₦4.6 BILLION LOOT: HOW ALIA IS BLEEDING BENUE’S LOCAL GOVERNMENTS
…NTG Demands Deeper Probe By EFCC
The Network for Transparent Governance (NTG) expresses deep concern over confirmed reports that senior officials of the Benue State Government, local government chairmen, and private consultants are currently being grilled by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over the alleged diversion of a staggering ₦4.6 billion belonging to the 23 local government councils in Benue State.
This heist being supervised personally by Governor Hyacinth Alia and executed under the deceptive cloak of “consultancy fees” for auditing local government staff, pensioners, and Primary Healthcare personnel, represents a brazen assault on the collective conscience of the people of Benue State.
It is an insult to workers who endure illegal deductions, pensioners who sleep hungry after three years of unpaid entitlements, and rural communities abandoned to decay.
NTG finds it deeply disturbing a governor who swore to serve the people is now using officials entrusted with managing grassroots resources for large-scale financial malpractices. Local governments exist to bring development closer to the people, not to serve as ATM machines for government officials and their political middlemen.
Even more alarming is the emerging pattern. The embezzlement of ₦4.6 billion cannot be isolated from the earlier alarm raised in February 2024, when a petition submitted by some civil society activists to the EFCC detailed how over ₦40 billion was withdrawn from Benue State local government accounts on the directive of Governor Alia. That petition, backed by documentary evidence, was also forwarded to the Department of State Services (DSS) and the House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions.
The timing of the current scandal makes it even more damning. Pensioners recently issued a 14-day ultimatum over unpaid arrears and gratuities. Yet, while retirees beg and workers groan, billions of naira meant for local governance are being siphoned by Governor Alia and his cronies through suspicious arrangements that defy logic and accountability.
The Network for Transparent Governance therefore calls on the EFCC to dig deeper, widen the dragnet, and follow the money without fear or favour. This investigation must not stop at consultants or mid-level officials. Every approving authority, every signatory, and every beneficiary, no matter how highly placed, must be exposed and prosecuted if found culpable.
We further demand a comprehensive forensic audit of all local government finances under the administration of Governor Hyacinth Alia to determine whether Benue State has been subjected to a coordinated and systematic fleecing of public funds.
https://radionigeria.gov.ng/2026/01/22/fg-targets-14m-farmers-in-cassava-bioethanol-value-chain/
Benue State is bleeding.
The grassroots are suffocating. And the people can no longer tolerate governance that appears to reward plunder while punishing honesty.
NTG will not be silent. We will not be intimidated. And we will continue to mobilize civic pressure until transparency, accountability, and justice prevail.
Signed:
Dennis Agema
President, Network for Transparent Governance (NTG)
Oliver Omenka
Secretary-General, NTG
