Benue state civil servants have received their first salaries after waiting for seven months under the new administration of Gov. Hyacinth Alia. This development was met with great jubilation as the civil servants appreciated him and urged him to continue in his good ways.

A Brief Backstory

 Prior to this, the former governor of the state Gov. Samuel Ortom had been ranked by former president Buhari as one of the members of the association of failed politicians saying he holds the longest record of unpaid salaries and pensions.

The governor in his defense said that he inherited debts from his predecessor, Suswam Gabriel and he also continuously blamed the former president for not bailing him out of the state’s predicament. The former president’s media aide, Garba Shehu responded in a statement that former governor Ortom despite collecting Salary bailout, Excess Crude Loan and budget support Loan still couldn’t pay his workers’ salaries.

Garba Shehu’s Statement

“This is a President who has not failed to pay the salary of those working for the federal government and declared the failure of states to do so a national disaster. To avert this, he had, at various times lent money to the states in excess of N1.682 trillion, and Benue, Mr. Ortom’s state did not miss out on all occasions: Salary Bailout, Excess Crude Loan and Budget Support loan, each repayable in 20 years. Lagos for instance didn’t collect any of the loans. A few other states declined to take one or two. Mr. Ortom, an office holder who collected on all occasions, currently holds the country’s longest record of unpaid salaries and pensions, has no reason, absolutely no reason, to blame President Buhari for the mess in which he put his state and its workers.

“Having first come claiming that his predecessors created the arrears, it was his business to prove that he was better by paying. Instead of doing that, he joined them! And while he runs up even further salary and pension debts on top of those he was bequeathed, instead of respecting the voters who elected him to office, he publicly attacks them in unprintable words and has raised his own thuggish militia to harass and violate them.”

Apart from the security issues faced by the citizens of the state due to the operations of the killer herdsmen, poverty accompanied by unpaid salaries and pension is another vice that has ravaged the state especially the civil servants.

It was gathered that before governor Ortom bowed out of office, he owed teachers in 23 local government salary arrears of 11 months.

According to reports from the NLC, Benue chapter, local government workers were also owed 10 months salaries while the state government workers eight months of unpaid salary arrears. Also, it was reported that the former governor owed members of the state House of Assembly about six months salaries that made them suspend the plenaries at some point.

A New Era in Benue State

Governor Hyacinth Alia in his democracy speech promised to clear the salary and pension arrears starting June 25th. This promise made some expectant while some took the promise with a pinch of salt.

“We are aware of the sufferings and hardships of our people especially Civil Servants and retirees due to non-payment of their Salaries, Pensions and Gratuities. We call for your patience and understanding as we are working hard to address these problems. Indeed, as from 25th of this month, Civil Servants should start expecting alerts for their payments.”

The civil servants have heaved a huge sigh of relief and have started building hope on this Gov. Hyacinth led-administration as he has fulfilled his promises. This is a fresh breathe of air for the state workers and bank alerts have been raining. They appreciate and plead with the governor not to go back on his promises to pay other arrears and salaries as at when due.

The chairman of the Nigerian Labour Congress, Benue State Chapter Terungwa Igbe has appreciated the governor for fulfilling his promises and putting smiles on the faces of the civil servants in the state.

While some civil servants are rejoicing, some are still waiting patiently for their phone's notifications saying “credit alert.” Teachers are still expecting their payments and the chairman of the Nigerian Union of Pensioners, Benue state chapter Mr. Micheal Vember  said he and his colleagues are yet to receive theirs too but they are very hopeful that they would receive theirs.

In his words,

“We’re hoping that any moment from now, we will get our alerts; I hear that the delay is because they want to rid ghost pensioners and other irregularities as our voucher is being prepared. I also heard that the governor wants to pay us more than three months so they are preparing vouchers. But, there are no yet authentic information as to when and how we will start getting our pension alerts.”

It should be recalled that the last time Benue state workers received their salaries was in November 2022.