Delta State Governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila have hailed the minority leader of Green Chamber of the National Assembly, Hon. Ndudi Elumelu for empowering his constituents.
The empowerment scheme formally launched on Saturday at the Cenotaph, Asaba, Delta State capital featured the public presentation of several household items.
The items included a total number of 111 electricity generating sets, 90 deep freezers, 148 motorcycles and 107 tricycles to 350 beneficiaries.
In his speech at the occasion, Elumelu who is representing Aniocha Oshimili federal constituency of the State said the items were to assist in raising the living standard of the people.
He said: “This is the formal presentation and distribution of items geared towards uplifting the standard of living of our people in Aniocha/Oshimili Federal Constituency, in line with the Human Capital Development component of our own dear Governor Okowa’s Stronger Delta mantra.
“It is my belief that the empowerment of our people is a critical element in the effort to improve on their standard of living as well as to fight against poverty, restiveness and their associated criminal tendencies.
“Our people can only be happy and fulfilled when value is being added to their lives by way of providing self-sustaining incentives to boost their productivity, to at least, enable them to meet their basic needs and those of their immediate relations.
“As a representative of the people in the House of Representatives, made possible by their cherished mandate, I have continued to strive towards making our people feel the impact of representative democracy, thereby putting smiles on their faces.
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“No doubt, that is what we promised them, but that is also what democracy is all about.
“I am very happy and grateful to God Almighty who, for about two years now, through His Divine Grace, has been leading us to fulfil our campaign promises to our people.
“Your Excellency, distinguished guests, today is yet another opportunity for me to demonstrate the essence of representative democracy by adding value and putting smiles on the faces of our people in Aniocha/Oshimili Federal Constituency, through the distribution of the dividends of democracy.
“A total of 350 of our people from the various wards in our Constituency, comprising of women, youths and men, will be presented with these empowerment items to assist them to engage in some form of independent, lucrative enterprise.
“The idea is to make them small business owners who will eventually help in creating jobs and reducing poverty in their immediate communities.
“Through the grace and mercy of God and by the mandate of the good people of Aniocha/ Oshimili, a total number of one hundred and eleven (111) electricity generating sets, ninety (90) deep freezers, one hundred and forty-eight (148) motorcycles and one hundred and seven (107) tricycles are already here, waiting for His Excellency’s blessings before they will be formally presented to these 350 beneficiaries.
“I urge the beneficiaries to be passionate in putting these items into proper use and to see this as an opportunity to climb to an enviable level of prosperity which is before you today.
“Though it appears insignificant, it is my expectation that from this small beginning, with determination, focus and fear of God, you will be able to record amazing testimonies, not only as employers of labour in our communities but also providers of essential social services to meet some of the existential needs of our people.”
Besides the items, Elumelu said he had since his election into the House in 2019 engaged 150 Personal Assistants (PAs) on youth and women matters and attracted many other people-oriented projects to his constituency amongst which was the facilitation of ICT centres in Ogwashi Uku and Akukwu-Igbo; facilitation of vocational centres in Ubulu-Unor and Asaba and facilitation of civic centres for Ogwuashi- uku, Ubulu-uku, Obomkpa and Ibusa
Other were the facilitation of Town Halls for Obior, Ubulu-Okiti, Ewulu and Ugbodu; facilitation of the constructions of Bishop Dibie Road in Agbor, drainage in Ogboli Road Ibusa and the facilitation of the construction of the Onicha-uku-Idumuje-Unor Road.
Speaking at the event, the Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila represented by the Deputy Minority Leader, Hon. Toby Okechukwu said has distinguished himself in the task of lawmaking.
“Once Ndudi Elumelu came back to the House of Representatives, it was manifestly clear that the difference would emerge. Not only did he bring his constituency to the leadership of the House, but he also started making the difference in all the responsibilities assigned to him, whether in leading the minority in the House or providing for his people. And this is just two years counting. These efforts are only in complement to what the governor is doing”, he said.
In his speech, the State Governor, Okowa commended Okowa for remembering the people.
“I really must thank God for what we are witnessing here this morning. When somebody does well, it is important that that person be given recognition. There is no doubt that what we are witnessing here this morning is something to be talked about.
“I want to use this opportunity to congratulate my brother, Rt. Hon. Ndudi Elumelu for his great strides in the National Assembly. I carefully listened to his speech and he captured it all when he talked about representative democracy.
“Many times, our people are elected into office and we find it very difficult to reach out to them. Moreso, when they’re far away in Abuja. Not too many of our people can get to Abuja but Rt. Hon. Ndudi Elumelu, I can confidently say that he is different. He is very active in the House of Representatives. I have seen it through the number of bills and motions that he has either sponsored or co-sponsored.
“We have seen him rise to speak for the Peoples Democratic Party and the rest of the opposition in the National Assembly on National matters and I must congratulate him for that.
“Today, we are witnessing another aspect of that representative democracy because he remembers that he has a covenant with the people. When people go into the office, at some point in time, it is not easy to reach out to them. I know that many politicians do reach out to people once in a while in one thing or the other because that is the situation we have in Nigeria and we can not pretend about the people because we are not in the United States and the developed world where everything is already built and people may not directly impact on the lives of people that they directly impact on the community and they look into policies.
“But here in Nigeria, like in many African and West African countries, there is still a very high level of poverty and it’s important that we play an individual race to help uplift one another. That is exactly, is what Ndudi Elumelu has done today and I know that he will continue to do that and for that as a government, we are thankful to him.
“I may not be able to enumerate all that he has said but it’s just quite a lot that he has done. Starting from 150 Personal Assistants to the bills that have been processed in the National Assembly to the several projects affecting every local government, every one of the local governments in the State and then coming to the fact that he has been able to engage some of our people in various Federal Ministries and recently the capacity building programme for our people, the Local Government Council Chairmen newly elected, Vice-Chairmen and the 80 Councillors”, Okowa said.
One of the beneficiaries of the tricycle, Mr Joseph Okonkwo who is the Ward 3 Chairman of the PDP in Aniocha North local government areas expressed joy and appreciation to Elumelu for the gift, saying it would impact his life positively.
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