OPINION:
Senator Lawal Adamu Usman: Setting benchmarks in leadership and transformation
Providence sometimes strategically places some individuals in a position to deeply impact their generation, community and people. And it also often complements such individuals by imbuing them with the sagacity, capacity and capability to make their impact on their environment and fellow humans, not only indelibly felt, but also in unprecedented manners and measures.
One of such special beings is Senator Lawal Adamu Usman, whose two years in the National Assembly have brought unprecedented improvements in the lives of the good people of Kaduna Central Senatorial District, who freely gave him their mandate in the 2023 general elections. Senator Usman’s indelible imprints in the sands of time in these past two years in the National Assembly have convinced the good people of Kaduna Central Senatorial District that their darling lawmaker, who they fondly call Senator LA, is a rare breed of a politician, whose two years in the National Assembly have put a lie to the pretentions of his predecessors, whose representation the constituents have continued to regret, as they continuously say they lack anything to write home about.
But quite unlike his predecessors and detractors, Senator LA has proved himself to be a politician who prefers to give the necessary and needed tools to his constituents, to not only earn their livelihood, but also attain and achieve greatness.
A politically savvy lawmaker, though a first timer, Senator LA has, in just two years, sponsored life-changing bills and empowered more people than his predecessors, who represented Kaduna Central Senatorial District in the recent past, put together.
He’s aware that the phenomenal challenge of meeting the needs of his constituents cannot be done through wishful thinking and rhetorical simplicities. That’s why he’s so focused on delivering the real dividends of democracy to his constituents, despite the distractions from the opposition, who are always whining about one frivolity or the other. No doubt, he’s head and shoulders above his peers representing the different parts of the state in the National Assembly.
Senator LA has been the target of some of the most vicious personal attacks ever leveled against any lawmaker. Yet, he has taken all these diatribes in his stride, without looking sideways, just to achieve the best for his people.
As a good Muslim who takes the creed of his faith seriously, Senator LA has continued to relate with his constituents, and even the opposition, with great compassion and a high sense of responsibility.
Talking about performance, there’s no doubt the people of Kaduna Central are always at home with Senator LA, who has brought unprecedented developments to their Senatorial District in the two years he has represented them in the National Assembly.
Senator Usman has by his achievements in the past two years, redefined representation, a development which is a common knowledge, indisputable, widely accepted and acknowledged by his teeming supporters and constituents – the good people of Kaduna Central Senatorial District, and even his political opponents.
Senator LA remains on record as one of the first, if not the first, lawmaker to raise a motion on the floor of the 10th Senate after its inauguration in 2023, when he called urgent attention to the perennial insecurity and kidnappings in Kaduna State, as well as their link to the deplorable state of the Kaduna-Abuja highway.
But Senator LA didn’t just stop at raising the motion on the floor of the 10th Senate, he also took the rare practical step of meeting physically with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on the urgency of the matters, and to also discuss the general welfare of his people. It is delightful that Senator LA’s proactive moves resulted in the various actions taken by the Federal Government to combat the menace of the bandits in Kaduna State and to also renovate the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano highway.
One thing underscores
the monumental achievements recorded by the Distinguished lawmaker: Senator LA has, from Day One, made a ‘down payment’ on change with the good people of Kaduna Central Senatorial District through his campaign manifesto, which convinced the electorate to freely and magnanimously give him their mandate at the polls in 2023. And for which they have already promised him a repeat and return to the Senate come 2027.
