A lawmaker's performance used to be judged by the motions they raised and the bills they initiated. With the introduction of what is called "constituency projects" in the Nigerian National Assembly, however, attention has, strangely, shifted to projects attracted by a legislator. These include things like boreholes, roads, streetlights, boreholes and even rice shared at festive seasons.
This is understandable, however. With the high rate of poverty in the country, almost everyone in government -- whether at the local, state or federal level -- has been involved in executive functions that are usually expected from governors, presidents and local government chairmen. Certain humanitarian gestures have not been left out. They include payment of school fees, offer of scholarships, sharing of rice and other food items, payment of hospital bills, monetary donations to bereaved families, and support for orphanages.
Although Senator Okey Ezea, who represents Enugu North senatorial district, has not shied away from providing these palliative measures, he has introduced new ways of empowering his constituents. Only recently, the Ideke agro empowerment programme was concluded. At least 1,224 people from the 102 wards in the six local government areas making up Enugu North have received more than 4,000 hybrid Malaysian coconut seedlings and 8,000 plantain suckers. Accordingly, the high-yield and disease-resistant economic crops, now planted across the length and breadth of the senatorial district, have been labelled "aki Ideke" and "plantain Ideke". The beneficiaries were trained in proper ways of planting and caring for the coconut seedlings and plantain suckers. In two or three years, therefore, the improved varieties are expected to start fruiting -- and their yields will be enormous. They have been described as "generational" because they will reproduce other seedlings and suckers in subsequent years, and the farmers won't need to be supplied new seedlings and suckers.
Also facilitated by Senator Ezea -- who is widely known as "Ideke" -- has been a skills acquisition programme. More than 300 beneficiaries have received trainings in the production of liquid soap for domestic use and car wash as well as germicidal and antiseptic soaps and ointments. The beneficiaries were also given chemicals and other items to support their startups. Each person received cash as well. And Ideke has put in place a support system to monitor the beneficiaries' progress with a view to offering further assistance.
Other skills acquisition programmes expected soon will include fashion designing or tailoring and computer programming.
Meanwhile, the Ideke-sponsored free medical outreach preceded the agro empowerment and skills acquisition programmes. No fewer than 4,000 patients benefitted from the outreach which took place on different days at the six local government areas: Igbo-Etiti, Uzo-Uwani, Nsukka, Igbo-Eze North, Igbo-Eze South and Udenu. The beneficiaries received free consultations and treatments, free eye tests and correctional glasses, free lab tests or diagnosis, free drugs and free health education. Dozens of hernia, fibroid, appendicitis and other patients who needed surgeries were also treated.
Through the agro empowerment programme and the skills acquisition programme, Ideke has gone a step further toward making his people independent, so they wouldn't wait for handouts alone. His empowerment model is in agreement with the ancient wisdom of teaching someone how to fish rather than giving them fish. *It is said that if you give a man fish, you feed him for just one day. But if you teach him how to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.*
As already stated, these programmes naturally fall within the purview of the executive arm of government, which runs budgets and receives funds for them. Those in the legislative arm of government, including Senator Okey Ezea, have not waited for the executive, however, because they prioritize the people's welfare. A first-time senator, Ideke has seen to the award of contracts for road and other projects inherited from the Ninth Senate. Nobody in the 10th Senate received a dime for any constituency project before July 2024. Since then, Senator Okey Ezea's footprints have been visible in solar-powered streetlights, the medical health outreach, agro empowerment programme and skills acquisition programme. Solar-powered boreholes are on the way. For now, every local government area within the Enugu North senatorial district has been touched. Every ward has been touched.
Senator Ezea deserves commendation for the empowerment programmes he initiated. They should serve as a model for especially governors and council chairmen who wish to reduce the level of poverty in the land and the people's dependency on handouts.
-- By ANIEBO NWAMU