Makurdi – Dr Didymus Tamen, the Director-General, Benue Bureau of Archives, Research and Documentation, says the strategic agenda of the bureau was to provide the impetus for good governance and credibility.
Tamen said this in Makurdi at a one-day workshop tagged “Benue State and the Nigerian Federation”.
He said the bureau planned to achieve the stated objective through strategic positioning of the state archives, to promote openness in government administration and to preserve state records for posterity.
According to him, the desire of the bureau is to promote an agenda of good governance to engender a private sector-driven state economy.
He said the bureau would serve as a repository of documents, reports and other recorded material of the activities of government since its creation in 1976.
He disclosed that books and public speeches would be produced to serve the interests of both public and private concerns in the state.
The director-general further said that past and present activities of the government would be published to enable political leaders to pursue collective interests.
“The bureau will establish a Think Tank, composed of experts in various areas under the direct sponsorship of the governor. They will undertake research and give policy advise to the government.”
Also speaking at the workshop, Prof. Daniel Shishima, the Dean, Faculty of Arts, Benue State University, expressed regret that in spite the enormous contributions by the state to the growth and stability of the country, it still remained sidelined on matters of national politics.
“Benue State has contributed enormously in the development of education in the country; it has also played a vital role in keeping Nigeria as one indivisible country; it is still playing a key role as the food basket of he country.”
He, therefore, urged participants to focus on the following posers: What is the Benue agenda? what is the place of Benue in the restructuring agenda? and what is the status of the Benue people in the scheme of affairs in Nigeria?
In his paper, the Guest Speaker, Prof. Adagba Okpaga, claimed that Benue had not been fairly treated in the distribution of resources despite its contributions to national growth.
He, therefore, called for equitable distribution of resources to all states of the federation to allay fears of marginalisation.