By Frank Ijege
No evil is mourned when it is gone William Shakespeare
As the handover date approaches, it is pertinent to write a score card of
the out-going administrations in order to know those who have performed
creditably well and also to bring those who have performed poorly to the
fore, and also to make projection about where they will be heading to,
after they have handed over to the incoming administration.
One of the governors who will be handing over on May 29th, 2015, is Dr.
Gabriel Suswam. The last eight of Gabriel Suswam as governor of Benue
State, has been one which the people of the state regret and will never
forget in a hurry. Corruption, dishonesty, disregard for the people of
Benue are common features of his administration. In fact, Benue State was
run like a family business between the governor and his brother, Dr.
Terkura Suswam (the self-acclaimed assistant governor).
The governor prides himself as Mr. Infrastructure, yet, when you pay a
visit to the state, there is hardly any infrastructural development there.
Infrastructure such as drainages could not be built by governor Suswam;
one therefore wonders the yardstick he and his blind supporters use to
describe him as Mr. Infrastructure’. With the rainy season, most of
the roads in Benue will be impassable due to flooding, farm produce become
wasted because there are no roads to transport harvest to the market. This
is a state where 95% of its citizens are farmers; little wonder there is
massive poverty in the state.
In fairness to Suswam, he built the Faculty of Law Complex. Even in that
project however, there is the issues of inflated cost, and the building is
not up to the standard that was contained on paper. Apart from that
building, there is absolutely no other concrete thing done by Mr. Suswam
within the last eight years.
The educational sector has suffered immensely under Suswam
administration. At some point, all arms in the educational sector were on
strike for one reason or the other. Primary school teachers went on strike
for close to nine months. The Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union
COEASU) embarked on strike for about eight months. They called it off
after they got tired of staying at home without any response from the
state government. Right now, the Academic Staff Union of Universities,
Benue State University Chapter has been on strike for more than two
months, and there is no hope on when the strike would be called off.
Workers in the state have not been paid salaries for more than eight
months. The state is at a stand-still, and the governor feels good about
it. when the issues of salary payment is brought to the fore, the governor
and his retinue of political aides who are feeding fat on the resources of
the state will cry out that there is no money. What has been happening to
the monthly allocations? The governor said the monthly allocation is just
a paltry three billion naira. That is not true! From January June
2014, the total money allocated to Benue State was N28.03 billion, which
translates into about N4.7 billion every month! Where is the difference of
N1.7 billion going into? In fact, if the total allocation in Benue State
is added to other money he gets from other sources like the SURE-P, VAT,
etc it gives an annual income of about N75 billion, amounting to an
average of about N6 billion monthly. In July 2014 alone, the State got
about N10 billion. How
much is the monthly wage bill of Benue State workers? First, the governor
cut down salaries of workers by 15%, and then he graduated into owing
them for several months. Can one be one wicked?
The governor spent billions of naira on the greater Makurdi water works
project. Sadly, until this day, there is no running tap in Benue State.
The people live and depend on well water. Those who can afford it, buy
water from water vendors. This is the harsh condition the people of Benue
State are exposed to. All the industries in the state have wound up since
he came on board. The Taraku Oil Mills, Otobi Burn Bricks, Tomatoes
Industry at Tarka and the Plastic Industry at the Industrial lay out
Markurdi, are all in comatose. The impact these companies would have had
on the economy of Benue State, and in the lives of the people are
tremendous.
Under the Gabriel Suswam administration, the debt profile of Benue State
has blossomed to an unprecedented level. In 2011, the governor secured a
N13 billion bond; in 2014, the governor obtained another bond of N11
billion. With few months to the expiration of his tenure, the governor
sought to obtain a bond of N6 billion, which was thankfully turned down by
the House of Assembly (House of Assembly? What happened to them?). The
maturity date of these bonds is long after the expiration of his tenure; a
shrewd ploy to jeopardize the future of the state. The sad point is that
these monies are not used in way that will enhance the lives of the people
of Benue State. The people will therefore, be paying for what they have
not benefited from. The State Inland Revenue Service is in the
governor private pockets. He milks every dime obtained by that
institution.
The major beneficiaries of the massive embezzlement going on in the state,
are the cronies and close associates of the governor. They acquire choice
properties both within and outside the state; almost all the lands in
Benue State have been sold to either the governor or his crony. Some of
the personal houses of his political associates have been bought over by
government at three times the actual amount.
Also, during the build up to the election, the governor used billions of
naira to convince the people of Kwande to give up their Senate (which was
zoned to them) slot to him. According to him, he “loaned’ it from
them. On the eve of the election, millions if not billions were
distributed in order to get votes. On Election Day proper, money was
shared massively. A government that has been unable to pay its workers for
several months due to lack of money, suddenly sharing billions in order to
win election?
With these monumental embezzlements by the Executive governor of Benue
State, Dr. Gabriel Suswam, it will be unfair to the people of the state if
he is allowed to spend his retirement spending the money he has embezzled
from the state. An investigation into his administration should be
conducted and where he is found wanting, he should be called upon to
explain his role in the monumental fraud carried out under his watch; and
where he fails to do this satisfactorily, he should be tried and if found
guilty, sentenced according.
With barely three weeks to the handover date, the governor is busying
employing workers. What he hopes to achieve with this, remains to be seen.
One expects the outgoing government to keep itself busy with preparing
handover notes, and not issuing out employment letters to people; people
he denied jobs for the past eight years. The incoming government has
however, not fall for the trap and the people must see through this
gimmick.
The general apathy by the people of the state must change. A situation
where the people fail to monitor every dime that government gets and
spends is the reason for the massive looting and embezzlement by elected
officials. As things stand today, the people of Benue State regret voting
for Gabriel Suswam as their governor. In fact, the few days left to
handing over is too far to most of them. The exit of Suswam from the
political scene is good riddance as far as the people of Benue State are
concerned.
As a new regime comes on board in May 29th 2015, the people must follow
this government bumper to bumper and ensure it doesn’t commit the same
mistakes. Dr. Samuel Ortom must know that he has a big job on his hands.
As for Gabriel Suswam, a space in prison is certainly waiting for him.
frankijege@yahoo.com
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