Benue's New Governor Freezes Bank Accounts.. To Review Anti-Open Grazing Law

The newly sworn-in Governor of  Benue State, Rev Fr Hyacinth Alia has  ordered the placement of ‘Post No Debit’ on all bank accounts of the state, just as he promised to review the Anti-Open Grazing Law whose implementation has been a subject of controversy

 Alia who announced the decision in his inugural speech shortly after taking his oath of office in Makurdi, said that the law passed by the immediate administration of Samuel Ortom would be reviewed to reflect realities of it implementation in the state

The governor, who inherited N187bn debt from his predecessor, Samuel Ortom, declared that the state accounts would remain frozen “until all signatories are changed,” warning that “any bank that violates this instruction does so at its own risk.”

On the Anti-Open Grazing Law, he stressed the need to review the law 

“We are inheriting an anti-open grazing law, whose implementation has become controversial'"

“Having gone through some period of implementation, it is fit and proper for us to review the law to identify the lessons learned, hold the gains made, if any, and reform to accommodate current realities.”

The new governor, who said he recognised the plight of workers in the state, promised to prioritise payment of salary and pension allowance

“We must strike a healthy balance between caring for the generation that toiled for this state; I’m talking here about pension and gratuity for our pensioners, paying our serving employees a living wage and investing in the future of our children through revised curricula that meet the demands of a modern economy.

“A labourer deserves his wage, so says the Holy Book. We will prioritise and address the issue by ensuring that all verified arrears of salaries, pensions and gratuity are paid promptly without further delay.”

The governor regretted that the state for the past eight years had been disconnected from the Federal Government due to bad politics of the immediate past government. 

He promised to reconnect the state back in order to enjoy the necessary benefits.

“Politically, our state has been disconnected from the Federal Government because of bad politics. We commit to reconnecting Benue State to the proverbial ‘national grid’ of Nigerian politics in order to harvest the benefits derivable therefrom,” he said.