Echocho is not your regular politician. As a second-term Senator representing the good people of Kogi East, he has recorded tremendous achievements, yet he is not making noise about them because he’s not your regular politician.
Echocho is undoubtedly a good man and good men are like angels; they are harmless, taciturn, gentle, and even if you don’t see them, you feel their presence. As a good man that he is, I’m compelled to make it a point of duty to bring to fore how this irregular politician has fared.
At the last count, he has thundered, cajoled lobbied, and attracted development to Kogi East. These he does so intelligently and brilliantly without rubbing it on the chalkboard of pride.
I remember with soothing nostalgia how he lobbied to have the SDGs site a 40-bed hospital in Akpoli area of Imane in Olamaboro Local Area- a place that has never felt government presence. Today, my people of Akpoli have a hospital!
Also, Kogi State College of Education, Ankpa – a prestigious citadel of learning that has produced the many best of teachers in Kogi state is on the verge of being upgraded to a Federal University of Education.
I once admonished Senator Jibrin Isah Echocho somewhere to begin to act in the language of time. Someone should remind him that it is overly counterproductive to be irregular in a society where people value and cherish the traditional ways of doing things. As a politician, it is irregular if you don’t tell you own story.
Perhaps guided by his years of private experiences in the corporate world, Senator Jibrin Isah Echocho is still acting in modesty and sheer professionalism. This act when manifested in politics presents you as timid and naive. In our kind of politics, whatever you do must be accompanied by media glitz and razzmatazz. Unfortunately, this man is not utilizing the media to tell his interventions as a senator. He is living things to fate and somehow becoming an albatross. How can you work and not talk about it, especially in this clime?
Away from the past where senatorial representations were merely for personal gains, this man has come to halt that trend and now leaves in his companion unprecedented legislative responsibilities. During the deadly COVID-19 pandemic, the man procured and distributed medical equipment to some health centre in Idah- even the most coveted hand sanitizer that was a relish was part of the senator’s gesture to these institutions ;
*Federal Polytechnic Idah
*Kogi State College of Health Technology Idah
Zonal Hospital Idah
*Primary Health Care Inacholo
*Primary Health Care Ogegele
*Primary Health Care Ayah
*Cottage Health Centre Onyedega
*Primary Health Care Ayeke
*Primary Health Care Akpanya
*Comprehensive Hospital Ajaka
Primary Health Care Odolu
*Federal Government College Ugwolawo
*Primary Health Care Ugwolawo
*Primary Health Care Itobe
*General Hospital Ugwolawo
Away from health interventions, the man also dived into rural electrification by donating 500KVA TRANSFORMER to Ejegbo, Ofugo, and Inye communities all in Ankpa Local Government Area of Kogi State to boost their power supply.
The same Ankpa Federal Constituency also benefited from the empowerment program of Senator Echocho where he initiated a training programme for Youth and Women in Cassava processing. The training which had over 30 people exposed to practical and theoretical modules of cassava processing was designed to stimulate the Cassava Processing Factory in Aku.
Our Lady of Schools Anyigba got a total overhaul when the senator facilitated the reconstruction of that school as part of his constituency project. The central police station in Anyigba also got a facelift lift no thanks to the intervening gesture of Echocho.
Commendable as this may be, it is very important that Senator Echocho discard the doctrine of not telling what he has done and doing for his people, after all, the people only hear what is said and see what is done. The man must begin to speak in the language of politicians- speak and speak when working.
Without sounding patronizing and at the risk of being immodest, I will say without equivocation that Senator Jibrin Isah, currently representing Kogi East Senatorial District in the 10th Senate, is one of the best senators Nigeria has produced from 1999 till date in terms of intellect, quality of motions moved, potency of his contributions to bills and overall deliverables to the people of Kogi East.
We can’t forget in a hurry his contribution to the revitalization of Ajaokuta Steel on the floor of the Upper Legislative Chamber, where he urged the Federal Government to complete the Ajaokuta-Okaba-Otukpo rail line, as the coal deposit in Okaba is supposed to be a major source of power to the Ajaokuta Steel Company. The Senator argued that if the Ajaokuta-Okaba-Otukpa rail line was not completed, the dream of having an efficient and effective iron and steel complex in Ajaokuta would remain an exercise in futility, as there would be no sufficient energy to power the Steel Complex. The versatile economist and ex-banker analyzed the benefits derivable from the completion of Ajaokuta-Okaba-Otukpa and Ajaokuta Steel Company in terms of backward and forward integrations. Today, an Igala man is manning the Steel Ministry!
Echocho is not your everyday kind of politician, he lives in the dictates of the Almighty, he is not flippant and dodgy, like always, he is in the service of humanity. My Kogi East people, more restraint, Echocho is doing well and in the end, his legacies will be your pride. He never fails, he has character, he is a good man.
