At this period of time when Nigeria just successfully transited from one democratic government to another, it should become a culture for constituents to give feedback to their various representatives either directly, on social media, through print media, or any other effective available platform. This has motivated the group to beam our searchlighton Oyo South Senatorial District in the last four years (9TH Assembly) and conducted a thorough investigation into the Senatorial district development in the last four years most especially that “encomium” is published for the immediate past senator Kola Balogun and questions are being raised by many of the constituents about the authenticity of some of the claims.
THIRD EYE is a group set up to be the pulse of the nation, an advocate of the people, and a justice demander.
It is common to praise whoever has done well; this is a long-embedded culture everywhere in the world. A genuine performer will always receive accolades and recognition within and outside his/her sphere of influence. No wonder we have many as recipients of the United Nations, National, Clubs, Groups, Community, Constituency, and individual awards. This time of appreciation is always a time to look back and thank God for how he has helped such an individual to achieve what he has achieved within the time of opportunity avail him/her and to ask God for fresh grace. No wonder social receptions and thanksgiving services are organized for those that have positively affected their district, constituency, state, etc. It is not a gain-saying that ovation is usually loud for those that had performed and not the selfish, cunny one that cannot boast of tangible achievements. Those categories of non-achievers are the ones that embarked on sponsored and manipulative encomium, organized press engagement, etc. to cajole the sensibility of their constituents. Such people always think that the memory of constituents is short and believe in the usual saying that times heal all wounds instead of putting their footprints on the sands of time.
That is why THIRD EYE is joining other people to welcome the Distinguished back home and appreciate him for the following’
1. His visibility and vocal dexterity at the floor of the house.
2. The bill/motion sponsored, though none of them have seen the light of day. The much-mentioned bill on Alakia Local Airport to International Airport is still pending. Thanks to Governor Seyi Makinde that invested in the necessary infrastructure for the upgrade of the airport making the airport attractive and more useful today.
3. Your Light up project of 3- 5 solar street lights for most of the major markets in Ibadan is appreciated. The markets were really lit.
4. Your road renovation projects are commendable, though most of them could not stand the strength test for three weeks, thus leaving the road worse than the initial condition.
5. Many of your boreholes projects are still waiting for completion. Many of them are without head tanks and some suffer from power (no provision for a generator)
6. Thanks for the transformer you gave some areas, some of them are waiting to be energized for the past two years and already rusting.
7. Your archaic and kangaroo empowerment projects, distributing paltry money inducements instead of real skill development and empowerment in contemporary skill acquisitions.
8. Those 1 block of max 2 classrooms in Ibadan North, Ibadan North East, Eruwa, and Lanlate are plausible.
9. Bodija market traders appreciate your intervention during the invasion of custom to their markets, however the intervention seems not to be effective as the goods carted away are yet to be released.
10.Thank you for Covid-19 loan. We are already paying back to NIRSAL, after all it is not a gift or grant.
THIRD EYE also commends you for your tight schedule that took you away from organizing town hall meeting to engage your constituents throughout your tenure as well as prevented you from commissioning your projects. We also doubt if you even know where those projects are located.
We also gathered information that some of your staff abandoned their duty post to look for a greener pasture, and some of them resigned because of poor working conditions and organization and lack of motivation.
A political office holder house of residence is usually a sort of pilgrimage ground, that was not so for the past Senator. Many accounts of insult to visitors to the house by the Lord of the Ring, the mama of the house.
When measuring performance, striking questions should be asked, such as the number of employment facilitated to the constituency, and how many people have been lifted from poverty to sustainable wealth. How many of the so-called achievements has he done from his pockets with all that he gained (most of the acclaimed projects were facilitated by the Federal Government), What impact on education has he recorded, and how many scholarships were given? Any health outreaches? What has been the gain of the youths and women etc.?
Oyo South Senatorial district cannot boast of any meaningful employment into any Federal Government Ministry or Department or Agencies in the last four years, well there were about 3 or so to EFCC and two other agencies. What an achievement in four years when we can testify to many employments facilitated by some members of the House of Representatives within the Oyo South Senatorial District.
A senatorial seat ran like a House of Assembly seat. It will be retrogressive at this time that organized encomium is ongoing, if we failed to add our voice and recognize the achievement of the Oyo South Senator in the 9th assembly for the future sake and most importantly as the politicians begin to package themselves for visibility by the current Federal Government administration.
May we not be unfortunate again with the kind of representatives we choose or picked for us.
We are the THIRD EYE For THIRD EYE.
Alh. Idris Arisekola,
Ibarapa East LG. Eruwa
Secretary
NOTE: This is the opinion of the writer, it does not by any way, represents the stand of this online newspaper
