“Food Basket of the Nation”
- Capital
- Makurdi
- Created
- 3 February 1976
- Population
- 6,141,300 2022 estimate
- LGAs
- 23
His Excellency
Hyacinth Iormem Alia
Executive Governor of Benue State
All Progressives Congress North-Central
- In office since
- 29 May 2023
- Term
- 1st term
- Term ends
- May 2027
- Deputy
- Samuel Ode
Biography
Hyacinth Iormem Alia (born 15 May 1966) is a Nigerian Catholic priest and politician who has served as Governor of Benue State since 29 May 2023. He was born in Mbangur, Mbadede, in Vandeikya Local Government Area and attended St Francis Primary School, Agidi, and St James Minor Seminary, Makurdi, before training for the priesthood at St Augustine's Major Seminary, Jos.
Ordained in 1990, he later pursued graduate studies in the United States, obtaining a master's degree in religious education from Fordham University and graduate qualifications in health care ethics from Duquesne University.
Alia won the 2023 Benue governorship election as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), with Samuel Ode as his deputy. His administration has emphasised the regular payment of salaries and pensions, urban road construction in Makurdi and other towns, digital public services, and community-based security in response to farmer-herder violence.
In May 2026 he won the APC governorship primary in Benue and is seeking a second term in the February 2027 election, with Ode again as his running mate.
Career before office
Alia was ordained a Catholic priest of the Diocese of Makurdi on 7 July 1990 and served in pastoral and academic roles in Nigeria and the United States. He became widely known in Benue for his religious ministry before entering partisan politics in 2022, when he won the All Progressives Congress governorship ticket; his clerical duties were suspended by the Church on his entry into politics.
Key initiatives in office
- Introduced regular monthly payment of salaries and pensions, a long-standing source of grievance in the state civil service
- Launched an urban renewal programme beginning with simultaneous construction of township roads in Makurdi, later extended to other towns
- Undertook flyover/underpass projects at the High-Level roundabout in Makurdi and Gyado junction in Gboko
- Established Operation Nyan Nyor and restructured the state volunteer guards into Civil Protection Guards for community security
- Advocated state policing and supported the resettlement of internally displaced persons to ancestral communities
- Promoted digital government services through the Benue Digital Infrastructure Company (BDIC)
Education
- Diploma in Religious Studies (1987) and B.A. Sacred Theology (1990), St Augustine's Major Seminary, Jos
- M.A. Religious Education, Fordham University, New York (1999)
- M.A. Health Care/Biomedical Ethics (2004) and doctorate (2005), Duquesne University, Pittsburgh
Benue State at a glance
North-Central
Other governors in the zone
Kogi State
Ahmed Usman Ododo
Kwara State
AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq
Nasarawa State
Abdullahi Audu Sule
Niger State