The Benue State governor-elect, Rev Fr Hyacinth Alia, on Wednesday, described the current state’s civil service as being in a state of near collapse and confined to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), but his emergence as the new helmsman will infuse life into it and keep it moving.
Alia, accompanied by the former governor and current Minister of Special Duties and Inter-governmental Affairs, George Akume, said he was in the Presidential villa, Abuja, on a solidarity visit to President Muhammadu Buhari.
Answering questions from newsmen, the governor-elect noted that the state owes a backlog of salaries including pensions and gratuities, hence he is determined to remain focus and tackle the myriad of issues on his desk when he assumes office on May 29, 2023.
On whether he would proceed to probe his predecessor against the backdrop of his letter to the Benue Investment Property Company, warning them of financial transactions with the incumbent governor, Alia said, “I haven’t looked at the books, so I wouldn’t want to be quite preemptive. Once I’m sworn in, I know that what the good people of Benue want is progress and development.
