Governor Alia and Ortom trade words over claims of N359bn unpaid wages

Benue State Governor Hyacinth Alia and Chief Samuel Ortom, his predecessor, have differed on the former’s assertion that he inherited a wage backlog totaling over N359 billion from earlier state administrations.

During his recent thank-you tour of the state, Governor Alia revealed to the people of Ogbadibo, Ado, and Okpokwu Local Government Areas (LGAs) at Okpoga that “previous administrations left arrears of unpaid wages to the tune of N359billion.”

He made mockery of the previous government for not paying salaries to its employees for a number of months, charging it with deceiving the public into believing that the federal government was short on cash.

He promised that his administration would continue to prioritize the payment of workers salary which his government pays on 25th of every month assuring that “henceforth civil servants in the state will be paid from 22nd of every month.”

Reacting, Chief Ortom who in a statement Tuesday by his Media Aide, Terver Akase said the claim meant that his administration did not pay salaries for five years adding, “how possible is that? The narrative is not only ridiculously fictitious but also a deliberate flimflam to mislead the people.”

The former Governor advised Governor Alia to concentrate on governance and providing democracy dividends to the people recalling that the Governor’s Chief Press Secretary in June last year claimed that former Governor Ortom handed N187.56 billion to them as debt, which was the same amount the former Governor mentioned while presenting his handover notes to his successor on May 28, 2023.

He noted that he also “inherited debts in 2015, but went on to pay seven months arrears and also implemented a 27% increase in teachers’ salaries.

“He implemented N18,000 minimum wage for teachers as well, the same way he later implemented the N30,000 minimum wage for workers. All these were achieved by the Ortom administration despite the fact that Nigeria went into recession on two occasions, not forgetting the COVID-19 pandemic that adversely affected the economy of the country and states. “

The former Governor challenged the administration to make public its books for scrutiny saying “the present administration has not told Benue people that since May 2023 when President Tinubu approved the removal of fuel subsidy, Benue, like other states, has been receiving federal allocations three times higher than what the previous government received.

“We challenge the State Government under Governor Alia to publish the allocations they have received since May 2023 and how the funds are being expended.

“We equally challenge the Alia government to tell the people what the wage bill of the state is, after the Governor claimed that they removed thousands of “ghost workers” from the government’s payroll.

The Alia administration should also publish what the Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, of the state has been since May 2023 to date.

“If Governor Alia wants the people to believe his narrative, his government should publish the financial records and prove that it inherited N359billion as salary arrears from the Ortom administration.”