Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom has secured the approval of the state House of Assembly to borrow N10 Billion to enable him to pay salary arrears of state government workers, which he inherited from his predecessor, Gabriel Suswam. Part of the loan would also be used to attend to other pressing state matters.
A member of the Assembly, Joseph Ojobo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), moved the motion for the approval of the loan and was seconded by Ianna Jato also of the PDP.
The Speaker, Terkimbi Ikyange, commended the members for their contributions to the loan debate.
Speaking with journalists after the session, Bem Mngutyo of the All Progressives Congress (APC), representing Tarka State Constituency, said the decision was to enable the government to perform its statutory functions.
“Ours is to see how the government can move forward. The state is in a precarious situation, where salaries are not paid,” the former Benue State Nigerian Union of Journalists chairman noted.
“Even if borrowing is not the best approach, it is pertinent to know that the best thing to do now is to borrow. Perhaps, we can step up ways of our Internally Generated Revenue because our situation seems to be worse than states that were created after Benue.” [myad]
