Benue's N318.2Million Jeep Controversy...

On assumption of office in May this year, Governor Samuel Or­tom of Benue State pledged to among other things cut down the cost of governance. This according to him was necessitated by the state of the trea­sury. Towards this end, the governor took steps aimed at matching his words with action. To that effect, the governor pruned down the number of ministries from 17 to 13 while the number of ad­visers was reduced from 23 to 16.

According to him, these were mea­sures being put in place to ensure that government was run at a very minimal cost. Upon the take-off of government with the inauguration of 23 caretaker chairmen at the local government lev­el, the State Executive Councils mem­bers and Special Advisers, controversies started trailing the take-off, most espe­cially, as regards the purchase of official vehicles for appointees of government.

Given the state of the treasury as was informed by the governor, the purchase of such vehicles at the amount quoted was greeted with condemnation by a vast segment of the Benue society es­pecially, for a state which only recently accessed N28 billion as bailout to off-set outstanding salary arrears owed civil servants in the state running into months by the previous administra­tion. This did not however cover those of pensioners as well as other benefits if serving civil servant.

In a recent report published by an on­line medium, it was alleged that the gov­ernor spent over five hundred million for the purchases of official vehicles for his personal aids amidst a cash crunch.

It alleged that the Ortom adminis­tration bought 13 Toyota Land Cruis­er Prado jeeps at N18 million each, amounting to N318.2 million as against its real price of N11 million, for his commissioners. The report also in­formed that the government also pur­chased 43 Toyota Corolla, 2015 mod­el, at the cost of N7.4 million as against its real price of N5million, according to its findings, for local government chair­men and special advisers.

The report also revealed that the pur­chase of the vehicles did not follow due process as it contravened the RMAFC Act and also that there was no public tender before the contract was award­ed as contained in the procurement act.

These grievous allegations have con­tinued to spark reactions in the state as people who spoke to The AUTHORI­TY expressed shock giving the anti-cor­ruption stand of the Benue State chief executive.

But was due process followed in the purchases of the vehicles? Were figures of the vehicles inflated as alleged in a recent online newspaper report? Giv­en the state of the treasury as informed by the governor, was it necessary in the first instance to purchase such exotic cars for appointees who are supposed to be the peoples' servants?

Those who spoke to The AUTHOR­ITY differed in their submissions. To Williams Sember, politician and for­mer special adviser to ex-Governor Sus­wam, it amounted to wastage of public funds, given the economic realities on the ground.

"I am not concerned about the argu­ment about the prices of the vehicles. My concern is the fact that you and I know that even if you buy those jeeps at the price the government said it did, to me, it's still on the high side. As we speak today, pensioners are still been owed their arrears and these are issues that government should have priori­tized. I don't really see any wisdom in the purchase of this kind of expensive cars. How then can we be talking about cutting down the cost of governance, he stated in a chat with our correspondent in Makurdi.

A member of the All Progressive Congress, APC, in Benue, who would not want his name in print said, "It was not a wise idea at all. Buying jeeps for commissioners and caretaker chairmen was a decision not in the interest of the state at all. If I were consulted I think I would have advised otherwise. You can see the controversy in the media today about the same purchase and one can only imagine the amount of monies been mentioned. It's well; I pray we get it right pretty soon"

But in his submission, Dr. Jonathan Fele, a medical practitioner-cum-politi­cian said it was not unusual for any new government to purchase vehicles for her appointees as according to him, it was a routine exercise. He wondered why the purchase of official vehicles for gov­ernment officials would suddenly be­come a "sin."

"I think we need to allow this gov­ernment to settle down and face the challenges it met right on arrival. Why didn't they quarrel with the purchase of the vehicles Suswam procured for

his incoming administration? These are just distractions. As far as some of us are concerned, if any body feels there was any fraud in the purchase then, let such individuals go to EFCC or other anti-graft agencies,"? Fele told The AUTHORITY in Makurdi, during a chat.

However, Mr. Tahav Ager­zua, Special Adviser to Gover­nor Samuel Ortom on Media and ICT viewed the allegations as attempts by enemies of the government who in his judg­ment are only out to distract the administration and also portray it in bad light.

Reacting to the vehicle pur­chase allegations, Mr. Agerzua said the allegations were base­less and fell short of the true is­sues surrounding the purchases of the said official vehicles. Ac­cording to him, the purchases were done in accordance with due process in the state.

He wondered why the said publication gave an impres­sion that looked as if Toyota has only one brand of Prado at a particular amount of mon­ey, questioning why the online medium resorted to quoting online sources and unauthor­ised dealers that could sell sec­ond hand or even substandard products at give away prices.

"Indeed the sports utility ve­hicles, procured for 13 com­missioners are Toyota TXL model at N13.6 million each. None of them was purchased at N18 million as erroneously captured in that report. Even the first consignment of the four model costly VX model were purchased at slightly be­low N18 million."

With regards to the Toyota Corolla cars, Mr. Agerzua stat­ed that, "I urge this online me­dium and any person to visit Toyota Nigeria or authorised dealers like Elizade to discov­er that none of the brand new ones cost the N5 million stated in that report. Those supplied to the state government came at the off-the-shelf price of close to N8 million each. The vehi­cles are been procured once in four years which is the life span of the first mandate giving to Governor Ortom.

On the issue of RMAFC the Special Adviser informed that the Benue State Local Govern­ment law prescribed their en­titlements to official vehicles which provision is also made for in the appointment letters of Commissioners and Special Advisers.

"The slant in the report to give the impression of the Or­tom administration is living in luxury in the face of abject poverty indicated that it was sponsored .No wonder that its publication coincided with the arraignment of former Gover­nor Gabriel Suswam, on charg­es of graft at an Abuja Federal High Court. This is intend­ed to divert attention from the arraignment and the issues in­volved," Mr Agerzua conclud­ed

Culled From The Authority