Govt tasks Benue councils over mop up of illegal arms

More work still to be done, says Tsav

Benue State Government has charged the 23 Council Caretaker Chairmen to take advantage of the amnesty programme granted by Governor Samuel Ortom by persuading their subjects that are in position of illegal arms to surrender them.

Special Adviser to the state Governor in the Bureau for Rural Development and Cooperative, Tsenongo Abancha dropped the charge at the weekend when he led his Permanent Secretary and a team of directors of the Bureau on inspection tour of projects in the nine (9) local council areas of the Benue South District.

In a similar vein, elder statesman, Alhaji Abubakar Tsav has stated that even as the kingpin of criminals terrorizing the people of the state and environs, Terwase Akwaza, aka Ghana has turned out arms and ammunitions under the present government’s amnesty programme, it is however, not yet Uhuru.

Tsav, who made the indication in Makurdi, implored the amnesty committee to go further to get Ghana’s alleged over 200 gang members to also surrender their weapons.

In another development, Governor Ortom has directed the release of N200 million for the renovation of infrastructure at the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Makurdi preparatory to its reaccreditation.

Ortom said this after inspecting the ongoing renovation work at the institution, lamenting that the accreditation of the school had been withdrawn in the past three years and expressed hope that it would be restored by the end of this year. “I’m impressed with the quality of work and confident that at the rates it was progressing, the renovation would be completed within six weeks because those handling it are on the same page with us and they commenced work before being mobilized,” he stated.

The Governor who said that the neglect of the school is a sin against humanity, the people of the state, and God, maintained that his administration which has job and opportunities creation as one of its major priorities cannot neglect an institution whose products are in demand in any part of the world and who can also become self-reliant.

Tsav further said it is expedient and necessary for the police to interrogate Ghana to know why he took to criminality, who his sponsors are, as well as how he procured his arms etc. “But for the amnesty program to really succeed, a similar programme must be carried out by Taraba and other neighbouring states otherwise, we may only be scorching a snake but not killing it. We need to destroy the insecurity and corruption-the twin evil that are plaguing our society,” he advised.