Ayo Oyoze Baje
“I am honoured by the trust you have placed in me, and I am here today to reaffirm my commitment to delivering a future that reflects our shared hopes and aspirations.
-Sen. Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan ( while commissioning some constituency projects to mark her second year as a senator representing Kogi State Central Senatorial District )
My dear respected reader, faithful fan and concerned Nigerian, let us begin with this apt quote on leadership by the two-time Prime Minister of Britain and acclaimed novelist, Benjamin Disraeli, which aptly states that: “I must follow the people. Am I not their leader?” That should be food for thought, isn’t it? Of course, it is. Given the guiding credos in line with the dictates of democratic governance is all about meeting the largely accepted dreams, desires and aspirations of the led majority of people. It is not about self-aggrandisement, satisfying one’s gargantuan greed and crass corruption in high places, as fuelled by the chest-beating and self-righteous political helmsmen and yet want to be feared and worshipped! Not at all. But to God our Creator be all the glory for blessing the good people of Kogi Central Senatorial District, and indeed Nigeria, except that nauseating rule.
She is none other than the bold, brilliant, wave-making and people-loving Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, representing that District at the Red Chamber. The news headlines of her recent, epoch-making feat with the commissioning of some Constituency Projects.
In precise terms, the life-changing projects featured the unveiling of a 50,000-litre capacity solar-powered water reticulation system in Ganaja and solar-powered smart streetlights in Adogo, both located in Ajaokuta Local Government Area. Others included a 20,000-litre capacity borehole in Okene Local Government Area, as well as another 50,000-litre solar-powered water reticulation project in Okaito, Okehi Local Government Area, and others in Adavi Local Government
Area.
In addition, there was the commissioning of smart streetlights in Obangede and Eika communities, both located in Okehi LGA, as well as in the Kuroko community. Other communities that benefited from the Constituency Projects include Ajaokuta village, Nagazi, Oro Layout, Ebogogo, Adogo, Ebiya, Ogaminana, Geregu, Elete, Iruvusechi, and Eika Ohizenyi..Not left out are the 40 solar-powered water projects that have been successfully executed across different communities in Kogi Central Senatorial District. There were the smart markets, a primary healthcare centre, schools, and other landmark constituency developments. And going beyond infrastructural development, the senator has also empowered constituents with electric vehicles, cereal grinding machines and other essential equipment designed to promote sustainable livelihoods through small and medium-scale enterprises across the District. All these outstanding achievements have triggered the pertinent questions.
For instance, people are asking how she was able to put all this relevant equipment and empowerment tools in place with the funds available to her compared to others who are yet to make the desired impact on the economic and Human Development Index, HDI of their constituents? For instance, how do you juxtapose these with that of lawmakers openly distributing bread, rice, noodles, ropes, and wheelbarrows to their constituents, mostly during their campaigns for votes and bragging about such on social media? Does she receive more funds than her colleagues, or has she gone ahead to add more funds from her personal resources?
That reminds one of the wise saying that as a leader, “You manage things; you lead people” as rightly stated by Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper. But there is more to Senator Uduaghan’s landmark projects than some people care to take note of. It should be noted that this is the second edition of her unveiling projects across the senatorial district.
It would be recalled that she inaugurated legacy projects to mark her first year in office over a year ago. The projects inaugurated included the 1 km road network at the Abdul Azeez Memorial College, AAAMCO, Okene.
The road network was inaugurated by Senate Minority Leader, Sen. Abba Moro, supported by Senate Chief Whip Sen. Tahir Monguno. Other projects inaugurated were remodelling nine blocks of classrooms, four boarding houses, and 5,000 digital learning devices in the same college. The anniversary also included the inauguration of the reconstructed Ihima Police Station and the distribution of empowerment materials to the needy members of the society.
The Deputy Senate President, represented by Sen. Ladan, described Akpoti-Uduaghan’s first year in office as very effective and praised her efforts to significantly impact her constituents. On his part, Sen. Monguno emphasised the importance of education in a country’s development and commended Sen. Akpoti-Uduaghan’s initiative to digitalise learning in Kogi Central.
Indeed, as Warren Bennis echoed, “Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality “and that Senator Natasha has epitomised. Said she, during her first anniversary event,
“When I took on this responsibility, my vision was clear: to create a senatorial district of our dreams, where every child has the opportunity to learn and every young person has access to meaningful employment. To walk the talk that she has
deployed 5,000 digital learning devices to public primary and secondary schools across Kogi Central, assisted the Universal Basic Education Learning Resource Centre to train teachers and program the devices with the Nigerian educational curriculum. She has also assisted in constructing a brand-new model primary and secondary school in Osara and facilitated a centre for artificial intelligence and robotics at the Federal College of Education in Okene.
Added to these are the establishment of an automotive mechatronics workshop and a cottage automobile workshop at the Technical College in Oboroke. Going forward, the scholarship scheme through the Natasha Foundation will support the tuition of 353 vulnerable indigenous students in tertiary institutions nationwide. She has worked tirelessly to attract employment opportunities for various graduates and facilitate capacity-building training and empowerment programs for thousands of beneficiaries from the District.
The fact that some of her great achievements were recorded while she was on suspension due to the Akpoti-Akpabio saga shows her clear understanding of achieving success in life as a hurdle race. Despite the cheers and jeers of the spectators, Natasha kept scaling over all the hurdles of hate, threats and intimidation from her unrelenting traducers. She was focused fully on the finishing line. As Harold Johnson, the late publisher of ‘Ebony Magazine’, rightly noted: “The greater the obstacles you overcome in life, the greater the glory you achieve.
Of great and enduring significance is that she loves to give freely to the needy members of society. She is therefore “protected from the enemies” as enshrined in the Biblical Book of Psalm 41, verses 1-2.
Love or hate Natasha, she has come to redefine the crude concept of the Nigerian variant of democracy, where might – is to that of giving a listening ear to the needs, the aspirations and cries of the people the leaders claim to serve. All the projects were not only based on her sustained interaction, engagement and the rich and robust discourse she had with her constituents but equally spread across the five local governments of the Central Senatorial District.
As Max DePree clearly stated: “The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.” That aligns with the root linking of democracy as it was with Ancient Greece back in 500 BC when the led majority got fed up with both oligarchy and aristocracy, and changed the narrative to government of the people by the people and for the people. That is not rocket science.
In response to her sterling performance, Dr Tom Ohikere, a former Commissioner of Information in the state who hails from Okene LGA, has this to say: “Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan is an effective and efficient parliamentarian with unprecedented and verifiable achievements since the last two years in the Red Chamber”. While Zekeri Saidu Bala from Ero in Ajaokuta LGA praised her projects and requested more for his people, Nasiru Onubaiye from Okehi LGA stated that: “She is first amongst her colleagues. Her legacy projects are unique and the best. To Senator Natasha Akpoti- Uduaghan, we wish you all the best in the years to come.
