Benue State Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Hon. Joseph Iornenge Shimaor, in this interview with HENRY IYORKASE, speaks on the challenges being faced by the administration of Governor Samuel Ortom. He craves the effective take-off of the anti-open-grazing law enacted to check the menace of the Fulani herdsmen, and also laments the high wage bill that the administration picks every month. Excerpts:
In the past, Kwagh-hir was considered a unique festival under the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, because it was patronised from personalities both within and outside the country. Why has it now gone into limbo?
Yes, we have put the festival on our calendar and what we feel is that, we should not hold it during the dry season so that people would not see it as a distraction, taking them away from the farms. Therefore, we are planning to hold it during the dry season, where there are less farming activities. Then, the ministry will commence its revival. So, it is one of those activities that the ministry will commence its revival between now and June next year, believing that God would grant us life and the ability. Without doubt, I want to tell you that we are surely reviving Kwagh-hir. But we would not only stop at that. Other traditional cultural activities that would be attractive to ourselves and others would also be revived.
Is your ministry in any partnership, aimed at generating income for the state?
Partnership here depends on so many things of interest. One, we would drag in some individuals who would want to invest in tourism. In fact, we would identify them; some for the purpose of economic gains, while others for the purpose of commitment to the sustainability of the tourism sector in the state. We are now reaching out to people. We are planning a kind of roundtable workshop with investors where we shall discuss on the way forward, in the aspect of tourism and culture as a business.
If you are paid regularly and you cannot spend the salary because an armed robber has attacked and injured you or killed you, it makes no sense. So having taken care of the major aspect, which is security, we should appreciate Governor Ortom, and pray for him and the Government, so that in the aspect of salary, God will make a way
People have often complained that frequent staff auditing by government in search of ghost workers is time and money consuming. As a cabinet member in the state, how justified is the government in its regular staff auditing policy?
Well, I think that drastic issues require drastic actions. Maybe before now, the state had more than enough to play away with, but now that we are in recession, it is not there. So, definitely, the approach will change. And how will it change? To make sure that whatever transaction that is discovered to be inappropriate is done away with. That is, all those who are not workers, if discovered from time to time, have to give way. You see, when you have enough cash, you relax but when you do not have, you sit up so that you survive, because this is a matter of survival for now. So, if that is the way government must survive the challenge of salary payment, so be it. It must have to clean up the pay-roll system and to do away with the existence of those who are not doing the job. Yes, in the past, maybe they had enough money; therefore, it did not matter. But now, the situation is not the same. How can you, for God’s sake, explain that Benue State has a wage bill of N7.5 billion? Then you have states like Kaduna and Kano with many economic points not having up to that on their recurrent expenditure. Something must be wrong somewhere. So, I want to believe that something is wrong, which we are trying to correct, and it takes courage. I believe that reality has dawned on us that for the Benue people to benefit, government must do everything possible to channel the scarce resources properly into developmental issues, rather than allow such monies into wrong pockets.
A few days to the commencement of implementation of the anti-open-grazing law, information available indicates that scores of Fulani herdsmen are strategising along Ikyogen axis in Kwande Local Government area. The people are worried that they are positioning for war and you happen to be from that area. Can you confirm this?
Well, I cannot confirm it but those are the things we are also hearing and, as a government, we are carrying out our discrete investigations about such insinuations, to establish the fact before commenting. But don’t forget that His Excellency, the Governor, had gone to Abuja to confer with the President and I think he briefed him properly on the matter; more so that we are also closing in on the commencement and the implementation of the law. All the fears being expressed by either the farmers or the Fulani herdsmen would have been taken care of under the new anti-open-grazing law. Feelers from the Governor’s meeting with the President showed that all the stakeholders had been carried along, including the security agencies.
This is not just about Benue and Fulani’s herdsmen; it is the general problem in the country. So, if there is a law to bring it to an end, what was hitherto a problem of the country, I think Benue should not be singled out for whatever reason. Yes, somebody has to take the lead for others to follow. Yes, that is what we have done and Taraba has followed. Taraba has also enacted the same law. So are you saying that the Fulanis would match to go and fight in Taraba? And if that happens, then what is the responsibility of the general government? Mind you, we are aware that a splinter group of the Miyetti Allah (the Fulani herdsmen umbrella body) is threatening to resist the law. Government, I can assure you, is not taking it lightly. We would keep our eyes open and whatever information anybody has, as soon as such information is brought to the attention of government, we would carry out our investigations and take appropriate action. My appeal to the Benue State people is that they should appreciate the efforts of the leadership; not just to criticise. Criticisms should be concise and solutions proffered because that is the only way to develop; because you feel it is not you today but tomorrow you may be the one. So if it is the trend of ‘pull him down’ at all costs, I think we would not move forward.
How about the problem with unpaid salaries? How do you intend to overcome it?
Governor Ortom should be given the opportunity to sort out the problem of unpaid salaries. It is not peculiar to Benue State. Therefore, I would want to appeal that as much as we need these outstanding salaries, there are other things contending for attention at the same time. A good example is the need to ensure security for all.
If you are paid regularly and you cannot spend the salary because an armed robber has attacked and injured you or killed you, it makes no sense. So having taken care of the major aspect, which is security, we should appreciate Governor Ortom, and pray for him and the Government, so that in the aspect of salary, which is a temporary thing, God will make a way. By the time salaries are paid, people would not even remember that at a point in the life of this government, there was anything like non-payment of salaries. But if security had not been taken care of, those who were killed cannot be brought back to life. I think this is a major achievement. So even if we are criticising, we should also look at these achievements.
