By Amos Aar
THE BENUE State Police Command on the midnight of December 31, 2023 displayed fireworks at Low Level Roundabout, Makurdi to mark a cross over from 2023 to the New Year, 2024.
The Benue State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Superintendent of Police (SP) Sewuese Anene, on Thursday had stated in a statement prior to New Year Eve that the fireworks display was funded by the Benue State Government.
Tersoo Kula, the Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to the Benue State governor, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia, confirmed to journalists at the fireworks display ceremony that the event was organised to appreciate the good performance of Governor Hyacinth Alia in office so far.
Commissioner for Youth and Sports Development, Hon. Terkimbi Ikyange, and is counterpart in Works and Housing, Hon. Tiza Imojime, corroborated the CPS in separate interviews that Governor Alia has been providing the welfare of the people since he came on board and that’s why they were happy with him and deemed it proper to celebrate him in that way.
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“People should hope for the best. Whatever he has done in 2023 is just an introduction to what he wants to do for the people of Benue in 2024. He has promised that he will put smiles on their faces, there will be a greater Benue.
“With this that they have just done today, it’s a moment for us to put 2023 behind us and enter joyfully into 2024,” Ikyange said.
A fireworks expert in Wadata Market, who pleaded anonymity, said the explosive was being sold from the lowest price of eight thousand naira (N8000) to over thirty thousand naira, depending on the type.
A highly placed police source, with unimpeachable knowledge of explosives told National Record that the type of explosives used on New Year Eve goes for between N1.5 million per minute.
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According to the explosives expert, with the current exchange rate, the cost might even be higher, as he declined to speculate on how much may have been spent by the state government on the fireworks. He noted that cost of New Year Eve’s fireworks are usually higher than conventional ones.
The fireworks were set at three different locations at the Low Level Roundabout and the display lasted for over 10 minutes.
