Benue had no development master plan in 50 years, now we have 30-year blueprint — Alia

Benue State Governor Hyacinth Alia has revealed that the state operated for 50 years without a comprehensive development master plan, saying his administration has begun implementing a 30-year blueprint designed to ensure continuity in governance beyond individual administrations.

Alia disclosed this on Friday while speaking during a media parley with the Presidential Media Team of the Renewed Hope Ambassadors, led by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu, who were in Benue to inspect federal government projects in the state.

He said the absence of a long-term development plan had allowed successive administrations to pursue different priorities without a coordinated development direction.

The governor said the new master plan was intended to provide a framework that future administrations could follow, irrespective of changes in political leadership.

“Benue State is 50 years old this day. And in the 50 years, we’ve had a series of leadership that came in and out. As a state, do we have a development plan, a master development plan? The answer is no, we didn’t,” he said.

According to Alia, his administration’s blueprint was developed around the needs identified by residents rather than projects imposed from government offices.

He said the government went into communities to determine the actual needs of farmers, traders and other residents before deciding on its priorities.

“You do a filtering from the people you are going to serve. What are your needs, your priority needs? Do you really want this? Do you really have this as a need? Want is different from a need,” he said.

Alia said the administration declared a state of emergency on road infrastructure on assumption of office, adding that road construction had subsequently been extended across the state’s 23 local government areas.