I am a proud Benuenite but sad over the stagnated growth of the state
since its creation from the defunct Benue-Plateau in 1976. States
which came into being after her even the most recent of them have
developed beyond expectations; take, for example, states like Akwa Ibom,
Jigawa, Yobe, Gombe, Ebonyi, Ekiti and Nasarawa, which came into
existence in 1991 and 1996 have soared over the years in terms of
socio-eonomic and physical development.
The people of Benue state continue to suffer abject poverty in spite
of its rich mineral resources and agricultural endowments. Successive
leaderships elected in trust of affairs of the state lacked vision to
transform the state with these resources lying fallow, and
preemptively breeding armies of unemployed youths who would have been engaged in factories and companies which these natural resources can sustain.
All this while, past and present governors of the state occupy themselves in blame game for their ineptitude and failure; what they do more in governance is playing politics with serious issues of
governance and seeking personal relevance in place of the sacrifice
and projects they pledged on oath for the benefit of the people and durable development of the state’s economy.
No need crying over spilled milk; it is time to look with hope at the perkier years ahead and it is in order to draw strength to survive and hope for a better Benue state that it is pertinent to look at the significance of the emergence of Reverend Father Hyacinth Alia as the next Benue governor.
The Father Alia I know is sympathetic, empathetic and familiar with the sufferings of the people of the state which he will
soon be privileged to lead. These qualities he demonstrated in his healing ministry and has helped and provided for many from the meager he had. I have also been privileged to have interacted with him and
had discussions with him, especially in 2014 and 2015 when I was
visiting the church he was pastoring opposite the first gate of the
Benue State University in Makurdi.
Fr. Alia’s commitment to uplifting not just the spiritual life of the people but the concerns he showed towards the socio-economic well-being of the people of the state, I believe fetched him the votes that saw his emergence as the governor-elect to run the affairs of Benue state
in the next four years. His training and eventual ordination as a priest
of God Almighty bestows him a burden for crass accumulation of materialism, pilfering of public funds, utter disregards of human dignity, prejudice, and general abuse of power as well as all manners of action that have kept the state politically and socio-economically in the wood.
The expectations of the people of the state of the government of Fr. Alia are high, I must confess. For him to succeed, he must be wary of some political juggernauts who will want to influence his leadership for selfish ends, and work hard to diffuse the trivialities and sentiments that are dragging to opposite directions the thought of
togetherness and amity that once held the people of the state a common pledge. He can achieve this through fair distribution of governmental powers and positions and projects across the state. The contemporary
politicians of the state hype sentiments adversative to mutual understanding and unity that can drive the support required by every government to attain success in its programmes and project implementation in the effort to transform the lives of the people.
Focusing on tackling insecurity that has disrupted agricultural and economic activities of the state is of paramount priority to any government. The Fr. Alia government on inauguration must hit the
ground running in order to recover the state from armed criminals whose activities have stolen the peaceful and tranquil environments of our communities and the general atmosphere of the state.
With his connections which cut across the globe, it is my hope that he will pull the right strings for the industrialisation of the state. It is well known that the state is blessed in commercial quantities with
mineral resources and agricultural potential. They are on hand
materials for food, drink and other industries that will help change
the fortune of the state as a producer at the same time providing
vista for job opportunities not only for the indigenes of the state
but also other Nigerians.
The development and expansion of physical infrastructure of the state
especially of Makurdi, the state capita,l is long overdue. This is
another area that the APC-led government of Fr. Alia is expected to
pay attention. Makurdi does not look like a state capital in the real
sense of it. There should be proper and good road network, streets,
flyovers and passages for pedestrians as well as good public structures depicting the headquarters of a state. It needs some
aesthetics to project its hidden beauty that will speak volumes of the people of the state.
Michael writes from Odugbo-Ochekwu, Apa local government area, Benue state via
[email protected], 08126121139
