Tuesday, 26 January 2016

Samuel Ortom And His Aggressive Borrowing And Luxury Spending.

When the 2015 Gubernatorial election result of Benue State was announced, Mr Samuel Ortom of the APC was declared winner by the INEC. It was a dream come true for the average Benue indigene as
they had experienced so much hardship and neglect in the hands of Governor Gabriel Suswam which was evident by Samuel Ortom winning the election in a landslide victory. The chronicle of Suswam's sin was that Government workers were owed backlog and months of salary and economic activities paralysed, therefore it was easy to conclude that the state was in comatose.  

In came Ortom,yet no improvement in any area. It has even turned to a period of dashed hopes and Lamentations. In this period, the people were once again neglected as the once admirable Governor elect became distant from the people. The only one area which has therefore seen tremendous improvement , has been in the area of active  and aggressive borrowing from various foreign banks and the central government. It is shocking to know that in seven months on seat as Governor, Ortom has borrowed more than N60 billion and which is to be repaid in a matter of years . To analyse better, it is worthy of note that in his first month, N10 billion was borrowed with the excuse that the state treasury was empty and he needed funds  to kick start his administration. It did not take long for another N5 billion, after which he got a bailout of N28.1 billion from the federal government. What could be more shocking than him seeking the permission of the Imo State of House of Assembly to borrow another sex of loan estimated to be N15 billion. This is despite the fact that the governor is owing workers four months salary and feels no remorse whatsoever on his despicable act of outright negligence and callousness. 

How can a leader owe workers their salaries and expect the state to move in the right path. This is the same man who rode to victory through his consistent attacksvon the previous government when Suswam walked this same path he is walking presently . 



Therefore the question is "what is it that sets Ortom apart from the previous government" as his acts have shown that a change of person in charge or party doesn't necessarily result in  positive impact. To cap it all  and as if that wasn't enough, the governor recently misappropriated and spent a whopping N100 million for the senatorial declaration of Benue South Senatorial candidate , Mr. Daniel Onjeh. This clearly shows lack of class and misplaced priority on the part of the governor of a state that has a GDP total of $6.86 billon and a per capita of $1,592 with a population of 4,253,641 according to 2006 census. Instead of investing in projects that will create job and in-turn reduce unemployment and poverty, Samuel Ortom is on a luxury spending spree.  Nigerians have now suddenly realised that "Old habits die hard".

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