Senator Kashim Shettima, the Vice President, revealed yesterday that the Federal Government has disbursed N3 billion to each state to assist with flood control and other disaster response measures.
A statement signed and made available to the press by Amos Uchiv, President, Defenders of Democracy (DoD)., Senator Shettima disclosed this information on his official Facebook page subsequent to a visit from the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, who went to the Presidential Villa to commiserate with the Vice President concerning the destructive flood that deluged primary roads, residences, and commercial establishments in Maiduguri, the capital city of Borno State.
Reiterating the commitment of the administration of President Bola Tinubu to collaborating with the 36 states of the federation to address the challenges of flood and other natural disasters in the country, Vice President Shettima revealed:
“This is the reason why the President recently approved the sum of N3 billion for each state of the federation to tackle natural disasters such as flooding as well as other challenges.”
The Vice President’s disclosure has once again exposed Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue State as a man who has zero respect for transparency and accountability. Since he took over in May 2023, Alia has been running the government in secrecy. Even top civil servants and heads of government agencies do not have an idea of what is happening with the state resources. Only the governor and bank officials know what he does with the money.
Benue State, particularly Makurdi is one of the flood prone areas in Nigeria. This year too, the city is predicted to be flooded between this September and October. Yet, the Governor has received a huge amount of N3 billion which is meant for flood control measures but he has kept sealed lips.
If not for the revelation made by Vice President Shettima, no one would have heard about the money, the same way many other monetary interventions of the Federal Government have come in without any mention by Governor Alia.
Earlier this year, President Tinubu released N50 billion to 5 states in the north which are affected by insecurity. Benue was one of those states and Governor Alia received the state share of the N50 billion, but again, he said nothing and did nothing for the people with the funds.
Over two million Benue people are homeless because of herdsmen attacks. Thousands of the victims are living in IDP camps. They depend on the mercy of God and the goodwill of some kind-hearted people and donor organizations. The Alia government is reported to have stopped the monthly supply of food items to the IDP camps for the reason only he knows. He has not visited the camps on his own since the United Nations team compelled him to reluctantly go there last year.
It is on record that returning the IDPs to their ancestral homes within the first 100 days in office was one of the main campaign promises of Alia before the 2023 election.
He also promised to clear the arrears of salaries and pensions but has deliberately refused to fulfill his promise, despite receiving huge monthly allocations which have tripled since the removal of fuel subsidy.
The governor has also received large amounts of local government allocations but he has not allowed any of the local governments to construct even a single toilet in their areas.
We demand that Governor Alia should explain what he has done with the N3 billion flood support funds that he has received from the Federal Government! Our people are facing existential threats including floods and herders attacks and the governor has received large sums of money but chosen to remain silent and expect everyone to be clapping for him.
While we await the explanation on the whereabouts of the N3 billion Tinubu intervention, we appeal to Mr President to put EFCC on red alert to begin investigation of the Benue State Government, should Governor Alia fail to provide any satisfactory explanation of what has happened to the flood money.
