During the campaigns leading to the 2023 general elections, Fr. Hyacinth Alia (All Progressives Congress (APC)) threw up a seven-point agenda as his development blueprint for the state if elected governor. This was in addition to adopting the APC national blueprint.
The seven points, with the acronym SACHIIP, are security of lives and property; agriculture and rural development; commerce and industry; human capital and social development; infrastructure and environment; Information and Communications Technologies (ICT); and political and economic governance.
On March 20, Prof Faruq Adamu Kuta, Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Minna and the Returning Officer of the March 18, 2023, Benue State Governorship election, declared Fr. Alia the winner with a total of 473,933 votes ahead of his closest rival and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Titus Uba, who scored 223,913.
Fr. Alia is the second opposition party candidate in Benue State, after Chief Samuel Ortom, to win the Benue Governorship election. After his oath of allegiance and office as Governor on May 29, 2023, the governor made appointments to help drive the achievement of his blueprint for the state. These appointments include commissioners, advisers, heads of agencies and parastatals, and other aides.
Two years plus in office, some of these appointees have either resigned, been suspended, or dropped. The cabinet has been reshuffled, too.
So, who are the Fr. Alia men making impact? Follow us in this series for a look at the most popular.
Sir Alex Addingi, Special Adviser to the Governor on International Investments and Pointman, Buruku: Apart from the ongoing talks on energy, Sir Alex Addingi is famous for championing the Benue Alia Palm Project (BAPP). BAPP is conceived as “seeds of a brighter Benue” because Fr. Alia believes that “Every oil palm seedling you plant will grow to feed industries, employ our youth, and add prosperity to our state.”
Fathfully, Sir Addingi has pursued the realisation of this futuristic economic plan for the people of the state by maintaining a nursery to ensure seedlings are available. With over 200,000 seedlings planted across the state, the people, and by extension, the state should be earning billions of Naira in oil palm revenue in no distant time. It is sustainable and also serves environmental protection purposes, Sir Addingi claims.
He is also known for his benevolence. Little wonder, he is the Governor’s pointman from Buruku Local Government Area (LGA).
Dr. Raymond Asemaka, Group General Manager, Benue Investment and Property Company (BIPC).
Dr Raymond Asemakaha inherited BIPC as a near-bankrupt industry. With a clear vision and mission, Dr Asemakaha embarked on a transformative path for the company, with its outlook revised from the BIPC Long-term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to positive, affirming it at “B” by Fitch Ratings. Today, BIPC is becoming a conglomerate. It provides job opportunities. It is playing a regulatory role in the local economy.
Dr Asemakaha reckons that a true leader must not wait for a call to make an impact; a true leader must lead the charge to unlock the chains that impede growth and development.
He promised water and bread. He delivered. He promised a nail factory. He delivered. The following product lines from BIPC Brewery and Juice are to be released into the market under the watch of Dr Asemakaha.
The company is also delivering housing and plans to go into commodity trading. All these have made Dr Asemakaha one of Fr. Alia’s men who are making an impact on the governor’s Strategic Development Plan for Benue State.
Sir Alexander Fanafa, General Manager, Benue Links (Ltd.) Limited. The Benue State transporter, Benue Links (Nig.) Limited survived being put into the hands of private individuals because of one man’s resilience, and is today reshaping the transport business in the Nigerian Food Basket State. Sir Alexander Fanafa, a non-management staff member, stoutly opposed its privatisation. When Fr. Alia took over as Governor, he appointed him, first as Acting General and later confirmed his appointment as the substantive General Manager.
Since Sir Fanafa came on board, the company’s fortunes have changed. With government support, the company now offers a travel bonanza to state residents, thereby regulating transportation costs on the routes it plies.
Sir Fanafa is using technology to drive the achievement of the founders’ goals and ensure passenger safety. With its new fleet of buses and cars, Benue Links tracks in-transit vehicles, keeps drivers in touch, and monitors their movement, providing prompt responses to customer complaints.
Many staff and students of Joseph Sarwuan Tarka University, Makurdi, are among the residents of Makurdi who think the Benue Links General Manager is the best asset the governor has. His intra-city shuttle is another plus for the governor.
Under Sir Fanafa’s watch, Benue Links has bounced back to full operations, including the resumption of logistics services and the reopening of hitherto closed routes. A company that was almost an eyesore, a shadow of its old self, and was put up in the market for sale is now a beehive of activity.
The Company is no longer the Benue Links that was advertised for sale. It has regained its position as the transport giant, moderating transportation costs and easing the movement of goods and services.
For regulating the transport sector and thereby easing transportation, Sir Fanafa has earned the Fr. Alia men’s badge for making an impact on the lives of the people of the state.
Mr. Stephen Numbeve, Benue State Project Coordinator, Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project (RAAMP): In 2023, Fr. Alia appointed Mr Numbeve as the Project Coordinator of RAAMP. The development objective of RAAMP is to improve transport conditions and provide sustained access to the rural population by rehabilitating and maintaining key rural transport infrastructure in selected areas of Nigerian States.
With Mr Numbeve coordinating the project in the state for the governor, RAAMP has completed the construction of critical culverts in LGAs, including Vandeikya, Gboko, Otukpo, Konshisha, and Tarka.
RAAMP has also completed survey and design work for over 534km of rural roads covering the 23 LGAs, laying the groundwork for greater market access and connectivity for remote communities. The project is ongoing on rural roads in all the senatorial districts.
On December 9, Fr. Alia commissioned the Fr. Alia Motorcycle Acquisition Scheme, through the efforts of Mr Numbeve, with an initial take-off of hundreds of electric motorcycles.
In terms of winning support for the governor, Mr Numbeve is said to be the governor’s number one asset from Jechira.
Sir Tersoo Kula, Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to the Governor: Sir Tersoo Kula, former Benue State Correspondent of Blue Print newspaper and Correspondents’ Chapel Chairman, Benue State, is a bomb. He does not suffer “stakeholders” and anti-Fr. Alia elements gladly.
Pundits have likened Sir Kula, the Governor’s mouthpiece, to the command of former Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Mr Tafa Balogun. It’s fire for fire. Come hard on his principal, and Sir Kula returns with force at a speed calculated only by Don Garshagu Atovigba, PhD, in his attempt to resolve Reihman’s hypothesis. In Dr Ativigba’s estimation, missiles can travel faster than light.
Beyond responding in proportionate measure, the CPS takes time to inform the public on the policies, programmes, and achievements of its principal.
He is also said to be reaching out to consolidate support for his principal.
