Opinion
Ortom digitises land administration in Benue as legacy project
By Tunde Olusunle
Samuel Ioraer Ortom’s name without doubt, is one of the most well-known in Nigeria’s subsisting democratic dispensation. The Benue State helmsman is something of a “comrade governor,” who is well-spoken, vocal and activist.
He is never shy of baring his mind on issues of fairness, equity and justice. He reminds you of Adams Oshiomhole, the hitherto khaki-wearing trade unionist, turned governor of Edo State. His voice was recognisably loud and clear in the ears of the public and the government at the centre, even when he was chief executive of his home state. I can’t forget the scene of the near fisticuffs Oshiomhole engaged with Mohammed Adoke, SAN, attorney-general and justice minister under the Goodluck Jonathan presidency, sometime in 2012.
Oshiomhole’s beloved principal secretary, Olaitan Oyerinde, also a foremost unionist, was murdered in his home in Benin City, early May 2012. The investigation process seemed to drag forever and Oshiomhole angrily confronted Adoke, the nation’s number one law officer months later, about the snail-pace of the interrogation. Attendees at the chambers of the federal executive council in the State House where the incident happened, had to come between both men. Watching Ortom fume at airforce officers at Airforce Base in Makurdi last February for denying him access to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo who was transiting through the facility to Wukari, Taraba State, re-echoed the Oshiomhole/Adoke saga.
Much as you will hear Ortom’s voice on developments in politics, governance and administration nationally, there is a reticent streak about his noise levels, concerning his own endeavours. His background as a multitasking business man and entrepreneur, has taught him requisite shrewdness which he applies to the business of governance.
He does a mental aggregation of the cost of staging a ceremony to inaugurate a completed project, and checks what other pressing need can be addressed with the vote for such fanfare. He has therefore opted for informed conservatism on matters related to self-promotion, preferring to work quietly and deliver on his developmental vision. The visit of Ortom’s “G-5” colleagues to Benue State early November 2022, opened the astonished eyes and astounded lips of the world to certain accomplishments of his administration, in his seven and half year stint in office.
Except you were a wary, circumspect resident of Makurdi the Benue State capital, the dominant, self-introducing structure which was sprouting on the immediate outer circumference of Government House, would have passed for just another building. Located to the right, en route “Makurdi Waterworks,” the building sits with uncommon elan, its backside overlooking the “Benue River” in the proximal distance. The complex retained its mystique even when its name, BENGIS Service Centre was plastered on its forehead. Frenetic completion works, installation of kerbs, grassing, cleaning, test running of equipment, red-carpeting, in days preceding Monday December 12, 2022, gave insights into the place of the project in the grand vision of the Ortom administration. The “Benue Geographic Information Service Centre,” (abbreviated BENGIS), had been birthed! The state had thus joined select Nigerian states and entities which have subscribed to the deployment of digital instruments for enhanced efficiency and effectiveness in land administration. These include: the Federal Capital Territory, (FCT); Lagos, Niger, Bauchi, Cross River, Edo, Gombe, Kaduna and Nasarawa, among others.
The colourful commissioning of the project was transmitted on live television to underscore how much value the Ortom administration places on the BENGIS initiative. Benue State commissioner for lands, survey and solid minerals, Bernard Aondoaver Unenge, recalled the groundbreaking of the project September 30, 2000. He explained that the concept deploys information communication technology, (ICT), through digital platforms and software for seamless management of land administration. He noted that the technology will accelerate the processing of certificates of occupancy, (C of O); efficient land recertification; regularisation and registration of titles and warehousing of documents in soft copies and hard copies.
Unenge equally noted that the new technology will automate transparency in revenue generation, by eliminating leakages at various junctions. He announced to the delight of the audience at the inauguration of the new facility, that the duration for the receipt of certificates of occupancy, (C of O), will henceforth be between 30 days and 60 days. The project he noted, is fitted with “high-tech state-of-the-art-facilities, comparable to the most up to date anywhere in Nigeria. He expressed delight that in spite of delays occasioned by COVID-19 and the prevailing economic situation, the Ortom government remained focused and committed to the conclusive completion and operationalisation of the project. He saluted Ortom’s vision in the holistic reformation of land management in Benue State.
Ortom while delivering his speech, said the delivery of the project could not have come at a better time, given the increasing importance of land assets in the socioeconomic development of the people of the state. He noted that feedbacks he received during the test run of the facility, suggested that the challenges encountered by his constituents on land management, had been largely reduced. According to him: “Since the commencement of the BENGIS Project, the land digitisation initiative has greatly improved improved urban planning, infrastructure development and environmental management. Investors are also increasingly encouraged.” Gone are the days of rat-eaten, rain-worsted, oil-soiled files and land folios, gathering dust, moisture and cobwebs in the shelves of government offices. There will no more be incidents of files growing wings and flying to space.
