Benue State Governor, Fr. Hyacinth Alia, has charged participants at the Benue 2035 Economic Transformation, Capital Formation and Prosperity Summit to develop practical strategies to attract investment, create jobs, and improve residents’ living standards.
Fr. Alia gave the charge on Monday, September 7, at the opening of the three-day summit held at the Fr. Alia Conference Hall, Makurdi, stressing that the summit must produce clear decisions, measurable outcomes and implementable guidelines; not another report abandoned on a shelf.
The governor said Benue had the human and natural resources required for prosperity, but warned that potential alone could not transform society unless converted into investment, productive activities, jobs and improved incomes.
He urged participants to challenge existing assumptions and develop bold, realistic strategies capable of taking the state “farther, faster and better.”
According to the governor, governance, security, capital formation, investment, agriculture, infrastructure, power, human capital, technology and artificial intelligence must receive strategic attention in Benue’s development agenda.
Acknowledging that the summit was taking place during a political campaign season, Fr. Alia urged participants to place the long-term interests of the state above partisan considerations.
“The next election matters, but the future and prosperity of Benue matters more,” he said.
Earlier, the Group Managing Director of the Benue Investment and Property Company (BIPC), Dr Raymond Asemakaha, said the summit was designed to secure $5 billion in investment commitments for the state.
Dr Asemakaha disclosed that tertiary institutions in Benue produced 14,802 graduates in 2024 and 16,200 in 2025, stressing that the state’s economic output must grow faster than its population for prosperity to be achieved.
The summit, organised by BIPC in partnership with Hudson Global, is expected to produce strategic recommendations and an implementation framework for Benue’s long-term economic transformation.
