When the Executive Governor of Benue State, Hyacinth Iormem Alia, said at the 2025 budget presentation that he was determined to fix the broken Benue, some indigenes believed him with cautious optimism.
Only a few understood exactly what the governor meant. It implied that the governor was desirous of infrastructural development as well as social amenities, among other development projects.
Obviously, the quest for rapid infrastructural development of the state has put him on the edge of using every resource available for development. Besides the Monthly Federal Allocation, the governor uses the state Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and as well utilises intervention funds opportunities as well as loans.
In view of the above, Governor Hyacinth Alia is set to utilise the European intervention funds opportunity to commence construction of 500km road network, 78 culverts and bridges to the tune of €25 million and has moved to establish state road funds and Rural Access Roads Agency for easy and fast operations.
A top government official has informed that European Intervention Bank funds are support funds made available to selected states through Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Projects, RAAMP, which is the third generation rural Access project whose objectives include improving rural access and agricultural marketing and as well as establish financing and institutional frameworks that will ensure sustained maintenance and management of the rural roads network in states.
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The mission, according to him, is to deliver rapid, sustainable development to the rural areas through the application of internally benchmarked project management-based practices.
To properly meet the aforementioned target, Governor Hyacinth Alia, on assumption of duty close in 2023, with renewed leadership dynamics and passions to reposition the hinterlands of Benue State, beamed a searchlight on the project by changing the leadership. The governor immediately replaced the former project coordinator with Stephen Sefa Numbeve to turn around the fortunes of the organisation.
The New State Project Coordinator, Stephen Sefa Numbeve, took over from his predecessor, Moses Aernyi. Part of his mandate was to ensure he deploys his administrative arsenal necessary to reposition the project to a world-class standard.
The Industrial mathematician cum computer scientist of international accent and World Bank acceptability set the ball rolling by calling for an emergency meeting of staff when he articulated his vision and mission content.
The State Coordinator instantly engaged the European Investment Bank for the construction of a 500 km network of roads across the rural areas of the state, including covets, bridges, stores and warehouses. Others include the provision of portable water, installation of ICT centres to expose youth to internet transactions, and to stimulate international trade and export orientation.
The Coordinator revealed that the engagement with the European intervention Bank yielded positive results, and the Benue Rural Access and agricultural marketing project is to secure a 25 million Euros intervention Fund from the European Investment Bank for the construction of 500 km rural roads in the state.
The RAAMP boss, who made this known recently while speaking to the media in Makurdi, said all the documentations and paperwork for the facility has been completed awaiting disbursement and assured that work would commence on the said project as soon as the agency received the funds.
Speaking further, Numbeve explained that the 500km roads were made up of 53 earthwork roads spread across the state, adding that aside the roads, RAAMP would also construct two warehouses in each senatorial zone of the state.
According to him, “The Crux of this office is that of funds. If there are no funds, then there is no work, and when I came in, what bordered me most was the issue of international funding, and you need someone who can galvanise funds to each individual state.
“So, I immediately swung into action to work out modalities of securing funds from the European Investment Bank along six other states, including Benue, Edo, Anambra, Cross River, Taraba and Borno States.
“Though disbursement is yet to be done, all the relevant documentations and agreements have been done, the Minister of Finance has signed with the European Investment Bank on our behalf, and we are hoping that most likely and God willing, in January next year, disbursement will be done.
“The said funds that the Federal government has signed with the European Investment Bank amount to 150 million euros, and each of the six States is supposed to receive 25 million euros.”
He noted that, as a prelude to commencing work as soon as they get the funds, they have embarked on engineering road designs, which is important to the building of any rural road or township roads.
And they have been able to successfully work on the designs of 300 km roads, and they have signed another contract for 200 km roads, and the contractor will be mobilised to the site.
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So, within the shortest possible time, work on the other 200 km roads will commence, adding to the 300 km roads to make it 500 kilometres, which will cut across 53 roads in Benue. So, they are expecting to build 53 roads as soon as they get the disbursement.
