Benue State Governor, Hyacinth Alia, has denied borrowing money since the inception of his government on May 29, 2023.
The denial is coming on the heels of the sub-national debt report by the Debt Management Office (DMO) that Benue was among 13 states that have borrowed money from domestic and external financiers between June and December 2023.
According to the DMO, Benue fell among the states that had incurred domestic loans collectively amounting to N155.57 billion. The DMO put both the domestic and external debt incurred by the 13 state governors during the period under review at N226.8 billion.
But in a reaction, the governor denied the DMO report and stated that he never borrowed from anywhere since he took over the mantle of leadership from Samuel Ortom in 2023.
Alia said the debts were incurred by his predecessor and not by his government as erroneously reported by DMO.
A statement by Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Tersoo Kula, reads: “We want to state emphatically that the government of Rev. Fr Hyacinth Alia has not borrowed any money from either domestic or external sources. All debts mentioned in the report were incurred before May 29, 2023, and not after Alia-led administration took over office.
“Let it be known that the government of Alia is sceptical of borrowings, and will only do so when and if it becomes necessary and in the interest of the Benue people, especially to fund critical projects.”