The Benue State governor observed with utmost delight, that: “With the commissioning of the historic project, we have achieved global best practices in land administration. I am optimistic that this project will attract the World Bank’s grant of USD 2.5 million, through the “States Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability, (SFTAS) Programme. This will be diligently applied to developmental projects in the state.” Ortom who noted that a princely sum of N6.5 Billion was expended on the project, noted that BENGIS will operate throughout Benue State, as it will have additional service points in important towns in the state, notably Gboko, Otukpo and Adikpo. He admonished owners of all residential and commercial properties in the state capital, Makurdi, and sociocultural headquarters like Gboko and Otukpo, to subject to recertification of their titles within six months.
Leader of the “G-5” governors who have subsisting issues with the main opposition party, the Peoples’ Democratic Party, (PDP), Nyesom Ezenwo Wike of Rivers State, was the special guest of honour at the programme. He commended Ortom’s vision and consciousness in the conception and completion of the project, despite the generally unfriendly national economic situation. He observed that whereas some of his governor colleagues were perennially bemoaning the insufficiency of monthly allocations and accruing resources, Ortom was practically squeezing water out of stone to serve his people. Wike reminded the audience that the people of Benue North West have requested Ortom to proceed to Abuja to serve them as their Senator, upon the completion of his gubernatorial assignment. He counselled that all Ortom’s opponents from other political parties contesting the senatorial position with him, should drop their ambitions. Ortom, according to him, has done very well.
For an administration in its final months, the commissioning of BENGIS attracted several dignitaries including royalties, parliamentarians, (from the federal and state legislatures), members of the state executive council and political leaders. The Tor Tiv, James Ortese Iorzua Ayatse, (a respected professor) was represented, while the Och’Idoma, John Elaigwu Odogbo, (hitherto a revered clergyman) attended the event. Deputy Governor of the state, Benson Abounu; senator representing Benue South, Patrick Abba Moro; and members of the House of Representatives including: Bem Benjamin Mzondu; John Dyegh; Robert Aondona Tyough; Ottah Francis Agbo, were present. Deputy Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Chris Adaji; Secretary to the State Government, Anthony Ijohor; Head of Service, Veronica Onyeke; Chief of Staff to the Governor, Tivlumun Nyitse, attended the event. Benue State Secretary of the PDP, Bem Zoho and Information Adviser to Ortom, James Uloko, graced the event.
Facilities in BENGIS include: the arrival hall/reception desk; conference rooms; equipment and hardware rooms; offices, among others. The outfit will, in addition to the aforementioned benefits, assist with the digital area mapping of the state; identification of solid mineral resources; elimination of land speculation and boosting the real estate sector. It will also enhance the identification and collection of revenues and dues, including ground rents, C of O fees and other land charges. BENGIS will facilitate the computer-based decentralisation of land management, courtesy of the establishment of zonal centres. Importantly too, it will be useful in locating and classifying swathes of land based on their suitability for crop cultivation, forestry, mining and other uses. Individually and collectively, these will enhance sustainable development and economic and budgetary planning, among others.
Tunde Olusunle, PhD, poet, journalist, scholar and author, is a Member of the Nigerian Guild of Editors.
By Tunde Olusunle
It may be well over two years to the next cycle of general elections in Nigeria. For the people of Apa/Agatu federal constituency in *Benue South, however, the measure of their participation and integration into the governance scheme will be defined in the run-up to the general polls that year. Nine local government areas make up the predominantly Idoma country of Benue State also labelled Zone C in the senatorial tripod of the geo-polity. The zone is also home to the Igede ethnic stock and the Etulo. Local government areas in “Benue Zone C” include: Apa, Agatu, Oju, Obi, Ado, Ogbadibo, Okpokwu, Otukpo and Ohimini. The other zones, Benue North East and Benue North West, are wholly dominated by the Tiv nationality, striding across 14 local government areas. They are christened Zone A and Zone B in the local political scheme of the state. Federal constituencies in Benue South are: Apa/Agatu, Oju/Obi; Ado/Ogbadibo/Opokwu and Otukpo/Ohimini.
