A pro-democracy and rule of law organization, Defenders of Democracy (DoD), has urged the Governor of Benue State, Rev Hyacinth Alia, to provide immediate clarification on the source of funds for the “Alia Care” programme.
In a press statement released on Saturday, the President of the group, Comrade Amos Uchiv, called on Governor Alia to address the people of Benue State and disclose the amount received as federal allocations, as well as the total generated revenue within the state since June 2023.
The announcement of a training for officials of associations and cooperatives in the state, under the “Alia Care” Programme, was made on Friday by the Commissioner for Cooperatives, Urban and Rural Development, Joy Luga.
However, the group has accused the Governor of renaming the Federal Government’s Conditional Cash Transfer programme to “Alia Care”, creating the false perception that he himself is providing the funds.
The DoD statement reads: “Is the money sourced from the supplementary budget recently sent to the Benue State House of Assembly? If not, the name ‘Alia Care’ should be discarded and replaced with the original ‘Conditional Cash Transfer’ title used by the Federal Government.”
Furthermore, the group demanded that Governor Alia address the issue of the state’s utilization of N5 billion in palliatives provided by the Federal Government.
The statement states: “It is our right as a people to know! The Governor should also disclose the amount received from federal allocations and the total generated internal revenue since June 2023.”
The Defenders of Democracy expect Governor Alia to demonstrate transparency and promptly clarify the aforementioned issues.
