12th January 2026
When they say “government is a continuum”, I keep wondering if our leaders understand the slogan. No! their actions are often not showing they really do. I notice that in Nigeria, new administrations come on board and instead of continuing with the efforts of the outgone regimes, they rather squash the policies of past regimes. This happens partly because many leaders are not always interested in genuine development but rather in leaving legacies that can only be traced to their names.
This is why genuine projects are initiated by one administration, but suddenly abandoned by another in pursuit of the so-called legacy projects that are often not terribly important or of inconsequential priority.
Before I proceed, let me take a moment and highlight one important thing that may help me conceptualise the subject matter more properly. When we say “government is a continuum,” we are basically talking about how governance is an ongoing process. It means government is not like a one-time thing; it is more like a flow. It means government is always evolving, adapting, and responding to the needs of the people, even when it does not feel like it. Let us think of it like a river, constantly flowing, changing, and moving. Different administrations, policies, and leaders come and go, but the government is still rolling. Therefore, “government is a continuum” is a concept that highlights the dynamic nature of governance, showing that it is not static, but rather a continuous journey.
I do not know if the explanation above makes sense to our leaders and most of the sycophantic supporters hovering around them. When I hear people around the corridors of power and who should have the Governor’s ears saying “Gov. Alia was not the one owing them; Ortom was, so no one should blame Alia for the past mess”, I usually hide my face in shame.
These ill-informed advisers and overzealous supporters are the ones leading the governor astray, thereby exposing him to greater shame, ridicule, unnecessary criticism or verbal chastisement from neutral players who are more interested in good governance than eating crumbs falling off from the Governor’s table.
Since 2023 when the present administration of Gov. Alia came on board, there have been many welfare issues the governor has (probably) either deliberately or inadvertently left unattended to. One of such issues is his obvious foot-dragging or refusal to clear outstanding arrears of civil servants and retirees. In fact, one of the greatest weaknesses of the Governor is his zero attention to human welfare, and prioritising infrastructure. No society will be at ease if there is no balance between infrastructure and human development. Concentrating on only one of them is a serious mal-administration that will surely be met with resistance. It is, in short, a misstep in governance. Make no mistakes! When we advocate for infrastructural development, we are not saying human beings should die of hunger and when we are saying “wet the ground”, we are not saying stop infrastructural development. A wise leader or government should know exactly how to strike a balance between human and infrastructural development. Only when the balance is struck shall the support of everyone be gained.
Although the governor must be appreciated for the timely payment of salaries and pension since he assumed office on May 29, 2023, it is still not out of place to state that being a civil servant or retiree in Benue State currently is a tough moment as far as owed arrears are concerned. And since Benue State is predominantly a civil servants state, holding back workers’ entitlements can negatively affect businesses in the state. This explains the palpable hopelessness in the land. For example, Primary School teachers in Benue State are being owed salary arrears dating back from 2017. The same story can be told of retirees whose arrears of pensions and gratuities are still not cleared. Indeed, many other civil servants are suffering the same fate and this is becoming quite enigmatic especially because such neglect is happening in the wake of abundant financial resources. It is now becoming more like wickedness than fiscal prudence. Otherwise, what is really going on?
Just yesterday, the Governor announced that all the arrears of pensioners who retired from May 2023 to date should be cleared within this month of January. To many of us, this pronouncement raised more concerns, since it ostensibly indicates that the governor is not interested in taking care of the liabilities left behind by his predecessor. It also confirms the long-heard rumour from different quarters that the Governor vowed not to pay the debts owed by the past administration.
More disturbing are the ensuing commentaries being made by the over-zealous supporters of Alia’s administration who think the governor is omniscient and cannot make mistakes. Yes, it is good to support, but when we support stupidly, it means we are not just stupid ourselves, but may not be ready for real developmental milestones. I saw one comment that broke my spirit completely. The gullible supporter said:
“Gov. Alia cannot pay and should not be expected to clear the arrears owed by Gov. Ortom. He has been consistently paying salaries and pensions since he took over in May 2023. That should be enough. Those complaining about non-payment of arrears should blame the Abuja people who are blocking the probe of Ortom’s administration. If monies Ortom stole were recovered, the arrears would have been cleared since”.
What an excuse! What a lowly and vacuous thinking! Incidentally, this is the same way many supporters of the current administration are thinking and I am sure, the comment was only bringing to limelight what is being discussed within the deep circles of the current administration. Indeed, when there is no political will to tackle a lingering problem, excuses of such nature abound. I am wondering why politics has eroded people’s cognitive abilities and thinking well has suddenly become a ‘scarce commodity’. Why has it become so difficult for people to speak as truthful as it ought to be? It is really disappointing for the present government to think that most of the fiscal liabilities left behind by the past administration are none of Gov. Alia’s businesses. The governor too must not forget that government is a continuum. He saw a problem and entered into an agreement with the people to solve it! He must fulfill his promises without any form of foot-dragging to protect his integrity as both man of the cloth and of high intellect.
Let me be clear! Gov. Alia did not tell the electorates during campaigns that during his tenure, once he is done with probing Ortom’s administration, he would clear the debts. No! That was not his slogan! He said he would solve within 100 days in office what Ortom could not do, including payment of salary and pension arrears as well as returning the IDPs back to their ancestral homes. It was on the basis of those promises that many people voted for him.
Gov. Alia must remember that people were not comfortable with the past administration, hence they prayed for a ‘messiah’ who would salvage their situation. Let his administration not remind us of the wounds of the past. So far, this administration has already provoked avoidable anger in the minds of many electorates due to the governor’s palpable inability or nonchalance in solving basic problems like salary and pension arrears. Indeed, the governor must understand that many people are getting irredeemably disappointed in his handling of government affairs. What many are seeing today is not what they bargained for in 2023.
Furthermore, let me remind the over-zealous supporters that the best form of support is telling our so-called idols the truth. It is listening to the yearnings and aspirations of the people on the streets and transmitting the message – purely, precisely and unadulteratedly – to the governor, who may have probably lost touch with the realities on ground due to the demands of his office.
Let me conclude by casting our minds back to the not-terribly-sagacious decision of the governor to pay the pension and gratuities of only those who retired during his administration. In a normal set-up, no right-thinking person should advise the governor to despise the old retirees who are already sick, frail and hopeless, and concentrate only on the ones who recently retired. It makes no sense at all, especially given the fact that the recent retirees must have already been enjoying certain benefits in the current subsidy-free regime, while the old ones remain on a pension structure that is no longer sustainable in the current ruinous economy. If these old ones were maltreated before, they should not be completely killed by the Alia administration. Not paying them their retirement benefits is tantamount to killing them slowly.
Gov. Alia must, as a matter of utmost importance, remember that the very retirees he is thinking he has no business with or they should hold former Gov. Ortom responsible for their arrears were those who prayed against the past regime including what it stood for, while giving all their support to him in 2023. Gov. Alia, thinking the old retirees’ problem is not part of your administration is the greatest political faux pas you will be taking. Do not let the blessings of these old, sick and frail retirees depart from you, otherwise, you will be completely doomed.
Hon. Gemanen Ajio Gyuse writes as a concerned Benue Citizen and a Vandeikya man who is no longer terribly pleased with the governance style of his brother, the Governor!