The subjugation of groups and ethnicities considered demographically smaller, by the larger groups which has dominated Nigeria’s politics over time, has not been any different for the Idoma of Benue State. Until the circumstantial emergence of a Yahaya Bello from the Ebira ethnicity in Kogi State in 2015, the Igala had the relay baton of governorship of Kogi State, in rounds and succession. The Ebiras and the Okun-Yoruba zones in the state could only aspire to be serial deputies or Secretaries to the State Government. This political template was virtually cast in stone. The Ilorin people of Kwara State have similarly wholly warehoused the gubernatorial office, sparingly conceding the position to other sociocultural groups in the state. The only exception was the concession of the seat to a candidate from Kwara South, in the person of Abdulfatah Ahmed, by his predecessor, Bukola Saraki in 2011. Even at that, there were murmurs and dissent from those who believed Ahmed came from a community too close to the Ilorin emirate to be of genuine Igbomina stock, which prides itself as the pure Yoruba species in Kwara State.
Twenty-six years into the Fourth Republic, the maximum proximity of the Idoma to Government House, Makurdi, has been by the customary allocation of the Deputy Governor’s slot to its people. Ogirri Ajene from Oju/Obi, the charismatic blue-blood of blessed memory, was deputy to George Akume, incumbent Secretary to the Government of the Federation, (SGF), from 1999 to 2007. Akume it was reported, genuinely desired to be succeeded by Ajene who exhibited competence and loyalty and could build on their legacies. The Tiv nation we understand, shot down the proposal. Gabriel Suswam succeeded Akume and had the urbane multipreneur, Stephen Lawani from Ogbadibo as deputy. Samuel Ortom, a Minister in the Goodluck Jonathan presidency who took over from Suswam opted for Benson Abounu, an engineer from Otukpo as running mate, while Hyacinth Alia, the Catholic priest who succeeded Ortom, also chose as deputy, Samuel Ode, who was also a Minister in the Jonathan government, from Otukpo. Arising from this precedence, Apa/Agatu has not for once, been considered for a place in Government House, Makurdi.
In similar fashion, the position of Senator representing Benue South, has repeatedly precluded Apa/Agatu federal constituency. David Alechenu Bonaventure Mark a former army General from Otukpo, took the first shot at the office in 1999. He was to remain in the position for five consecutive times, a distinctive record by Nigerian standards. Mark would subsequently become President of the Senate and the third most senior political office holder in the nation’s governance scheme for a string of two terms between 2007 and 2015. He was replaced by Patrick Abba Moro, who hails from Okpokwu and was a former teacher, in 2019. Abba Moro who previously served as Minister of Interior in the Jonathan government from 2011 to 2015, won a second term at the 2023 general elections and remains substantive Senator for “Benue Zone C.” He is indeed incumbent Minority Leader of the Senate, and thus a principal officer in the leadership scheme of the “red chambers.”
While Moro is barely two years into his second term, there are suggestions that he is interested in a third term which should run from 2027 to 2031! This is the core issue which has dominated contemporary political discourse in Benue South, especially from the Apa/Agatu bloc. For Apa/Agatu, it is bad enough that they are repeatedly bypassed in the nomination of deputy governors in the scheme of state politics. It is worse that they are equally subjugated by their own kinsmen within the context of politics in *Idoma and Igede land.* This is particularly worrying when both local government areas constituting the Apa/Agatu federal constituency, Apa and Agatu, are not in anyway deficient in human resources to represent Benue South. Names like John Elaigwu Odogbo, the incumbent *Och’Idoma* and respected clergy; Isa Innocent Ekoja, renowned Professor and Librarian; Sonny Togo Echono, FNIA, OON, Executive Secretary, Tertiary Education Trust Fund, (TETFUND), and John Mgbede, Emeritus State Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP), Benue State, readily come to mind.
Major General R.I. Adoba, (rtd), a former Chief Training and Operations in the Nigerian Army; Professor Emmanuel Adanu, former Director of the Kaduna-based National Water Resources Institute, (NWRI) and the US-based specialist in internal medicine, Dr Raymond Audu, are eminent Apa/Agatu constituents. There are also Ada Egahi, long-serving technocrat who retired from the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, (NPHDA), and Super Eagles forward, Moses Simon, (why not, hasn’t the retired soccer star, George Opong Weah just completed his term as President of Liberia)? The Member Representing Apa/Agatu in the House of Representatives, Godday Samuel Odagboyi, an office previously held by Solomon Agidani, as well as Adamu Ochepo Entonu, is, like his predecessors, a prominent figure from the resourceful Apa/Agatu federal constituency.
