Ortom hands over N187 billion debt to incoming gov

On Sunday, the departing governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, handed over the reins of government to the new governor, Reverend Fr. Hyacinth Alia, along with the state’s N187 billion debt.

The occasion was held at the refurbished banquet hall of the Government House in Makurdi.

Ortom said in his address that his government was turning over the N187 billion debt, which consisted of wage arrears, loans, contractual commitments, and a variety of other liabilities.

A total of N734.9 billion was accumulated for the state throughout the course of the eight years that the departing governor served as governor, according to the summary that he provided of the contents of his handover letter.

He also said that the state’s debt condition was on the high side, acknowledging that it was due to the fact that the expenses and other factors consumed N735.6 billion.

He said that this handover memo included not just the structure but also the actions of his eight years of administration. It contains sectoral briefs of the agencies, ministries, and departments that make up the government.

“It consists of three volumes; volume one is the handover of all MDAs, volume two consists of the policy paper of my administration, (the Benue development plan), part b is the detailed briefings presented by ministries and agencies, and part three provides highlights of the debt profile and pensions.

“The revenues and income from all sources; federation account, Value Added Tax, grants, loans, and others stand at N734.9 billion as of the end of April, while the expenditures stand at N735.6 billion as of the end of April. ”

“The Indebtedness of the state is a total of N187 billion, which includes wage arrears, pension, contractual commitments, and others.

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“The debt situation of the state might appear to be on the high side, but the government had taken significant steps to reduce this through debt swap with the federal government,” the departing governor said.

Ortom advised the incoming governor to make the most of the chances for cash that would soon be available to him, such as the backlog of stamp duty and the N61 billion loan facilities from the Central Bank of Nigeria. This was done in order to ensure a seamless transition into office.

In his few words, the person who would succeed Ortom as governor expressed gratitude to Ortom for the transfer.