In this interview granted Channels Television and monitored by Sunday Tribune, Benue State governor, Samuel Ortom, speaks on issues relating to his state, among others.
The report out there is that you have problems with payment of salaries, pensions and gratuities. Have managed to address these problems?
That is what the Federal Government uses in insulting me anytime I try to offer suggestions that will help in terms of security and all that. They will say I should not talk; I should go and pay salaries. I have been paying salaries since 2018. The truth is that when I came in 2015, I inherited N70 billion arrears of pensions, gratuities and salaries. That is what I have been battling with. I applied for N70 billion for bailout but we were given N28 billion just like other states. Other states controlled by the APC got the balance. But they refused to give me the second tranche because I’m in PDP.
(Cuts in): You applied for N70 billion and N28 billion and both were approved. So how much was given to you?
We were given N28 billion. And we used it in depleting the N70 billion that we inherited. A balance of about N42 billion was left. As I talk to you now, and through some other engagements and resources that we have gotten, we have reduced that to about N37 billion. We’ve been paying and that’s why civil servants in the state have not gone on strike. We have also had an understanding with pensioners. And we have been following that faithfully. To end this permanently, we have domesticated PENCOM law. We’ve been able to invest up to N1.3 billion to the fund of PENCOM. And we are just waiting to reach a threshold that we can borrow money from PENCOM and clear the pending arrears. In the next few years, no retiree will suffer from collecting his or her gratuity or pension.
What has your administration done as people say you are spending all your time on open grazing and not executing projects?
You know it is a narrative to paint me black by the Federal Government. Instead of using money to do meaningful things to support the state, they are using it through surrogates to castigate me. Benue people appreciate what I have done. Roads have been constructed here in Benue and commissioned. I have quite a number of electricity projects that have been executed. Some are ongoing. In the health service delivery, we have several comprehensive health centres built, equipped and commissioned. The General Hospitals, we are renovating them and in some cases, we are reconstructing them. In sports, among others, we’ve not left anything out despite all the challenges of financing, including security.
There was a lot of drama over the amendment of the Electoral Act at the National Assembly. I don’t know if you were able to follow the drama.
I am really disappointed with the APC legislators. There are certain things in government that you don’t politicise. Today you are in APC, tomorrow you may be in PDP or APGA or any other political party. So if you make a law to suit how you are planning to rig election and tailor it towards that, then, you may be in another political party tomorrow. PDP was in government at the national level for 16 years and in those days one of my chairmen whom I disagreed with used to say PDP will rule for 60 years. Did they rule for 60 years? That 60 years ended up to become 16 years. Today it is APC and I heard some APC members say they will rule for 100 years. They are not God. Power belongs to God and He giveth it to whomsoever He wills. I honestly want to advise Mr President, if he is the same President Muhammadu Buhari that we know as a man of integrity, let him not sign that amended Electoral Act. He should send it back to them.
But APC has denied both as a party and individuals that they don’t have plans to rig any election.
What do you expect them to say?
They are saying the PDP that is accusing them should provide evidence where they rigged election?
The evidence is that INEC, and Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) accepted that they have the capacity to transmit results electronically and yet they rejected it. Why did they do that? It is very clear they want to look for a way of rigging the election so that the actual people who vote, their votes will not count. And in most times, those people who are counting are not even voters… But they will not remain there forever. APC will not remain there forever because they are not God. It happened to PDP; it can also happen to APC. So my advice to Mr President is that he should hear the cries of Nigerians. The rule of law is no longer respected; patriotism is no longer there; integrity is no longer there because they want to remain there forever.
There has been a lot of noise about judiciary and legislative autonomy. What is the case in Benue?
I have always supported autonomy whether at the local government level. I was a local government chairman between 1991 to 1993 and we had local government autonomy. Though some people did abuse the autonomy that was given to us, that does not mean we should not grant autonomy to local governments. So I support it because the local government system is closest to the grassroots. It will reduce a lot of tension if they have autonomy and that is when you have patriotic people leading the local government.
What of the judiciary and legislature?
I don’t have problems with the judiciary and legislative autonomy too. However, the Executive Order 10 was done in bad taste so as to shift away blame from the presidency and lord it on the states. There was no need for any executive order. It is something that can be discussed because this is something we are already doing. At the end of every month, allocations are made to the State Houses of Assemblies and to the Judiciary. The Federal Government has its own responsibility just as we have for the magistrates. But that notwithstanding, it was collectively agreed that ,one, we will challenge the Executive Order 10 at the Governors’ Forum. As law abiding people, let us challenge it, but we should go ahead and provide autonomy of which every state has a template. We met with the speakers and judges and today in Benue State, we will soon be passing the judicial and legislative autonomy bill into law.
Another controversy is about the national minimum wage. Governors are saying each state should be allowed to determine its own wage while labour unions are saying there should be a baseline and state should not pay less than what was agreed upon. What is your take?
It will surprise you to hear this about minimum wage. Since I came in in 2015, I have been paying more than the new minimum wage. That is one of the problems I have. I have a very large wage bill here in Benue State compared to other states.
(Cuts in) Why is that so?
Let me say this before I explain to you. In the entire North, Benue is paying the highest salary. I inherited the structure and the amount so I couldn’t reverse it. It will amaze you. But look at us here, an economy that is driven by civil service and then farmers. Our internally generated revenue is next to nothing. In the entire country, Benue State is number three after Lagos and Rivers. We are paying one of the highest salaries. So when the issue of minimum wage came up, I called labour leaders. We sat down and I brought figures from other states. Look at what other states are paying. Even with the minimum wage, you are still taking higher; so what do we do? Is it not better to maintain what we have? Most times people don’t understand, but the workers in the state understand. We then agreed that those from grade levels one to six, any person who is collecting less than the N30,000 as minimum wage should be upgraded. From levels 7 to 17, they all agreed that truly they understand the situation. In some states in the North, what we are paying doubles what they pay.
Is the Governors’ Forum still talking about minimum wage where they can negotiate their own manageable wage with their workers and not a general template that other states are using?
I can’t remember the last time we discussed this matter. But it was agreed that every state should negotiate with its workers. And you see the advantage of allowing states to negotiate with their workers is that if you peg minimum wage at N30,000, for instance, some states may be buoyant enough to pay even double or even more of that.
You survived COVID-19 twice. It is remarkable that some people in your age bracket that got it once didn’t survive. How did you survive it?
For me and my family, the Bible says in John 3:27 that a man can receive nothing except it is given to him from above. I give glory to God because when it happened to my family members and 24 of my aides, we came together and prayed to God. And we took the medication that was prescribed, including local concoction like onions, garlic and ginger. Those were the things we took and we were able to get through with it.
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