By Daniel Gbabo Anyam

The Thank-you-tour of His Excellency Governor Hyacinth Iormem Alia has come and gone. True to type, even the tour did not conform to the typical thank-you tours the people of Benue are used to.

Typically, Thank-you tours are embarked upon immediately after assumptions of office. That has become the pattern. But Reverend Father Hyacinth Alia’s own tours came first after his first year in office and now in his third year. But within the three years, the priest-governor has a lot of projects and achievements in hand to showcase before a people who three years earlier had expressed an overwhelming support for his candidature never before experienced in this part of the country.
So the healing-priest turned governor’s own tours was not just the normal ritual. It holds a far deeper significance than the routine. Anybody who listened to the Reverend gentleman speak during the just concluded tour could feel the emotions behind the speeches.

For those who witnessed the governors’ campaign, it was not surprising.
The sheer passion and enthusiasm of the masses for his candidature was electric. The elderly, the youths, the market women, all. The campaigns were christened by his ecstatic supporters as “healing masses” in nostalgic remembrance of his days as a healing priest when he had attended to the sick, the afflicted and the destitute. Already a household name, the priest had earned the trust of the masses long before his foray into partisan politics.

Understandably, such level of support does not deserve just a perfunctory ‘thank you’. Therefore, it had to take over a year and then three years. But within the three years, the real ‘thank you’ was in what he was giving back to the masses. Massive employments such as has never before witnessed in the annals of Benue history.

A rough estimate of youths the Reverend gentleman has taken off the streets and given gainful employment into the state civil service amounts up to 20,000 or close to. With a promise to employ over 10,000 more for the post primary education cadre.

From Katsina-Ala in Sankara, Adikpo in Kwande, Vandeikya in Jerchira, Buruku and Gboko in Jemgbagh, Aliade and Makurdi in Chongo Tyev (MINDA), Oju in Igede, Otukpo, Apa, Ogbadibo in Idomaland, governor Alia said thank you by word of mouth but also with projects and other tangible achievements.

Fr Alia’s welcome departure from the routine ritual that had become the norm is, however, refreshing. From the onset, the governor has refused to conform to entrenched patterns of political traditions.

The tour also afforded citizens the opportunity to directly interface with their governor in informal town hall meetings where salient issues affecting the people and the state were discussed.

One of the greatest worries of the Benue people has been insecurity. The tour came spot on, at the right time. Hitherto ravaged by killings and terrorist attacks for over a decade, the people who before the emergence of the governor where traumatised but the one-on-one presence and re-assurance of their governor soothed like balm and calmed frayed nerves across the length and breathe of the land.

Before this second tour, the announcement by the federal government, including Benue among states in a proposed pilot ranching scheme, had raised tensions to a fever pitch high. For a people who in their travails over the years have continued to look unto the authorities for succour, the proposed ranching which entailed giving up their lands as a solution felt even more traumatising. The governor stood on the side of his people.

Governor Alia re-affirmed his commitment to securing lives and property. He announced continuous and intensified collaboration with security agencies and local vigilantes, and promised to create additional favourable conditions for the remaining displaced persons to return to their ancestral homes. “No Benue child should be a stranger in his fatherland,” Alia declared in the town hall meeting in Makurdi.

But what really touched the heart of the Benue citizenry is the governor’s open refusal to cede any part of Benue land for ranching against the will of the people. In the course of the tour across all the state’s three senatorial zones, through the eleven federal constituencies, he reiterated the resolve of his administration never to relinguish any part of Benue land against the peoples will, few of whom have been sacked from their ancestral lands and are still been sheltered in IDP camps. His words soothed frayed nerves like the consolation of an understanding father.

In Agriculture, the governor showcased interventions in farm inputs, tractorisation, and improved seedlings. These interventions, he said, were aimed at making Benue sustain her position among the comity of states as the food basket of the nation. The governor also inspected some of his completed and ongoing road projects. He stated that development has gone beyond major city centres and the state capital.

“Development has gone beyond Makurdi. No community will be left behind”, he assured.

The governor similarly announced several upgrades of health facilities to primary health care centres and recruitment of more health workers. In education, he restated his commitment to paying teachers’ salaries, sustaining payments of pensions and gratuities, renovating schools, and clearing inherited arrears. The tour also doubled as a platform to engage youths.

Governor Alia announced new skill acquisition programs and promised more youth inclusion in government.

As a priest turned politician, the tour was also pastoral. Prayers were offered in churches, mosques, and village squares. He sought counsel where his government had fallen short and asked for sustained support. “This government belongs to you. Hold me accountable. I’ve not failed, and I will not fail you”, he told crowds in Ado during the final leg.

Expectations are now higher. The people are no longer asking “if” but are now saying “we agree and stand with our governor”.

With promises fulfiled and more made on security, Agriculture, infrastructure, health, and youth empowerment, the Alia administration now faces the task of further converting gratitude into greater results. For now, one thing is clear: the governor has showcased tangible achievements and reassured the people of providing more dividends of democracy.

The people acknowledged his works and have affirmed their trust in his leadership.

Gbabo Anyam is an Economist and the Principal Private Assistant (PPA) to the Executive Governor of Benue State on Due Process Government House Administration.