Okene-Ogori-Magongo federal constituency is a region that is blessed with abundant opportunities in human resources, natural resources and socio-economic prosperities but unfortunately, the people of have been through a lot in the past two decades of political dispensation. From infrastructural deficit to lack of human capital development. just few progress can be said to have been made.
It is no news that the alarming rate of unemployment of our youths would have skyrocketed by 50%, safe for the intervention of Okada business opportunity and other menial jobs that kept the youths engaged till now.
As the popular saying goes, ‘’a leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.” In my honest opinion, I think the people have not been carried along. The people have been sidelined to the point that their voice is no longer heard by those who claim to be representing them.
I find it alarming that for years we have continued to shy away from basic issues confronting our people – issues bothering on decent infrastructural amenities and human capital development.
Water scarcity and unemployment are two issues that are synonymous to not only Okene-Ogori-Magongo federal constituency but Kogi Central senatorial district as a whole. I have seen people make these issues their campaign points but suddenly reverse on the promises when they are finally voted into office. I think it is time we summon the courage to challenge anyone who aspire to represent us to not only promise mouth watering dividends but explain and demonstrate to us how he/she intend to actualize such plans.
There is more to representation than distribution of sewing machine, grinding machine and motorcycle. We need to start thinking of long lasting solutions to our problems; for once we need to think outside the box.
The forthcoming 2023 elections is going to serve as a life changing threshold for our people.
I have a candidate in person of Hon. Tijani Ozigis, who I feel is best fit for the job. A young vibrant youth who has demonstrated his aptitude in seeing to the needs of his people. A youth leader who has submitted himself for advise and correction by both insiders and outsiders. His agenda speaks hope to the aspirations of our people and above all, he is surrounded by people who are not out of sync with the challenges facing our people.
I want to see an accessible youthful leader representing me in the lower chamber come 2023. A leader that I will be able to register my suggestions to as regards how best we can get our people out of the perpetual debacle of misrepresentation.
Hon. Tijani Ozigis have spoke about numerous impactful ideas he wished to actualize if given the opportunity to represent us. One of such is an employment trust fund to create jobs for the large numbers of our unemployed youths. While we are waiting for the Federal Government to provide jobs for our people, we need to make efforts on our part to complement the Federal Government efforts. I believe in the possibility of having an industrialised constituency that can help in creating employment opportunities and economic benefits for our people.
Recently, I came across a wonderful quote about dreams by Gloria Steinem. It says: “without leaps of imagination or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities”. I would add that without dreaming, we lose possibilities altogether. We need to dream big, not just for ourselves personally, but also for our people, our constituency and our state at large. We need to aspire for lofty possibilities in our constituency.
To be sure, we have a great chance at achieving those dreams. We have some unique competitive advantages that brings those dreams within reach: we have well-educated and hardworking youths who are ready to work if given the necessary support, we have an economically viable Local Government which forms part of our constituency that have contributed immensely to revenue generation in the state.
We need to find a connecting dot between the abundant human resources and the economic opportunities that abound in our constituency. If we all agree that we have the population then we need to maximise the opportunities that comes with the numbers.
– Amb. Aliyu Amoto Mahmud writes from Okene.
