By Amos Aar
MEMBER representing Makurdi North constituency at the Benue State House of Assembly and Deputy Majority Chief Whip of the House, Hon. Berger Alfred Emberga, has revealed that he has been borrowing funds to cater for the needs of his constituents and to execute projects for them pending when the state government will release funds to the assembly for projects.
Hon. Berger, who made this known while speaking with journalists at his Makurdi residence on Sunday, said since the inception of the 10th Benue Assembly, funds for constituency projects have not been released to them.
He said despite this, he has within one year dug three motorized boreholes and rehabilitated 15 others at the cost of not less than N300,000 and above each.
“People come to me that their existing boreholes are not working and I put in resources there. None of these boreholes take me less than N300,000 to N400,000 to rehabilitate. So, imagine rehabilitating 15 boreholes at N500,000! If you go to Tse-Chua, Atsor, Mbaketsa Yagba, mission ward, low cost, I have done those things.
“Since we came in, we are yet to access constituency allowance but by the grace of God, as soon as I lay my hands on it, I have some things that I will also do. All these things I have done is by borrowing. Nobody has given a dime to me, it’s my money.
“Sometimes it is the money they give me to put fuel to move around that I remove part of it to do all those things. But I’m hoping that by the grace of God, when constituency service comes, I will do even better,” he assured.
Berger claimed that with the efforts of Governor Hyacinth Alia and his complimentary efforts through motions on the floor of the House, IDPs in his Mbagwen council ward have relocated to their ancestral homes and are farming peacefully except for those who are yet to rebuild houses in their villages even as he noted that there were still some pockets of issues.
On how he has been able to relocate his people to their ancestral homes, the lawmaker said he has been using dialogue to ensure peace between herders and farmers in his constituency.
“I must not commend myself, but I must beat my chest that this one year running, nobody has been hacked down in my community. It’s through dialogue, sometimes it’s not by force. We have the power to drive anybody away but when you use one approach and it doesn’t work, you take another approach”.
He further explained that peace has returned because some herders have started ranching their cows in his constituency, hence the peaceful coexistence.
Asked which locations exactly the ranches have been established, Berger said he would confirm from a House committee that he had set up.
In his attempt to explain that some herders have started ranching, he also said: “The last meeting we held, they showed me physically how they ranch their [cattle]. Let me tell you, life has returned. In six months in office, I attended burials almost everyday because people were dying of starvation and hunger. But now, the death has reduced because while you are hungry, you are hoping that your crops will ripe.
Now, maize have ripened, millets have ripened. If you go to North Bank Market now, it is our people that are selling their own produce for the first time since 2017. They are farming in their villages. The man sitting in the parlor there, Zaki Igbo, they are bordering Nasarawa State and even in his village, Ikponko, people are farming. If you like, you can ask him after here.
“It’s not that we are disobedient to the anti-open grazing law. I keep telling them that the law is in force. But instead of ranching our people in IDP camps, let’s go back and find a way for Fulani to ranch their cows and they are complying. Most of them that were not ready to ranch, they left.”
When asked about the locations the ranches have been established, Berger said unless he would confirm because he has set up a committee which should know the locations.
“The last time we met, they said this one ranch, this one ranch and this one ranch. This thing is happening because we have a governor who will not talk but he is acting. Let me tell you the truth, our people are still in IDP camps today because this thing happened during rainy season. Once dry season comes and they go home to make their tents, they will go back.
When further asked whether the IDPs’ ancestral homes are safe now for their return, Berger said there is security in the villages and efforts were still on to provide more security operatives in case there is any breach.
On why constituency funds were yet to be released since the inception of the 10th Assembly, he vindicated Governor Alia’s administration.
“When the government came in, the government met a rotten system. If not that the governor is a reverend gentleman, if he were a regular politician, he would have loved to leave the office as the richest person. But he came to correct the wrongs.
So, the little resources he had, he had to kick the ball rolling with it and I know that it takes some time to correct the wrongs; that’s why even at the assembly, we are not pressurising him because we know that he is willing to take our welfare seriously. We are the first assembly to drive Prado jeeps, honestly. He bought Prado Jeeps for 32 of us.
Apart from his motion calling for quick demarcation of his constituency and the Nasarawa border point as part of his achievements so far, Berger said he has moved many other motions which he could not even recall.
“Sometimes when people see me, they say so, so, so motions have been moved even three days ago, I moved a motion on the floor of the house where somebody lied that we have been given a truck of fertilizer. I was the one who moved it. Again, I also moved a motion about exorbitant burial rights in Tiv. I think some of my colleagues have copied the motion and they have sponsored a bill on it.
“I even queried them the other day that I moved the motion and they have stolen my motion to sponsor a bill. Then, bills; even this civil protection law bill, I was part of the people that sponsored it. This casual staff bill, I co-sponsored it too. I have sponsored almost seven bills, some that I cannot even remember.”
