My fight with Orton almost crippled Benue, Suswam declares

The senator representing Benue North East at the National Assembly, Senator Gabriel Suswam has said that his face -off with Governor Samuel Ortom soon after leaving office as governor almost crippled the state and placed it in disarray.

Suswam, who made the disclosure in Makurdi at the weekend during the 12th graduation ceremony of Sev-Av Foundation, a pet project of his wife, noted that disagreement of any kind surely reflects negatively on the society and stressed the need for unity of purpose.

However, he observed that enemies of the state are unhappy about the reconciliation between him and Gov. Ortom, a truce he said was mediated by the paramount ruler of the Tivs and advised supporters of politicians to stop instigating and fuelling crisis among politicians for their selfish gain.

He said potentials in Benue state if tapped and managed properly, the state won’t be as poor as it is today and urged people to tap from the enabling environment created by Gov. Ortom’s administration to be self- sufficient and self-reliant.

The senator charged graduands to engage in skill acquisition to grow as the Benue 2020 budget when passed would create an enabling environment for the youths and called on people to assist the Sev- Av Foundation to sustain itself in offering services to Benue people.

In his speech, Gov. Ortom commended the foundation for offering services to the people of the state for the last 12 years and pledged government assistance for it to remain afloat.

Represented at the occasion by the Commissioner for Land, Survey and Solid Minerals, Mr. Bernard Unenge, the governor stated that government doesn’t have the capacity to offer employment to the teeming youth of the state and challenged them to embrace the scheme to be self -employed.

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Founder of Sev-Av Foundation, Mrs. Dooshima Suswam stressed the need for young families to get a second job even if they are in a white collar job as they need an alternative and dignified source of income to for them to break even.

“When you consider the payment of your house rent, school fees of children and providing food on the table amongst others responsibilities; it is utility bills that make people in the western world work round the clock and there is no alternative to hard work for them,” she explained.

Mrs. Suswam charged the 157 graduands to be in the vanguard of creating employment for others based on their area of training and thanked all those whose contributions has enabled the foundation to sustain the training scheme.