Also, the project is to commence work on 73 covets and bridges across the 23 local government areas of Benue State in January next year to ease movement within the rural areas, so as to enable the farmers to convey their produce from various destinations to markets for sales.
In a similar development, the Benue State Governor has disclosed the decision of the state government in strengthening rural road development and maintenance through the creation of the State Roads Fund (SRF) and the Rural Access Road Agency (RARA)-two key institutions that will ensure sustainable management and financing of road infrastructure across the state. Under the proposed framework, the governor noted that the State Roads Fund will generate revenue from a variety of sources to finance road projects, while the Rural Access Road Agency will oversee the maintenance and supervision of rural roads to guarantee durability and access for rural communities.
Already, the RAAMP National Coordinator, Aminu Bodingo, in a representative capacity during the Second Stakeholders Workshop on Road Sector Reform, jointly organised, supported the Benue State government decision for the creation of agencies and enlightened stakeholders on the Road Profile of the State with the reform options, drawing references from other African countries that have successfully reformed their road sectors.
He noted that the Federal Government’s concern about the declining quality of rural roads nationwide, and called for stronger synergy among all stakeholders to improve outcomes.
Benue State RAAMP has recorded another achievement in another sphere by disbursing 200 electric motorcycles to Benue youths. This is in a bid to facilitate access through mobility and promote community growth. These electric motorcycles given to the youths have low-cost maintenance and reduce downtime, opening of entrepreneurial opportunities in battery cell maintenance and charging infrastructure.
The scheme is implemented by Benue RAAMP and funded by the Benue State Government. The State Coordinator of RAAMP said that interested youths could get details and processing forms for the scheme at the Benue RAAMP office at the Pauline Makka Day-care Centre.
The project coordinator, who lauded Governor Hyacinth Alia for facilitating the success being recorded by the agency, said the governor’s commitment to the success of RAAMP in Benue has given impetus to the success being recorded by the project in the state.
In spite of the challenges affecting RAAMP in Benue State, he stated that on assumption of office, he discovered that the staff of RAAMP were owed salary arrears ranging from six to eight months, which he successfully cleared with Governor Hyacinth Alia’s vision and stance on salary payment to workers in the state.
He also said that the shortage of workforce made him hurriedly recall some of the tested bureaucrats that were sidelined on the project out of dogma proclivities and the primitive egocentrism of the former project coordinator, and immediately briefed the management team on a tour of all pilot projects, including the selection of new rural roads of agro logistics significance.
He said that one of the major challenges was insecurity because agricultural activities cannot be carried out in many communities that have been sacked by armed herdsmen, and the aim has been affected.
Insecurity has affected most projects, which include sport improvement, construction of bridges and coverts, building of stores and warehouses, establishment of internet services, training of youth and women for exposure to international trade and export orientation, job creation for the women, and provision of water through solar-powered boreholes.
Though the Benue State government is tirelessly working on how to bring insecurity to its barest minimum, none of the donor partners has indicated interest in supporting the project after some years of serious interventions. This has delayed our activities so much, leaving Benue behind other states.
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But in spite of the challenges, the project has achieved numerously in so many communities. Community welfare, such as the installation of two motorised boreholes at the RAAMP office with a public access point, eased water scarcity for nearby communities. Another has been sunk at Shiliki market square of Konshisha Local Government Area to address the perennial water scarcity in the community. All of these would not have been possible without His Excellency’s commitment, particularly the timely release of N1.5 billion as counterpart fund with access to critical financing from the European Investment Bank.
Stephen Numbeve not only acquired the former Pauline Makka Event Centre as the head office of RAAMP, but equally landscaped the environment to prevent the surroundings from being swampy, dirty and flooded. It is a project that has cost millions of naira.
Recently, RAAMP installed all seven swapping stations in Makurdi, the state capital, with a promise to continue installation across the other local government areas, noting that swapping stations work just like fuel stations.
According to him, “When a petrol motorcycle is about to run out, you stop at a filling station; with an electric motorcycle, you stop at a swapping station. You are not expected to wait while a battery charges; you hand in your depleted battery and receive a fully charged replacement, and the drained unit is then recharged at the station and kept for another person’s use.
