Benue @50: A state in search of leadership

There’s an old saying that you can’t decorate a leaky roof while the house is on fire. Sadly, this seems to be the image that Benue State has presented to the nation on its fiftieth anniversary with pomp and pageantry, despite the enormous challenges facing its people.

The event was great. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was represented by his Chief of Staff, Rt Hon Femi Gbajabiamila. The Ooni of Ife, His Imperial Majesty, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja II; state governors, ministers, traditional rulers and other notable Nigerians gathered in Makurdi to grace the occasion. The speeches were inspiring. The photographs were beautiful. The atmosphere was festive.

But outside the banquet halls and ceremonial sites lies a different Benue, a state bleeding from insecurity, burdened by poverty and desperate for decisive leadership.

Anniversaries are not celebrated simply because a state has existed for fifty years. They are celebrated because there are achievements worth showing.

Golden jubilees are opportunities to unveil legacy projects, commission transformative infrastructure, celebrate economic growth and reassure citizens that the future is brighter than the past.

For many Benue people, this opportunity has been missed.

The inevitable question remains: what exactly did Governor Hyacinth Alia ask the nation to celebrate?

Were visitors invited to commission world-class hospitals? NO.

Have they commissioned industrial clusters capable of creating thousands of jobs? NO.

Were they brought in to inspect modern agricultural processing facilities that would justify Benue’s acclaimed status as Nigeria’s food basket? NO.

Did they witness massive road infrastructure connecting rural communities to markets? Once again, no.

Instead, visitors were treated with ceremony as many communities continued to bury their loved ones.

With all due respect, it was a cocktail of propaganda and political theatre

Nothing highlights the contradiction more than the security state.

Benue has become one of the most vulnerable states in Nigeria to recurring attacks by armed groups. Communities have been displaced. The villages were deserted. Thousands remain in internally displaced persons camps. Farmers, the backbone of Benue’s economy, can hardly cultivate their ancestral lands without fear.

What, then, is the meaning of celebrating the nation’s food basket when farmers can no longer safely access their farms? Is it just for the sake of celebrating an empty, torn trash can?

A hungry farmer cannot celebrate.

A displaced widow cannot celebrate.

An orphan produced by violence cannot celebrate.

Entire communities living under constant fear cannot celebrate.

Development cannot be measured by press conferences or propaganda on social media. It is measured by the quality of life of the common citizen. It measures whether children attend school safely, whether hospitals function, whether roads are passable and whether investors have confidence in the economy.

By these standards, many citizens believe that Benue deserves much better.

Equally worrying is what many perceive as the systematic exclusion of the Idoma people from the mainstream of government. Between appointments and political cronyism, many stakeholders argue that the principle of fairness has suffered serious setbacks under the current administration. Whether this perception is entirely accurate or not, it has become too widespread to dismiss lightly.

Unity cannot thrive where significant sectors of the population feel neglected.

Leadership must not only be impartial; it must also inspire confidence that every ethnic group has a meaningful place in government.

Beyond governance, the administration has also been associated with seemingly endless political confrontations. Instead of consolidating the coalition that brought him to power, Governor Alia found himself in protracted political disagreements with influential figures within his own party, including the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, the Benue APC leadership and several elected legislators.

Political disagreement is normal in any democracy. However, governance suffers when political battles become the defining characteristic of an administration.

The people did not elect a governor to wage perpetual political wars. They elected a governor to protect communities, grow the economy, create opportunity and unite the state.

When political battles seem to overshadow governance, the ultimate losers are the people.

Citizens are now more interested in who wins internal power struggles than in building roads, running schools, equipping hospitals, creating jobs and keeping communities safe.

Leadership is measured by results, not rhetoric.

Thus, when intra-party strife and rivalry become the main achievements of a government, people end up celebrating who secures which ticket through a rancorous and crisis-ridden selection process, rather than celebrating monumental projects befitting a 50-year-old state.

As a fifty-year-old state, Benue deserves sober reflection on its present condition rather than complacency.

The state’s greatest monument is not the colorful anniversary logo or the impressive guest list. Its true monument should be peaceful communities, thriving farms, functioning schools, modern hospitals, expanding industries, and citizens who sincerely believe that tomorrow will be better than today.

These are the results that history remembers.

The ceremonies last one day. The legacy lasts for generations.

While the cheers of the golden jubilee gradually fade, the difficult realities remain. The displaced families are still in the camps. Farmers still fear returning to their fields. Unemployment persists. Communities continue to cry. The common citizen of Benue still awaits the dividends of governance.

The true celebration of Benue at fifty will not come through elaborate ceremonies or distinguished guests. It will come when every farmer can farm without fear, every child can sleep without the sound of gunfire, every ethnic group will feel equally represented, and the government will be known more for development than political controversy.

Until then, many will remember Benue at 50 not as a celebration of remarkable progress, but as a lavish birthday party thrown while the house itself cried out for help.

… Itodo, a media guru, writes from Abuja.