Account for state, LG funds, Ortom slams Gov Alia

Former Benue Governor Samuel Ortom has called on his successor, Hyacinth Alia, to account for state and local government funds.

Ortom’s request comes after Alia claimed to have increased local government security votes from N1 million to N10 million monthly.

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Ortom made the request through his media aide, Terver Akase in a statement made available to newsmen in Makurdi on Tuesday.

The former governor was reacting to the statement attributed to a faction of the All Progressives Congress loyal to the governor, an excerpt of which Kula Tersoo, media aide to governor Alia posted online.

The statement read, that the governor “has increased local government security votes from the one million naira paid by his predecessor to ten million naira monthly…”

Amazed by Governor Alia’s statement, the former governor demanded that his successor declare the amount his administration is receiving as monthly local government allocations from the federation’s account before announcing how much he is giving the councils as security votes.

Ortom also demanded that Governor Alia go a step further and explain why he is still the one providing the third tier of government funds, despite the Supreme Court judgment granting full financial autonomy to local governments.

“The fact that none of the 23 local governments under him has constructed even a single culvert shows how they have been starved of their funds,” the statement partly read.

The former governor decried the situation that his successor who is in his third year in office had never responded to calls for transparency and accountability regarding the huge resources accruing to the state following the removal of fuel subsidy.

The statement further read, “He has suddenly decided to celebrate a claim that he has increased security votes for local governments in the state.

“The starting point should be for Governor Alia to declare how much he is receiving as monthly local government allocations from the federation’s account before announcing how much he is giving the councils as security votes.

“The question to ask Governor Alia is: given reports that the Federal Government is now sending 500% increased allocations to the local governments in Benue State, automatically making a council such as Gboko to receive a monthly allocation of N624,447,191.53, why is Gboko only receiving a mere N10 million out of over N624 million as security vote? Where is the rest of the money going?

“When the Benue State governor is done accounting for how much the 23 local governments are receiving from the federation’s account in the subsidy removal era, he should extend the accountability to the state coffers and tell the people how much his government is receiving and what is being done with the funds.

“This explanation should include the over N3 billion he is reported to be taking every month as security vote in the face of frequent attacks and killing of hundreds of Benue people by Fulani terrorists.”

Ortom who claimed to have granted the local government autonomy during his administration, said that was the reason all the 23 councils were actively executing projects and tackling insecurity in their respective domains.

It be recalled the state governor, Hyacinth Alia had through his Chief Press Secretary, Kula Tersoo on Sunday while responding to a similar request made by a group known as Benue Advocacy Network directed those interested in knowing the financial obligations of the state to approach the Budget Office.