Former Governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom has advised his successor, Governor Hyacinth Alia to channel the huge resources available to his administration to address the challenges of the state.
Ortom gave the advice in a statement issued by his media aide, Terver Akase while reacting to the disclosure made by the state Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General, Fidelis Mnyim over the N14 billion judgement debts handed over by immediate past goverment.
Ortom advised his successor that it’s not a new thing that every succeeding government inherits assets and liabilities of previous administrations.
The former governor said that like others who had governed the state before him, every one inherited both assets and liabilities just as he explained that state government had an agreement with the retirees and was paying their arrears of pensions and gratuities as funds permitted.
According to the statement, this was even as the economic situation in the country was severe with federal allocations to states at their lowest since 1999 and Nigeria had plunged into recession at two different times.
If the present government is complaining about numerous garnishee orders, there is the possibility that it has defaulted on the payment arrangement that the Ortom administration made with the pensioners and the retirees have returned to the courts.
“Interestingly, the current Commissioner for Justice, Barrister Fidelis Mnyim served as counsel to some persons who took the Benue State Government to court.
“He ought to have told the media if the case he handled was among the garnishee orders resulting in the N14 billion that he claimed.”
Ortom, however, advised his successor that, “When a new government assumes power, it inherits both assets and liabilities.”
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