however showed that the State had over 600 accounts.
He said: “When we came in, we asked for the accounts and bank statements and we were presented with about 25 bank accounts. A causal look at the Nigerian Inter Bank System showed that Benue Government has more than 600 accounts.
“So the governor needed to freeze those accounts to know exactly what was happening.”
Oglegba also said that the State wage bill has drastically reduced following the ongoing audits adding that the process was still ongoing and new figures would be announced when completed.
The Finance Commissioner also gave insight into the State debts profile, revealing that the state government was owning over N359bn including that of the Local Government Areas.
He explained that the state government was owning in excess N200bn while the remaining over N150bn were LGAs debts.
He added: “The debts own by the State itself was in excess of N200bn. This includes local and foreign debts. However, the LGAs also have their own debts, unpaid salaries, pensions, gratuities and local contractors that made up the other N150bn.
“So the Alia administration has no reason to lie about the State debts. We will be doing ourselves a great disservice if we say we own monies that we do not own. When we need loans for example who will give us?.”
The commissioner further disclosed that the handing over notes from the immediate past administration indicated that there were 19,000 pupils and 16,000 teacher but physically they do not exist.
He said that by this figures it was clear that it was one pupil to one teacher.
Oglegba said the Alia administration has done so much within its five months in office without any borrowing.
He said there were ongoing construction of 16 township roads within the State Capital, lightening of Streets, rehabilitation and remodeling of State Assembly Complex, renovation of State Secretariat among others.
He said the State Government has also paid five months salaries in the last four months.
He said all contractors handling government projects in the State were also paid without collecting any loan.
He also urged the correspondents members to always be objective and balance all reports adding that the government needed them to succeed.
In his remarks earlier, Chairman of Correspondents’ Chapel, Mr Emmanuel Antswen said they came to partner with the commissioner to strengthen their working relationship.
Antswen assured that the chapel members would continue to support and promote Government policies as they always do.
However, ex – governor Samuel Ortom has dismissed the claims by the state government as false.
“The present government of Benue is selling a narrative to unsuspecting people of the state that they inherited N359 billion as debt from the previous government led by Chief Ortom.
“This narrative is not only false but is also a deliberate stratagem to snooker the people.
“Curiously, this same government told the people via a statement by Governor Alia’s Chief Press Secretary in June this year that Governor Ortom handed N187.56 billion to them as debt, which was the same amount the former Governor mentioned while presenting handover notes to his successor.
“The inflows Benue State was expecting at the time Governor Ortom was leaving office were: (a) Backlog of accumulated Stamp Duties – N48billion, (b) Refund from Debt Swap with Federal Government – N22.95 billion. Total = N70.95 billion.
“When the negotiated debt swap and the expected inflows are discounted, the State was set to attain a significant debt reduction, bringing down its debt profile to N45.2 billion.
“It should also be noted that owing to the efforts of the Ortom administration, Benue State by May 29, 2023, had outstanding approvals awaiting disbursement from the Federal Government including the balance of Bailout – N41 billion and a N20 billion Central Bank of Nigeria facility.
“At the same time, the Benue State government was expecting N9 billion as refund on withdrawals for subsidy and SURE-P. The Alia administration is yet to tell the people if it has already received the N9 billion SURE-P funds,” he stated.
