OPINION: Benue Can Be Great Again By Daniel Tsaker

The Aper Aku Benue of our Dreams is possible - the blueprint explained.

On October 1, 1979, the celebrated anti corruption crusader, former teacher and public servant, Mr. Aper Aku, was sworn in as the first Executive Governor of Benue State. Through hard work, an uncommon honesty and profound belief in the struggle for the overall human social development, his government has become famous as the greatest administration that Benue State has ever produced and one of the finest examples of news between leadership and development in Nigeria.

Governor Aper Aku was the effective and ready successor of Senator J.S Tarka not just as party leader of the National Party of Nigeria NPN in Benue State, but also as the National voice in the political consciousness of North Central Nigeria during the illness death of the champion of Nigeria ethnic minority politics. He gave the party the strength, discipline and cohesion, and was a central part of the establishment of majority rule for the larger Tiv ethnicity within the then Benue State that by 1979 incorporated the present Kogi State.

Governor Aper's leadership of party politics in Benue State and indeed the North Central albeit briefly. Complemented that of senator Tarka laid the foundation for the galvanization of ethnic minority political opinion and interest, and established the fundamental basis for the capture of power through the United Middle Belt Congress , UMBC, Governor Aku's leadership of the NPN government in Benue State knew exactly the use of such power: to achieve the common and public good, and establish the objective conditions for society's progress and development to a higher plane which will enable man to endure and to prevail.

This has been Governor Aku's pride of place in Nigerian history, his finest hour in which his giant strides in the attempt to answer leadership and development question has continued to glow and shine through. Those with short memories of political development in Nigeria need be reminded that between 1979-1983, Governor Aku rose to become the NPN's chief ideologue in its philosophy of national advancement and lent his beautiful mind to national debates such as his call for establishment of Six geopolitical zones in Nigeria and the rotation of presidency which has been adopted more recently in our democracy.

The achievement of power in 1979, Governor Aper Aku whose desperate to bring to trial the former military administration was thwarted by the military establishment, embarked upon the herculean task of reorganising the three year old state that was clearly a relic of the old Benue Province. It was he that built a Government House for the state and initiated various reforms in local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Agriculture, Social and Rural Development, Commercial, Infrastructure Development, Health , and so on.

Beginning with only seven local government areas of Ankpa, Dekina, and Idah, from the old Kwara state, and Gboko, Otukpo, Kastina-Ala and Makurdi from the defunct Benue /Plateau State, Aku created six new local governments and brought he number to thirteen within the first anniversary of his tenure. By November 1980, ten additional local governments were created , and in 1981, eleven more were approved thus bringing the total number to thirty four.

As at the time of the coup D' etat of December 1983, more proposals were in the pipeline. It was this development that helped the agitation for and the subsequent creation of Kogi State years after.

Governor Aku placed massive emphasis on education. His government sponsored more students in national and oversea institutions of higher learning and ensure a steady increase in primary and post primary school enrolment, and established a hundred and twenty five (125) new day secondary schools.

Governor Aku opened three new colleges of education at Makurdi, Oju and Ankpa, and upgraded the college of education, Kastina-Ala to a degree awarding institution.

Governor Aku pursued an integrated rural development of the state with vigor through the creation of development areas and the setting off of the process of social amenities, rural water supply and electrification schemes, educational development at the grassroots, tourism, and the setting up of a council for Arts and Culture for state festivals and social development.

A ministry of rural development and co-operatives , and that of water and electricity were established in order to make water sufficiently abundant for rural dwellers , while grants were made available for local communities to execute such projects as health clinics , schools , colleges, roads, and markets.

Aku's government invested heavily in commerce and industry as an effective plank for growth and progress , as well as human social development. Between 1980 - 1983, there were six fully operational industries in the state: the Benue Cement Company BCC, Gboko; Benue Packaging Company; The Benue Burnt Bricks; the Benue Bottling Company; the Benue Sanitary Synthetic Marble Industry located at Idah, and the Benue Brewery Limited. Aku was a shrewd and skillful negotiator wwith both International Development Partners and the Federal Government of Nigeria.

With his influence in the NPN controlled Federal government, Aku was able to initiate international a blend federal presence in the state and give control to Benue Indigenes.

Governor Aku made agriculture an effective engine of growth for the Benue economy. With the forging of great partnerships, Aku established the Benue State Agricultural Development Corporation and agro-allied industries were set up, namely: Ben Wiley Limited, Hawaiian Agronomics, and Soya mill company as well as several Agro-services centre across the state. In addition to loan disbursement schemes for deserving farmers and land development programmes of health sector witnessed boost and expansion under the Aku government which adopted a Health Development Policy with emphasis on rural communities. Expansion work was carried out on six general hospitals, and seven new hospitals were completed across the state.

The unrivalled feats of Governor Aku in good governance reveal him as the leader who not only created the Benue State that we have come to know, but achieved the establishment of a great legacy and road map for the overall development efforts of any kind by any format of leadership can be measured. Aku's achievements outlined in this short space therefore can be rightly described as a glimpse into the infinite.

It is not on record how many times Governor Aku flew out of the country in order to set this records, probably because he didn't or rarely flew out within his time of governorship.

Long live the legacies of Governor Aper Aku!!
#TogetherWeCan

Daniel Tsaker is a founding partner of ValueBeam, a tech company in Makurdi, Benue State. He is also a Nation Builder at Fix Nigeria.

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