Ortom Says Governor Alia Lied Over N359Bn Debt Inheritance Claim

By Akinwale Kasali

Immediate past Governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, has debunked the claim of incumbent Governor of the State, Hyacinth Alia, that he inherited a huge sum of N359 Billion from the administration of his predecessor.

Governor Alia had last weekend in Abuja, the nation’s Capital, stated that he was working tirelessly to clear the huge debt he inherited from Ortom administration. But Ortom has described the State as false, calling Alia a liar.

Ortom in a statement through his Media Aide, Terver Akase said, “The present Government of Benue State 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.

“What the present Government is saying about the state debts now contradicts their previous statement,” parts of Ortom’s aide statement read.

The former Governor said that he was explicit in his handover speech that though the debt situation of the state government at the time of his exit from office might appear to be on the high side (N187.56 billion), his administration had taken proactive steps to negotiate and ensure significant debt reduction/reliefs leading to Debt Swap between Benue State and the Federal Government, as facilitated by the Nigerian Governors Forum.

He said that the total debt swap for State and Local Government Councils stood at N71.6 billion.

He further explained, “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 a refund on withdrawals for subsidy and SURE-P.  The Alia administration has yet to tell the people if it has already received the N9 billion SURE-P funds.

Ortom added that his commitment to finding a lasting solution to the problem of pensions, the state government domesticated the federal government reforms in pension administration through the Benue State Pension Law, 2019, which introduced the Contributory Pension Scheme was his priority.

“Our administration met most of the requirements for full implementation status of the contributory pension scheme.

“At the time Governor Ortom was rounding off his stewardship, over N8 billion, had already been raised under the Scheme, and Benue State was on the threshold of meeting the conditions for benefitting from the contributory pension scheme including access to long-term loans and bonds for development projects or defraying existing pension liabilities.”

He furthermore said that on assuming office in 2015, he also inherited assets and liabilities from his predecessor, adding that a similar thing happened to previous administrations of Suswam, Akume, and Adasu who also inherited assets and liabilities.

“If the Alia administration wants the people to believe their tale, they should publicly prove that his predecessor Chief Ortom handed over N359 debt to them.

“What baffles me is that the Alia administration has not disclosed to Benue people how much it has received from Abuja as federal allocations and what they have raised as internal revenue since they came on board. They are also mute on the monthly state wage bill.

“Since the Federal Government removed oil subsidy, allocations to states have increased enormously. Let the Alia government tell the people what has come to Benue as federal allocation in the last five months,” the statement concluded.