By Frank Ijege<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
No evil is mourned when it is gone William Shakespeare<\/p>\n
As the handover date approaches, it is pertinent to write a score card of
\nthe out-going administrations in order to know those who have performed
\ncreditably well and also to bring those who have performed poorly to the
\nfore, and also to make projection about where they will be heading to,
\nafter they have handed over to the incoming administration.<\/p>\n
One of the governors who will be handing over on May 29th, 2015, is Dr.
\nGabriel Suswam. The last eight of Gabriel Suswam as governor of Benue
\nState, has been one which the people of the state regret and will never
\nforget in a hurry. Corruption, dishonesty, disregard for the people of
\nBenue are common features of his administration. In fact, Benue State was
\nrun like a family business between the governor and his brother, Dr.
\nTerkura Suswam (the self-acclaimed assistant governor).<\/p>\n
The governor prides himself as Mr. Infrastructure, yet, when you pay a
\nvisit to the state, there is hardly any infrastructural development there.
\nInfrastructure such as drainages could not be built by governor Suswam;
\none therefore wonders the yardstick he and his blind supporters use to
\ndescribe him as Mr. Infrastructure\u00e2\u20ac\u2122. With the rainy season, most of
\nthe roads in Benue will be impassable due to flooding, farm produce become
\nwasted because there are no roads to transport harvest to the market. This
\nis a state where 95% of its citizens are farmers; little wonder there is
\nmassive poverty in the state.<\/p>\n
In fairness to Suswam, he built the Faculty of Law Complex. Even in that
\nproject however, there is the issues of inflated cost, and the building is
\nnot up to the standard that was contained on paper. Apart from that
\nbuilding, there is absolutely no other concrete thing done by Mr. Suswam
\nwithin the last eight years.<\/p>\n
The educational sector has suffered immensely under Suswam
\nadministration. At some point, all arms in the educational sector were on
\nstrike for one reason or the other. Primary school teachers went on strike
\nfor close to nine months. The Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union
\nCOEASU) embarked on strike for about eight months. They called it off
\nafter they got tired of staying at home without any response from the
\nstate government. Right now, the Academic Staff Union of Universities,
\nBenue State University Chapter has been on strike for more than two
\nmonths, and there is no hope on when the strike would be called off.<\/p>\n
Workers in the state have not been paid salaries for more than eight
\nmonths. The state is at a stand-still, and the governor feels good about
\nit. when the issues of salary payment is brought to the fore, the governor
\nand his retinue of political aides who are feeding fat on the resources of
\nthe state will cry out that there is no money. What has been happening to
\nthe monthly allocations? The governor said the monthly allocation is just
\na paltry three billion naira. That is not true! From January June
\n2014, the total money allocated to Benue State was N28.03 billion, which
\ntranslates into about N4.7 billion every month! Where is the difference of
\nN1.7 billion going into? In fact, if the total allocation in Benue State
\nis added to other money he gets from other sources like the SURE-P, VAT,
\netc it gives an annual income of about N75 billion, amounting to an
\naverage of about N6 billion monthly. In July 2014 alone, the State got
\nabout N10 billion. How
\nmuch is the monthly wage bill of Benue State workers? First, the governor
\ncut down salaries of workers by 15%, and then he graduated into owing
\nthem for several months. Can one be one wicked?<\/p>\n
The governor spent billions of naira on the greater Makurdi water works
\nproject. Sadly, until this day, there is no running tap in Benue State.
\nThe people live and depend on well water. Those who can afford it, buy
\nwater from water vendors. This is the harsh condition the people of Benue
\nState are exposed to. All the industries in the state have wound up since
\nhe came on board. The Taraku Oil Mills, Otobi Burn Bricks, Tomatoes
\nIndustry at Tarka and the Plastic Industry at the Industrial lay out
\nMarkurdi, are all in comatose. The impact these companies would have had
\non the economy of Benue State, and in the lives of the people are
\ntremendous.<\/p>\n
Under the Gabriel Suswam administration, the debt profile of Benue State
\nhas blossomed to an unprecedented level. In 2011, the governor secured a
\nN13 billion bond; in 2014, the governor obtained another bond of N11
\nbillion. With few months to the expiration of his tenure, the governor
\nsought to obtain a bond of N6 billion, which was thankfully turned down by
\nthe House of Assembly (House of Assembly? What happened to them?). The
\nmaturity date of these bonds is long after the expiration of his tenure; a
\nshrewd ploy to jeopardize the future of the state. The sad point is that
\nthese monies are not used in way that will enhance the lives of the people
\nof Benue State. The people will therefore, be paying for what they have
\nnot benefited from. The State Inland Revenue Service is in the
\ngovernor private pockets. He milks every dime obtained by that
\ninstitution.
\nThe major beneficiaries of the massive embezzlement going on in the state,
\nare the cronies and close associates of the governor. They acquire choice
\nproperties both within and outside the state; almost all the lands in
\nBenue State have been sold to either the governor or his crony. Some of
\nthe personal houses of his political associates have been bought over by
\ngovernment at three times the actual amount.<\/p>\n
Also, during the build up to the election, the governor used billions of
\nnaira to convince the people of Kwande to give up their Senate (which was
\nzoned to them) slot to him. According to him, he \u00e2\u20ac\u0153loaned\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 it from
\nthem. On the eve of the election, millions if not billions were
\ndistributed in order to get votes. On Election Day proper, money was
\nshared massively. A government that has been unable to pay its workers for
\nseveral months due to lack of money, suddenly sharing billions in order to
\nwin election?<\/p>\n
With these monumental embezzlements by the Executive governor of Benue
\nState, Dr. Gabriel Suswam, it will be unfair to the people of the state if
\nhe is allowed to spend his retirement spending the money he has embezzled
\nfrom the state. An investigation into his administration should be
\nconducted and where he is found wanting, he should be called upon to
\nexplain his role in the monumental fraud carried out under his watch; and
\nwhere he fails to do this satisfactorily, he should be tried and if found
\nguilty, sentenced according.<\/p>\n
With barely three weeks to the handover date, the governor is busying
\nemploying workers. What he hopes to achieve with this, remains to be seen.
\nOne expects the outgoing government to keep itself busy with preparing
\nhandover notes, and not issuing out employment letters to people; people
\nhe denied jobs for the past eight years. The incoming government has
\nhowever, not fall for the trap and the people must see through this
\ngimmick.<\/p>\n
The general apathy by the people of the state must change. A situation
\nwhere the people fail to monitor every dime that government gets and
\nspends is the reason for the massive looting and embezzlement by elected
\nofficials. As things stand today, the people of Benue State regret voting
\nfor Gabriel Suswam as their governor. In fact, the few days left to
\nhanding over is too far to most of them. The exit of Suswam from the
\npolitical scene is good riddance as far as the people of Benue State are
\nconcerned.<\/p>\n
As a new regime comes on board in May 29th 2015, the people must follow
\nthis government bumper to bumper and ensure it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t commit the same
\nmistakes. Dr. Samuel Ortom must know that he has a big job on his hands.
\nAs for Gabriel Suswam, a space in prison is certainly waiting for him.
\nfrankijege@yahoo.com
\nfoijege
\non
\ntwitter<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22917,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n