The staff of Benue State University Teaching Hospital have been paid their promotion and hazard arrears to the tune of N1.5 billion by Governor Hyacinth Alia, while declaring support for his continuity in 2027 general election.
This was confirmed by the leadership of the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU), Benue State University Teaching Hospital, BSUTH, even as the union applauded the Governor for settling the outstanding payments owed its members.
The Union said, its members were paid 13-month promotion and 21-month hazard arrears by the State government.
Chairman of JOHESU in the State, Benjamin Ioryem, said, the governor would be its sole candidate in the 2027 general election, while he went ahead to pass a vote of confidence on him.
Speaking at a press conference in Makurdi, Comrade Ioryem, stated that the union started pursuing the outstanding arrears in the days of Governor Gabriel Otorm without success,.
He further recalled that Ortom’s administration tagged the union an opposition of his administration and “any time we go on strike, the previous government will say, we are being sponsored by opposition parties.”
He said: “when Governor Alia came on board, he visited us in the hospital which was already like a graveyard, we told him how health workers were going through hell and he asked us to put our challenges down in writing and bring it to his table which we did and a committee was constituted by the governor to make its findings about the issues we raised.
“As a listening governor, we told him our plights, this was in August 2024, and on the 24th December, we started receiving alerts ceaselessly, every health worker here is smiling, we are proud of the governor for his talk and do style.
“When we were treated badly by the previous administration, we told members of the press and now that this Reverend Gentleman is doing well to reposition the health sector for citizens to enjoy quality healthcare services, we will again make it known to the whole world, we cannot hide it.
“What e are saying here is that the governor has implemented our 25 per cent upward review of our salary structure as well as the upward review of our new hazard allowance from N5,000 to N30,000 and he also paid our promotion arrears of 13 months, the governor is worthy to be celebrated, we didn’t expect this,” he stated.
