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On October 29, 2025, BudgIT, the civic tech organization renowned for demystifying government finances, dropped its annual “State of States” report—and Benue State landed at 34th out of 35 evaluated states. Social media erupted. Critics pounced. But before we join the chorus of despair, let’s look at the numbers, the context, and the quiet progress that headlines often miss.
First, the backstory. In 2022, under former Governor Samuel Ortom, Benue ranked dead last—36th out of 36. That year, the state spent a staggering 90.23% of its total revenue on recurrent expenditure: salaries, pensions, allowances, loan servicing, and administrative costs. That left a paltry 9.77% for capital projects—roads, schools, hospitals, bridges. Worse, Ortom borrowed heavily. By the time he left office in May 2023, Benue’s debt had ballooned to ₦214 billion, with over 40 months of unpaid salaries, pensions, and gratuities. The question on everyone’s lips then wasn’t “Where are the projects?” but “Where did the money go?”
Enter Governor Hyacinth Alia in May 2023. Instead of following the borrow-and-spend playbook, he did something radical: he stopped taking new loans. Zero. Not one kobo in fresh debt, domestic or foreign. Instead, he turned the state’s focus to cleaning up the mess. And clean he did.
By the end of 2024, Benue had slashed its debt from ₦214 billion to ₦161.83 billion—a reduction of ₦52 billion in just one year. That’s roughly 30% of the previous administration’s borrowing wiped out through disciplined repayment. In 2023, recurrent expenditure stood at ₦79.29 billion. By 2024, it rose to ₦179.74 billion—not because of reckless spending, but because a huge chunk of that increase went into servicing Ortom-era loans and clearing salary and pension backlogs. Yes, the recurrent figure looks high, but context matters: a significant portion wasn’t for new overhead—it was for paying off yesterday’s sins.
And here’s where the story turns. While Benue was paying down debt, it was also building. Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) jumped from ₦15.02 billion in 2022 to ₦19.20 billion in 2023—a 28% increase. Capital expenditure? It soared from ₦27.67 billion in 2023 to ₦98.02 billion in 2024—a 254% leap. That’s not pocket change. That’s roads under construction across the state, drainage systems in Makurdi, a new university taking shape, the ongoing transformation of Benue State University Teaching Hospital, and more.
So why the low BudgIT ranking? Because the metric heavily weighs fiscal sustainability—and debt repayment eats into current budgets. When you’re aggressively paying off inherited loans, less money flows into new visible projects in the short term, even as you’re laying the foundation for long-term stability. Benue isn’t hiding spending—it’s prioritizing survival. And it’s working.
This isn’t to say everything is perfect. Challenges remain. Civil servants still await full regularization of payments. Some projects move slower than desired. But to wave BudgIT’s ranking as proof of failure is to ignore the data BudgIT itself provided. Benue isn’t sliding—it’s healing. No new loans. No unpaid salaries. No pension arrears under this administration. Just a steady, honest effort to rebuild trust, infrastructure, and fiscal health.
As one local observer put it: “Uhuru yet? No. But definitely not the chaos of yesterday.” Benue, under Governor Alia, is undergoing both fiscal and physical renewal—one debt repayment, one kilometer of road, one cleared backlog at a time.
The numbers don’t lie. Neither should the narrative.
Cheers to progress—measured, deliberate, and real.
