His two tenures as the governor of Benue State were marked by significant challenges that badly affected his administration and the state’s development trajectory.
His leadership coincided with a tumultuous period in Nigeria’s history, characterized by economic downturns, security crises, and public health emergencies.
That man is Samuel Ortom. He led Benue State between 2015 and 2023.
The above scenario accounted for the difficulty that Governor Ortom experienced in paying salaries, pensions and gratuity regularly. I dare say that no other governor of Benue State has ever faced a quarter of the troubles that confronted Governor Ortom.
He met a state treasury in deficit with a monthly wage bill of N4.1 billion at the state level and N3.7 billion at the local government level. Meanwhile, the monthly allocation to the state had dropped from N5.6 billion in early 2015 to a mere net allocation of N2.4 billion in June 2015. It was therefore practically impossible for the Benue State Government to pay the workers with such a significant deficit. The internal revenue was merely at an average of N250 million monthly.
By the beginning of 2016, no fewer than 27 states in the country including Benue State were owing workers’ salaries and pensioners’ entitlements. Benue, a state heavily reliant on federal allocations, was one of the worst hit.
In the month of April 2016, the federal allocation to Benue State dropped to as low as N1.3 billion!
The situation was that bad! To make matters worse, Benue State had the highest wage bill in Northern Nigeria and the 3rd highest in the country after Lagos and Rivers States.
Despite all those challenges, Governor Ortom, who had made labour leaders a part of the state and local government joint allocation committee for transparency, was managing to pay the workers by combining the allocations of two months to pay. There was no other alternative.
Some states such as Kaduna and Nasarawa opted for a pay cut of 25 percent because they could no longer afford the payment of salaries and pensions.
By 2016, Nigeria had sunk into the first of the two devastating recessions! A barrel of crude oil which was $98.97 in 2014 had dropped to $52.32 in 2015, $43.67 in 2016. it dropped to about $10 per barrel in 2020. Nigeria went into a second recession in 2020 and disbursements from the Federation Account to the three tiers of government plunged by 31 percent.
Benue Pension arrears: clearing the Augean stable
Governor Ortom inherited huge unpaid pensions and gratuities from his predecessor, Gabriel Suswam. The total size of the pensions and gratuity payable by the state government between 2015 and October 2020 alone stood at N68.195. This represented 63% of the 2020 budget. Out of that amount, the state government paid N25.465 billion by the end 2020, leaving a balance of N42.273 billion, made of N14.522 billion in pension arrears and N28.208 billion in gratuity arrears. The government paid a subsequent N3.283 billion (50%) of the average ministry’s budgetary allocation for the year.
For the 23 Local Government areas, the cost of pension, gratuity, death benefits and cumulative pension arrears that Ortom inherited was a whopping N72.456 billion. Out of this, he was able to offset N10.630 billion by the end of his first term in 2019.
This was almost an impossible task to accomplish. It was like an Augean stable. Yet, the arrears must be paid somehow, someday and – possibly – gradually, so that the government could also attend to its other obligations. Yet, serving civil servants continued to retire and add to the existing pension bill of the government.
Aware of the magnitude of the existing and potential challenge posed by the growing pensions and gratuity bill, Governor Ortom adopted a multi-pronged approach to take the bull by the horns. The administration took steps to provide immediate, short and long term solutions to the pension problem, through the establishment of the Benue State Pension Commission (BEPCOM). Modeled after the Federal Government’s National Pension Commission (PENCOM).
The Ortom administration was consistently making its own part of the contributions. By the time he was leaving office in 2023, the state’s pension contributions stood at about N6 billion, waiting to reach the threshold of N10 billion to enable the state government access funds from PENCOM to tackle the pensions and gratuity situation. It must be emphasized that the introduction of the contributory pension scheme did not stop the payment of pensioners by the Ortom administration.
Insecurity: Invasion of Benue
In addition to economic woes, Ortom’s administration was plagued by escalating insecurity, particularly due to the invasion of Benue State by armed Fulani herders. The situation grew dire as herders attacked communities in the state, leading to tragic loss of lives and displacement of over one million people. In response to this crisis, Ortom’s government enacted the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law in 2017, which aimed to curb the violence by regulating cattle grazing. However, this move was met with resistance and heightened tensions between the state government and the Federal Government, which was perceived as favouring the interests of herders over the safety of Benue people. Benue had over 1.5 million displaced people as a result of the herders attacks! The humanitarian crisis was devastating and adversely affected the resources of the state government.
The fallout from these security challenges strained Ortom’s relationship with the federal administration led by President Muhammadu Buhari. Ortom’s vocal opposition to the federal government’s handling of the herder-farmer conflict resulted in a loss of support from federal authorities, manifesting in the denial of certain privileges and incentives that other states received. This political isolation compounded the challenges faced by his administration.
Health Crisis and Economic Disruption
The Covid-19 pandemic further exacerbated the difficulties facing Benue State. As with many parts of the country and the globe, the pandemic brought economic activities to a halt, impacting local businesses and reducing state revenues even further. The government’s response required not only the implementation of health measures to curb the spread of the virus but also the introduction of economic relief efforts to support vulnerable populations. Ortom’s administration had to navigate these dual challenges, balancing public health requirements with the urgent need for economic recovery. The COVID emergency also brought with it unplanned spending as the state government had to approve the purchase of expensive health equipment such as ventilators and create fully functional isolation units and other special services to accommodate those infected by the virus.
Time is coming that Benue people will look back at the Ortom years and admit that indeed he faced the greatest challenges as governor of the state. His administration’s legacy is one of resilience in the face of adversity, highlighting the complexities of governance in a turbulent socio-political landscape. The lessons learned during Ortom’s time in office will undoubtedly shape the future of governance in Benue State as it continues to confront ongoing challenges.
The current Governor of Benue State, Hyacinth Alia is the luckiest man to lead the state. He has assumed office at a time when federal allocations to states have tripled since June 2023. He has no reason to owe salaries and pensions or fail to execute projects!
Since President Bola Tinubu removed fuel subsidy in May 2023, federal allocations to the state have tripled. What Benue people want to see is not just the payment of salaries and pensions but the clearing of the arrears of salaries and pensions. So far, the current government of Hyacinth Alia has not shown any sign of fulfilling his promise to clear the arrears, despite getting huge allocations and taking loans more than N130 billion in less than a year.
Prince Tyodoo is former Senior Special Assistant to the Benue State Governor.