Benue Stakeholders' meeting: Matters Arising

The Benue state 2nd stakeholders' meeting was today held at the new Banquet Hall,Benue Peoples' House in Makurdi.
In his welcome remarks,the Benue state deputy governor,Engr Benson Abounu welcomed all stakeholders to the event. He said that it was the 'usual' stakeholders meeting  governor Samuel Ortom has always convened in the past to brief the people of the state on the activities of his government.
Governor Samuel Ortom in his address decried the deficit treasury he inherited from the immediate past administration of Dr Gabriel Suswam which according to him has greatly hampered his smooth take off culminating in his inability to pay salaries of civil servants as well as local government and primary schools in the state .
The governor disclosed that  his administration has introduced an alternate mechanism in the payment of both local government staff,as well as primary school teachers. "Local government staff would take this month,and the primary school teachers would take the next month".
The governor informed the stakeholders that the Benue state civil servants have refused to show understanding with his administration,and have refused to further sacrifice arguing that they should be treated like their counterparts(lecturers) at the Benue state university who have collected their salaries up to the month of February,2016."Iam in a fix", governor Ortom lamented.
In another development,governor Ortom decried the problem of Fulani insurgency which according to him has ravaged the state...he however commended the efforts of president Muhammadu Buhari in the deployment of security agents,but insisted that more needed to be done by the federal government . The governor also insisted on his position that Benue state was not going to allow for the grazing routes to be established in the state since Benue state was predominantly  farmers...
He advised the people of the state to go back to Agriculture to sustain its name as the food basket of the nation.
Earlier in their various responses and contributions,various stakeholders including opposition parties,representatives of Labour,ASUU,the clergy,captains of industries,Senior advocates of Nigeria,Retired Generals,traditional rulers among others commended governor Ortom for the initiative to constantly brief the stakeholders,a development they said should be sustained.
The stakeholders unanimously called for sacrifice on part of dwindling federal allocations to states,since fuel price has also dropped on the international market.
On the issue of security ,the stakeholders called for setting up of various security committees at both wards,local government as well as state levels to constantly monitor and report back to the state government for necessary actions.
Governor Samuel Ortom however told the stakeholders that despite the numerous challenges his administration has faced,he has been able to record tremendous achievements. Some of the Achievements he enumerated included included; payment of accreditation requirements of college of Health Sciences and BSU Teaching Hospital leading to granting of accreditation by medical and Dental council of Nigeria; payment of salaries to BSU Tecnical staff school after 5 years of non payment; re engagement with development partners,UN,UNHCR,UNFPA,UNICEF,world Bank,IFAD,USAID,DIFD,and others; renovation of schools of Nursing and Midwifery;mobilized contractors for the construction of 11different roads across the state;approved the release of7.6 billion Naira for renovation of primary schools across the state; completion of Otobi water works,and many others.