By Joseph A. Alamu
The member representing Ibadan North-West/South-West Federal Constituency in the Federal House of Representatives, Hon. Dhikrullah Adedeji Stanley Olajide, fondly called Odidi Omo by his teeming supporters, has got the nod of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to contest for another term of four years.
This development is a step in the right direction, at least, to people who are conversant with the stories of positive representation and unprecedented records of human capacity development coming from the Federal Constituency since Hon. Olajide got into the Green Chamber.
Before Odidi Omo’s election into the lower chamber, the highly cosmopolitan Constituency has had the misadventure of electing individuals who lacked the requisite knowledge needed for effective representation and the people were not surprised how such individuals faltered and failed.
But in just three years and a few months of representing Ibadan North-West/Ibadan South-West, Hon. Olajide has set a new standard for representation in the constituency, taking the game many notches beyond the legislative rascality and poor representation it was known for in the not-too-distant past.
Apart from the finesse and suave disposition, which Odidi Omo has reintroduced to representation in the constituency, never before have the constituents felt the impact of their Rep like they have done in the last three years and a half years of Odidi Omo’s representation.
In terms of lawmaking and representation, Hon. Olajide had set forth at dawn with motions and bills that sought to make life more meaningful for residents of his constituency and Nigerians and some that aimed to restore the glory of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. A typical case in point was a Bill he sponsored for the upgrade of the College of Animal Health Production Technology to Federal University of Agriculture, Ibadan.
He also raised separate motions on the need to prevent flooding in Odo-Ona, Oke-Ayo, Eleyele, Gege, Oluyole Estate and Akuro communities of Ibadan North-West/South-West Federal Constituency.
The need to revitalise the moribund textile industry, the need to curb corruption in the civil service and the need for the Federal Government to review the procurement process, among others.
Apart from providing effective representation, Odidi Omo has undertaken life-defining human development and empowerment outreaches. That saw constituents being taught, vocations, technical services, entrepreneurship enterprise and he equipped them with the right tools and take-off grants.
Recently, Olajide attracted different Federal Government-assisted empowerment programmes for 350 constituents. The individuals partook in programmes including Household Feeding Programme, Conditional Cash Transfer and N-Power for Youths, among others.
In addition, 500 widows, members of Odidi Omo Women’s Wing, community residents’ artisan groups, party members, religious organizations and many others, got different kinds of assistance, courtesy of Olajide. A man who has become renowned for his flowing milk of human kindness.
Determined to raise a generation of independent and financially-stable youths in the constituency. Olajide facilitated different training programmes, including the training of 140 youths in paint-making and marketing, gave them starter packs and cash grants; over 250 youths and women were also trained in poultry and feeds distribution; 40 youths were trained in fishery while another 50 youths were trained in digital marketing and were given a laptop computer each.
Hundreds of constituency residents had also benefited from similar gesture in year 2021, with hundreds of petrol-powered grinding machines complete with stands and mobile legs given to widows, market women and vulnerable groups, 100 standing hair dryers and cash support were given to hairdressers, 150 domestic sewing machines with stands and electric motors were also given to fashion designers (tailor), over 50 deep freezers and 50 motorcycles were also given to constituency residents.
This year 2022, youths and women numbering over 1,500 have been empowered with grants, while another set of 1,700 participants have received grants for selected skills, including orchard establishment and management for youths and women.
Indeed, Odidi Omo’s zeal for empowering constituency residents had, at one time, drawn flanks from his detractors, who mocked him for distributing goats to 300 aged women and widows whom he had trained in goat-rearing.
The simple logic introduced by the versatile lawmaker was that, instead of handing money out to individuals already equipped with knowledge of goat husbandry, why not give them the animals and assist them with funds for feeds so that they could become productive in a short while instead of diverting monies to meet other needs? Today, that venture has proved to be a productive move, as the Odidi Omo farm and animal husbandry team keep up to date follow-up on the farmers.
What Odidiomo’s critics at that time didn’t know, was that, when he trained youths in digital marketing, he gave laptops; when 40 Constituents were trained in fishery, he gave fishes, feeds and tanks; when 250 youths and women were trained in poultry management, he gave feeds, chicks and start-up cash.
He had also gifted hundreds of grinding machines to widows and market women, hundreds of Standing Hair Dryers to hairdressers, 150 sewing machines with stand and electric motor, deep freezers and so on, with no one criticizing such decisions. Wailers will always wail.
Away from empowerment, Hon. Olajide’s commitment to infrastructure building across the education, environment, water, sport and health sectors in the Constituency had at a time become worrisome to opposition elements in the Constituency that they launched a vandalism campaign against projects facilitated by the lawmaker.
With over 50 physical and intangible projects in the educational sector, including the rehabilitations of classrooms in Ratibi Primary School, Molete, UMC Basic School, Molete, St Patrick Primary School, Idikan; supply and installation of solar-powered ICT Centres at Eleyele Secondary School, Eleyele, Ibadan, Baptist Secondary School, Oke-Ado, Ibadan and provision of furniture, exercise books, textbooks, instructional materials and so on across different schools in the Constituency.
OdidiOmo has demonstrated his commitment to giving young constituents access to qualitative education.
Hon. Adedeji Olajide’s penchant for facilitating infrastructure development has also seen him embark on the construction and asphalt laying of Anfani-College Crescent-Super K Motel Road, construction of the Rocky Baby/Ayileka Bridge in Odo-Ona, Ibadan, for erosion control, installation of solar street lights at Aiyegbusi-Imalefalafia, Children Home School, Ajeigbe, Ori-Eeru, Agbede-Adodo, and many other areas of the Constituency as well as the construction and equipment of a Youth Development and Sport Health Centre in the Ososami Area of Ibadan.
In the last three years, Odidi Omo has proven to be a game-changer, showing the good people of his Constituency, that a Member of the House of Representatives can do so much in a short while, through different efforts that have made life more meaningful for residents of the Constituency.
Some of these efforts also include the organisation of Health Outreach for residents of the Constituency, grant of healthcare support to hundreds of adults and young Constituents, rehabilitation of the Primary Health Centre at Dogo, Apata, Ibadan as well as supply of drugs to same and supply of 300KVA Transformers to Abiola Jacobs, Foko, Omololu Olunloyo GRA, Adeoyo, Kuola Community, Apata, Benbo-Apata as well as supply and installation of 500KVA Transformer to the Federal College of Agriculture, Ibadan.
But beyond the massive projects and empowerment of Constituents, Hon. Olajide has redefined representation by operating an open-door policy that gives Constituents direct access to their Representative. Odidi Omo has proven himself worthy as a politician, who has a deep understanding of what people-centred development entails. And in so doing, he has succeeded in changing the narrative about Rep members becoming Abuja politicians once they are elected into office.
For all these and many more sterling records of good performance, Hon. Olajide was able to attract the attention of Governor Seyi Makinde, a strong advocate of human capital development, who is redefining governance in Oyo State. And, in return for his good first outing at the Green Chamber, Odidi Omo emerged as the standard-bearer of the PDP through a rancour-free consensus-building process.
With the immense achievements recorded by Hon. Adedeji Olajide in a less than four years, one can safely conclude that the only thing standing between him and another term of impactful representation is the general election, as Constituents, who have witnessed the years of the locust under the APC Representative, have said they are not willing to return to Egypt and that they are marching forward with Odidi Omo, the embodiment of positive representation.
• Alamu is Secretary, Ibadan Conscience Movement.