By Amos Aar
BENUE State Governor, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia, has said that he is only inexperienced in the areas of corruption and failure contrary to alleged submissions of his critics that as a priest, he lacks experience in governance to successfully govern Benue State.
Governor Alia, who boasted of his wealth of experience at a symposium to mark his one-year in office held at the auditorium of the College of Health Sciences, Benue State University (BSU), Makurdi on Tuesday, also tasked Benue people on constructive criticism, noting that destructive criticisms will not take the state anywhere.
He said instead of going round the state to commission a number of projects his administration has executed within the first one-year in office, he thought it wise to use the public lecture to orientate the people to enable them to refrain from expecting that public money will be shared to people to eat food rather than use it on developmental projects.
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The governor appreciated the organisers of the programme and the resource persons for their initiatives and declared that the symposium will be an annual event in the state.
Earlier, a former federal commissioner of health in the first republic, Prof. Mvendaga Jibo, advised Governor Alia to organise a forum at least once every year to bring retired permanent secretaries together to assist him with their wealth of experience about governance even as the governor claimed he had adequate experience to pilot the affairs of the state.
“You need the blend of the young and the old. Invite to this hall or Government House, retired permanent secretaries, former commissioners and former directors to seek their perspectives with the government perspectives for policy implementation. You are on the right track. Don’t be distracted”, Prof Jibo counselled.
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In his presentation, Rev. Fr. Patrick Alumuku stressed the need for effective and logical communication to mobilise people to achieve peace-building and development goals for the state, urging the governor to carry the media along as key drivers of change and development.
“Mr Governor, you know that if special attention is given to logical communication approach, if the media is given the rightful approach, it will create a conducive atmosphere for political stability and peace. This will serve as a springboard to the desired development of the new Benue of our dreams.
“Since the media is a catalyst for development, the involvement of the media by government can help bring development to our State”, Alumuku recommended.
In their various lectures, Prof. Philip Vande, Prof. Ode Ojowu, Dr Raymond Asemakaha and Prof. Steven Ugba, who spoke as chairman of the occasion, all commended Governor Alia for the speedy development recorded by his administration within one year in office.
