The outgoing governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, has handed over a debt profile of N187.7 billion to the incoming governor, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia.
The hand over ceremony took place at the Old Banquet Hall of Government House, Makurdi.
He explained that the total income of the state during his eight years sojourn amounted to N734.9billion as of April 2023 while the total debt incurred by the state within the period stood at N187.7billion inclusive of unpaid salary, pension arrears, loans and bonds among others.
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He said, “This handover note contained not only structure but activities of my eight years administration. It has sectoral briefs of the agencies, ministry and departments.
“It contains three volumes; volume one is handover of all MDAs, volume two comprises policy document of my administration, (the Benue development plan) the part b is the comprehensive briefs submitted by ministries and agencies and part three contains highlightes of debt profile and pension.
“The revenue and income from all sources; federation account, Value Added Tax, grants, loans and others stand at N734.9bn as at the end of April while the expenditure stands at N735.6bn as at the end of April.
“The indebtedness of the state, which comprises salary arrears, pension, contractual obligations and others, is N187bn.”
“The debt situation of the state might appear on the high side but government has taken significant steps to reduce this through debt swap with the Federal Government.”
Ortom further advised the incoming governor to make use of the opportunities of funds that will soon be available to him, such as backlog of stamp duty and N61bn loan facilities fr
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