The significance of emergence of Fr. Alia as Benue governor-elect

By Abu, I. Michael

I am a proud Benuenite but sad over the stagnated growth of the state since its creation from the defunct Benue-Plateau in 1976. States which came into being after her even the most recent of them have developed beyond expectations; take for example states like Akwa Ibom, Jigawa, Yobe, Gombe, Ebonyi, Ekiti and Nasarawa States which came into existence in 1991 and 1996 have soared over the years in terms of socioeconomic and physical development.
The people of Benue State continued to suffer abject poverty in spite of its rich mineral resources and agricultural endowments. Successive leaderships elected in trust of affairs of the state lacked vision to transform the state with these resources lying fallow, and preemptively breeding armies of unemployed youths who would have been engaged in factories and companies which these natural resources can sustain.
All this while, past and present governors of the state occupy themselves in blame games for their ineptitude and failure; what they do more in governance is playing politics with serious issues of governance and seeking personal relevance in place of the sacrifice and projects they pledged on oath for the benefit of the people and durable development of the state economy.
No need crying over spilled milk; it is time to look with hope at the perkier years ahead and it is in order to draw strength to survive and hope for a better Benue State that it is pertinent to look at the significance of the emergence of Fr. Alia as the next Benue Governor.
The Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia I know is sympathetic, empathetic and familiar with the sufferings of the people of the state which he will soon be privileged to lead. These qualities he demonstrated in his healing ministry and has helped and provided for many from the meager he had. I have also been privileged to have interacted with him and had discussions with him especially in 2014 and 2015 when I was visiting the Church he was pastoring opposite the First Gate of the Benue State University.
Fr. Alia’s commitment to uplifting not just the spiritual life of the people but the concerns he showed towards the socioeconomic wellbeing of the people of the state, I believed fetched him the votes that saw his emergence as the Governor-elect to run the affairs of Benue State in the next 4 years. His training and eventual ordination as a priest of God Almighty bestows him a burden for crass accumulation of materialism, pilfering of public funds, utter disregards of human dignity, prejudice, and general abuse of power as well as all manners of action that have kept the state politically and socioeconomically in the wood.
The expectations of the people of the state of the government under Fr. Alia are high, I must confess. For him to succeed, he must be weary of some political juggernauts who will want to influence his leadership for selfish ends, and work hard to diffuse the trivialities and sentiments that are dragging to opposite directions the thought of togetherness and amity that once held the people of the state a common pledge; he can achieve this through fair distribution of governmental powers and positions and projects across the state. The contemporary politicians of the state hype sentiments adversative to mutual understanding and unity that can drive the support required by every government to attain success in its programmes and project implementation in the effort to transform the lives of the people.
Focusing on tackling insecurity that has disrupted agricultural and economic activities of the state is of paramount priority to any government; the Fr. Alia-led government on inauguration must hit the ground running in order to recover the state from armed criminals that whose activities have stolen the peaceful and tranquil environments of our communities and the general atmosphere of the state.
With his connections which cut across the globe, it is my hope that he will pull the right strings for the industrialization of the state. It is well known that the state is blessed in commercial quantities with mineral resources and agricultural potentialities; they are on hand materials for food, drink and other industries that will help change the fortune of the state as a producer at the same time providing vista for job opportunities not only for the indigenes of the state but other Nigerians.
The development and expansion of physical infrastructure of the state especially of Makurdi, the state capital was long overdue. This is another area that the APC-led Government of Fr. Alia is expected to pay attention. Makurdi does not look like a state capital in the real sense of it. There should be proper and good road network, streets, flyovers and passages for pedestrians as well as good public structures depicting the headquarters of a state. It needs some aesthetics to project its hidden beauty that will speak volumes of the people of the state.
Abu, I. Michael is from Odugbo-Ochekwu, Apa LGA, michaelabu888@gmail.com, (SMS-08126121139)