Alu Vershima: Success of Gov Alia administration will serve as blueprint for succeeding regimes
There always comes a time for somebody to get it right. His Excellency, Governor Fr. Hyacinth Iormem Alia, has altered the past and raised the bar for future leadership in Benue State. Any succeeding governor, no matter how heartless or unaccountable, will struggle not to fall below the expectations or standards already set today by Gov. Alia.
This is because succeeding administrations will either have to match the pattern Governor Alia has established or exceed his strides. That will be the only way to win the trust of the people. To the masses, Gov. Alia happened on Benue as an eyeopener.
Governor Alia has set a standard in leadership on many fronts. We all witnessed how past administrations could not pay salaries, hiding behind excuses of “paucity of funds” despite working with inflated wage bills.
Others came and brazenly left office, owing years of salaries. But Governor Alia came in and removed all doubt by paying salaries on the exact date-the 25th of every month or even earlier. Such a feat has now become a benchmark that any future governor must maintain, else the people will quickly notice foul play.
Governor Alia has also established a ₦90 billion ultra-modern cancer treatment center at the Fr. Adasu University Teaching Hospital, Makurdi. For a corrupt leader, such funds would have been diverted into private pockets. Sadly, too many leaders in Nigeria enrich themselves shamelessly at the expense of the masses, leaving the state dilapidated, with no good roads, no clean water, and no basic amenities. Governor Alia, the eyeopener, has changed that narrative.
His administration is a practical example of a working system. During the past government in Benue State, all the sponsored media ever told the people was that “Ortom is working,” yet there was nothing to show for it. I remember my senior back in secondary school who often repeated that line. Whenever I asked him what exactly the governor had done to warrant such praise, he would get angry, confront me outside social media, and force an apology out of me. But the truth was always clear that they had nothing tangible to show. Today, it is the opposite: even without media hype, we can all see what Governor Alia is doing, and there is plenty to say.
The underpass projects in Makurdi and Gboko are visible enough for even the blind to see. You don’t need to tell anyone that Governor Alia is working, because for anyone stepping out of their house-whether for business, civil service work, or riding as an okada operator-construction meets you everywhere.
Yesterday, I overheard someone remark that “we all have to learn how to move in Makurdi again” because of the massive road projects currently reshaping the city.
The governor is determined to change the course of leadership in Makurdi and beyond. From a stagnant, non-working system to the fastest-growing state in Nigeria; from a redundant economy to one revived to cater for all.
Consider the State Secretariat, which had long been left unattended to. When Alia came in, he renovated and upgraded it into a state-of-the-art facility worthy of housing top government officials. What was once uninhabitable, lacking even basic office infrastructure like tables and chairs, is now furnished with world-class fittings.
In education, his administration has prioritized public schools by constructing new classroom blocks-some of them storey buildings, the first of their kind in Benue State. He has also ensured furniture is supplied, ending the shame of pupils sitting on bare floors, even in remote villages. Beyond that, he introduced a Quality Assurance Agency to oversee the education sector, plugging out the lapses that had long undermined public education in the state.
It is now evident that Governor Alia has laid a lasting legacy in the history of Benue governance. The bar is raised, the standard is set, and the people will no longer tolerate anything less once his tenure is complete.
Any future governor who dares neglect salary payments will face revolt, because Governor Alia has proven that excuses are unacceptable around salary payments. These salaries must be paid when due, and they must be paid alongside massive infrastructural development across education, healthcare, roads, and beyond.
Alu Vershima
Historian and Creative Writer, Advocate from Gboko Local Government
