Benue buys N93bn bonds to boost infrastructure

The Benue State Governor, Rev Fr Hyacinth Alia, on Wednesday, said the N93bn bond secured by his administration was for infrastructure.

The Deputy Governor, Sam Ode, on Tuesday, disclosed that the state had secured N93bn to tackle insecurity and infrastructural development in the state.

Ode, who represented the governor at a town hall meeting organised by the Special Advisers, in conjunction with the state Ministry of Information, said the bonds would be used to curb insecurity and develop projects in the state.

The disclosure attracted condemnation by a group, Defenders of Democracy, which accused the state government of plunging the state into serious debt.

The President of the group, Amos Uchiv, accused the state government of taking a sum of N133bn within a year of being in the saddle.

“With shock and disbelief that despite the multibillion naira coming into the state every month as federal allocations, which have never been seen before in the history of the state, the government of Hyacinth Alia has gone ahead to take a fresh loan of N93bn for what the governor claims to be ‘digitalisation of governance’.

“This amount is the second in just two months that the Alia administration has taken a multibillion naira loan.

“Last month, Governor Alia announced that his government had secured a €25 million (N40.4 billion) loan from the European Investment Bank, for ‘road construction’. That brings the total loans taken by the current government of Benue State in only two months to over N133bn.

“Between May 2023 and July 2024, Benue State has received over N200bn from the federation’s account for state and local governments. This is in addition to several interventions by the Federal Government in the form of palliative and other monetary support initiatives of the President Bola Tinubu administration.

“That puts the total figure that the Alia administration has received (including the loans) in the region of N350bn within just a year,” the group said in a statement.

Responding through his Chief Press Secretary, Kula Tersoo, the governor said the bonds were transparent and would not be misused by the recipient.

He said, “You don’t collect cash while securing bonds, everything is tailored to infrastructure and the payment is tenured. It’s better than a soft loan that can be manipulated.

“As a bond, no one is going to send money to you but rather deployed in projects. It’s more transparent than a soft loan and the money will not be misused.”

The statement urged critics of the government to go around the state and see constructions ongoing; adding that every money accrued to the state would be judiciously spent.

“Let the critics visit Guma, Makurdi, Gboko, Obi, Vandekya, Ushongo and other local government areas in the state to witness the sound of earth-moving equipment working daily.

“For the first time, the ecological funds are being used to open up channels in anticipated flooding areas, including Guma.

“Allocations are being used to pay salary and pension allowances and gratuities of retirees and others,” Tersoo said in the statement.