The Olofu brothers, Tony Adejoh, a retired Assistant Inspector General of Police, (AIG), and David, PhD, a renowned management and financial strategist, who is also an Emeritus Member of the Benue State Executive Council during the Ortom dispensation, are from the same federal constituency. So is Abu Umoru, a serial entrepreneur who represents Apa State Constituency in the Benue State House of Assembly. The continuing intra-zonal alienation of Apa-Agatu from the politics of Benue Zone C, remains a sore thumb which must be clinically diagnosed and intentionally treated in the run-up to 2027.
If previous top level political office holders from Idomaland in general and Apa/Agatu in particular, had diligently applied themselves to tangible, multisectoral development of the zone and constituency, the present clamour for inclusiveness would probably been less vociferous. *River Agatu* which flows from Kogi State, and runs through Agatu before emptying into *River Benue,* is a potential game changer in the socioeconomy of Apa/Agatu, Benue South and Benue State in general. Properly harnessed, it can revolutionise agriculture and aquaculture in the state, beyond subsistence levels which are the primary vocations of the indigenous people. Rice, yam, guinea corn, millet and similar grains, thrive in the fertile soils of the area. These can support “first level” processing of produce and guarantee value addition beneficial to the primary producers, before being shipped to other markets. River Agatu can indeed be dammed to provide hydro-electricity to power the entire gamut of Idomaland.
The infrastructure deficit in Benue South with specific reference to Apa/Agatu is equally very concerning. A notable pattern in Nigerian politics is its self-centeredness, the penchant for political players to prioritise their personal wellbeing and the development of their immediate space. This has accentuated the ever recurring desire of people to ascend the political pedestals of their predecessors if that is the principal window by which they can also privilege their own primary constituents. Motorable roads are non-existent, seamless travel between communities therefore encumbered. Expectedly this has been a major impediment to subsistent trade and social engagements between constituents and their kinsmen. Primary health facilities are almost non-existent, compelling people to flock to Otukpo, headquarters of Benue South, for the minutest of medical advice and treatment.
Apa/Agatu pitiably bleeds from the relentless and condemnable activities of vagrants and bandits who have reduced the constituency into a killing field. Reports suggest that in the past 15 years, no less than 2500 lives were lost to the vicious attacks of marauders and trespassers in the area under reference. This unnerving situation has compelled engagements between concerned Apa/Agatu leaders, and the leadership of the Nigeria Police Force, (NPF). The prayer is for the swift establishment of a mobile police outpost in the troubled sub-zone to contain bloodletting. The proposal, anchored by AIG Tony Olofu, NPOM, (rtd), and Echono, has received the blessings of the police high command. At the last update, a commander for the outfit had been named, while the deployment of personnel had begun in earnest.
It is very clear that in the march towards 2027, Apa/Agatu will refuse, very vehemently, to be sidelined and trampled upon in the political scheme of their senatorial zone. Abba Moro may desire a third term in the Senate, but the people of Apa/Agatu are quick to remind him that his curriculum vitae as a politician is sufficiently sumptuous for him to yield the seat in the “red chambers” and sit back like an elder statesman. They remind you that for a man who began his working life modestly as a lecturer in the Federal Polytechnic, Ugbokolo in 1991, Abba Moro has done extremely well for himself in Nigerian politics. For reminders, Abba Moro was elected Chairman of Okpokwu local government in the state as far back as 1998. Ever since, he has remained a permanent fixture in Nigeria’s national politics.
The people of Apa/Agatu will put up a determined fight for the Benue South senatorial seat in 2027, and no one should begrudge them. They are the proverbial ram which was pushed to the wall, which must of necessity push back with angered horns to liberate itself. They are already engaging with their kith across “Benue Zone C” to ensure that intra-zonal equity, fairness and justice, prevails in communal politics.
Tunde Olusunle, PhD, Fellow of the Association of Nigerian Authors, (FANA), teaches Creative Writing at the University of Abuja
By Dr. Ag Zaki
On Thursday, 9 January 2025, Prince Adewole Adebayo presented a keynote address at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos. The occasion was the annual conference of a group of professionals, business executives and experts codenamed J9C for January 9 Collective. The theme of the Conference was “Business and Policy Strategy: Examining the Role of Reform in enhancing the ease of doing business in Nigeria.” Prince Adebayo is a versatile cerebral man of many parts, a lawyer, a multimedia practitioner, a real estate investor, a large-scale miner, a philanthropist, a community developer, and the 2023 Presidential Candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP). The organisers of the J9C conference introduced him as an intercontinental lawyer because he currently practices law in over sixteen countries.
