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From Scholastica Onyeka, Makurdi
Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom has backed the recent call by the National Assembly urging President Muhammadu Buhari to consider the extension of the deadline for the use of old naira notes.
The governor stated this at Government House in Makurdi, on Wednesday, when he received on a courtesy visit, the newly inaugurated Governing Council of Joseph Saawuan Tarka University, Makurdi, (JOSTUM).
Ortom who noted that the deadline is just six days away wondered how the people in far Benue communities and hinterland would evacuate all their old notes before its expiration.
“By the date of the deadline, I’m aware we have just six days left. How are we going to transfer the old notes in my village knowing people are going there to buy rice, yams one other goods?
“Even as Governor, I have not seen any new note. We don’t have any issues with other policies of the government but on this one, I join the National Assembly to call on the president to look at the deadline critically with a view to extending it.
“Our people have gone through a lot of pain. What will happen to the men and women in my village and elsewhere who are trading? How will they change their monies? People are suffering and are not happy. Mr president needs to look at it again so as not to deepen the hardship of our people,” Ortom said.
While congratulating the new governing council of JOSTUM, Ortom who appreciated them for visiting him said he is committed to the welfare of all federal institutions in the state because Benue citizens are the direct beneficiaries of them all.
He thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for honouring the state by naming the institution after one of Benue’s illustrious sons, Joseph Saawuan Tarka, who he said contributed immensely to the socio-political development of not only Benue but Nigeria at large.
He further pledged to address some of the complaints brought before him by the institution.
Earlier, the Acting Vice Chancellor, Professor Paul Anune, sympathised with Governor Ortom on the recent killings of Benue citizens describing it as painful.
He said they visited to appreciate him for being mindful of their security in the school and to intimate him of some of their problems bordering on land issues with the host community and conditions of infrastructure, especially the roads leading to the school to call his attention to fix them.
The Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council, Edith Uwajumogu, told the Governor that this was the first time a female is the Pro-Chancellor of the university.
She stated that they are committed to ensuring that the JOSTUM becomes greater than it is especially since the school attracts people from all over Nigeria.
She also appealed to the Governor to assist the school with vehicles to transport students around and within the school to reduce the suffering of students on campus.