The full speech of Prince Adebayo at the occasion is available online and can be accessed by clicking at this url: https://youtu.be/SsHkcJbVNRg?si=ebvoOVqGh0zVOsnt or by scanning the QR code above. However, we are presenting the salient take-aways from this most incisive keynote address below for the convenience of interested persons and for the public good.
THE TAKE-AWAYS
Preamble
1. Not every change of policy or programme is a reform. A reform is a fundamental change in the activities, programmes, and policies structured to cause improvement. Genuine government reforms are people oriented and so citizens can interject, comment or contribute.
2. Reform may be internally motivated, externally forced or imposed, or technological driven.
3. The government of Nigeria must first reform itself to be able to implement development-oriented reforms to improve the country’s economic performance.
In general terms
4. Fiscal and monetary reforms are critical and are urgently required in Nigeria. While government can freely control its fiscal reforms, it must be bound by market forces for realistic and realisable monetary reforms.
5. Economic reforms must positively affect developmental policies, programmes and projects to engender economic growth, increase in efficiency, and lead to stability. Economic and political reforms must be implemented pari-passu for untainted policies and programmes.
6. Urgent structural reforms are required in areas of legal reforms, laws on banking controls and regulations, lending and borrowing as well as land matters.
In specific terms
7. Reforms which are aimed at targeting ease of doing business must be aligned with the Malam Aminu Kano maxim that “all civil servants should abstain from contracts or business”.
8. Nigeria must break the current odious and unwholesome conspiracies between policy makers, civil servants, and contractors, which can lead to irreversible endemic corruption, long foreseen by the revered Malam Aminu Kano, and which can permanently damage the economy.
9. Structural reforms must ensure that land laws open up maximum benefits and potentials of the land, encourage labour productivity and efficient and transparent entrepreneurship rules including registration, capital and lending matters.
10. Tax reforms should be broad-based, not about sharing of revenue but promoting productivity and competitiveness in all aspects of endeavours and infrastructure reforms should make transportation of people and goods safe and cost effective.
11. Monitoring economic crimes must be thorough and should go beyond arresting of “Yahoo boys” and those spraying Naira notes, but those devaluing the Naira and abusing economic rules and regulations.
Warnings
12. Adebayo left some stern terse warnings for the business sector and for the government of Nigeria.
13. Business executives and professionals should not ask or encourage government for specific reforms but for general broad-based reforms as firm-specific reforms can enhance operations of specific firms or business in the short term but will ultimately kill the industry.
14. Government should not meddle into business or be guided by partisan businessmen; government should meet business only at the junction of regulatory framework.
15. Government should be selfless and honest in carrying out reforms, incorporate measurable performance indices and ensure that reforms are implemented in a way not to inflict pains or punishment on the people.
# DrZaki25, 903 Tafawa Balewa Way, Abuja
By Eigbefo Felix
His Excellency, Senator Monday Okpebholo, the Executive Governor of Edo State, has demonstrated that he is a blessing to the state through his policies, appointments, initiation of road construction across the three senatorial districts, and his deep love for the people of Edo State.
Governor Monday Okpebholo has begun fulfilling the five-point agenda he promised the good people of the state since his inauguration.
In the area of security, he has shown total commitment. He assured the people of Edo State that he would ensure their safety, and true to his word, the state remains peaceful, which has brought joy to its residents. He has provided the necessary support to security personnel.
The governor increased the subvention for Ambrose Alli University (AAU) from ₦40 million to ₦500 million. He also promised to address the issues facing AAU medical students. Additionally, he has started renovating primary and secondary schools across the state, underscoring his understanding of the importance of education.
The agricultural sector has taken a positive turn as Governor Okpebholo has allocated ₦70 billion to the sector. Recognizing agriculture’s importance to both the state and the nation, he is positioning Edo State to become the food basket of the nation with his investments in the sector.
During the electioneering period, Senator Okpebholo promised to create 5,000 jobs within his first 100 days in office. He has already begun the process, and soon, the people of Edo State will benefit from these employment opportunities. Unlike in the past, he will not rely on MOUs before making appointments. Furthermore, he has started appointing Edo State indigenes, rather than outsiders, to various positions.
Governor Okpebholo has commenced road projects across the state, from Edo South to Edo Central and Edo North. He believes that when roads are motorable, the prices of goods in the market will automatically reduce.
He has also begun investing in the health sector, understanding its critical importance to the people of Edo State.
Governor Monday Okpebholo’s initiatives and actions affirm his dedication to transforming Edo State for the better.
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