For the avoidance of doubt, Senator LA believes in serious change rather than a hopeless gimmick. And this real change he has continued to drive in the past two years. He believes in grip and not drift. Since his election into the National Assembly, he has continuously been doing the hard graft, working his fingers to the bones, so to say, all in the corporate interests of the good people of Kaduna Central Senatorial District and the Nigerian nation. His chairmanship and vice chairmanship of two very important committees in the Senate leaves no room for frivolities. The leadership of the Senate Committee on Education (Basic and Secondary) and Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions is not for the lily-livered or intellectually lazy, due to the seriousness of their businesses and services to the nation’s educational and financial sectors. This is evident in the quantum of work that the Education Committee did on the basic education (Amendment) bill now at the third reading stage before the Senate. Only last December 11 at the Senate plenary, the Bill for an Act to amend the Compulsory, Free Universal Basic Education Act, Cap N4, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2024 and for other Related Matters 2024, sponsored by Senator LA, passed a Second Reading. The Bill was then referred to the Committee on Education (Basic and Secondary), being chaired by Senator LA, who sponsored the motion for its reading. The bill, when passed into law, will revolutionise and revitalise basic education in Nigeria. No wonder, Senator LA was given the privilege a few days ago to attend and address the World Education Forum held in London, United Kingdom.
Therefore, only those playing the ostrich while actually heading to the gallery will deny the obvious and concrete fact that Senator LA’s tenure, in just two years, has been defined by a strong and unprecedented commitment to Education, infrastructural development, economic empowerment, and delivery of sundry dividends of democracy to his constituents and others. Of course, his comprehensive approach to addressing the needs of the good people of Kaduna Central Senatorial District and even beyond remains unprecedented.
To prick the minds of the doubting Thomases constituting the opposition to the lawmaker, it is appropriate at this juncture to showcase a bit of Senator LA’s myriad of achievements in the 24 months that the good people of Kaduna Central Senatorial District had entrusted him with their mandate.
These, of course, have punctured the lies by the opposition and other meddlesome interlopers, and also fully answered their oft-repeated spurious “charges” of non-performance against this hard working and conscientious lawmaker.
Senator LA is indeed a new breed politician whose hard work and achievements have earned him the respect and love of his constituents as well as the electorate in the entire Kaduna State. Contrary to the claims by his critics, Senator LA’s weekly visits to his constituency and philanthropic gestures towards the people have continued to keep the wheel of his political structure well oiled and effortlessly rolling, among the good people of Kaduna Central Senatorial District. A compassionate, generous and cheerful politician, the Senator, through his LA Cares Foundation, has continued to touch and change the lives of many youths, orphans and other vulnerable people in his constituency and beyond. His myriad of democracy dividends generously delivered to the people of his constituency has continued to endear him to his people and the electorate. Senator LA has continued to shame his detractors and political foes with his unprecedented achievements in the construction and rehabilitation of over 100 schools, which are now positively affecting the hitherto moribund educational sector in the state. He can also boldly beat his chest when it comes to the provision of basic infrastructure such as water resources, healthcare, power and generally improving the living standards of his constituents through capacity building, skills acquisition, empowerment and educational scholarships.
Specifically, Senator LA has recorded unprecedented achievements in less than two years by providing, among many others, over 100 smart primary school buildings, which are fully equipped with learning materials and educational aids, scholarships, solar-powered boreholes for potable water, solar lights, entrepreneurial training for farmers, sponsorship of hundreds of students for WAEC and UTME (JAMB) examinations, N500,000 each as business startup capital given to no fewer than 500 beneficiaries, payment of the registration fee for over 1000 tertiary institutions’ students, training for 100 women in soap making with startup capital and training of 200 beneficiaries in fish farming with startup capital. Interestingly, beneficiaries of all these laudable projects are drawn from all the seven local government areas making up his Kaduna Central Senatorial District constituency. It is heartening that his motion urging the Federal Ministry of Works to expedite the ongoing reconstruction of the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano expressway has remained a reference point in the Senate, having secured the unanimous approval of all the lawmakers in the upper legislative chamber. In all, Senator LA has sponsored four very crucial motions and four bills, which are now in their third reading stages and about to be passed into law by the Senate. Infact, it’s crystal clear that if there’s any lawmaker that should be tarred with the brush of non-performance, definitely the indefatigable Senator LA, who has been up and doing since his election, cannot be in that category.
It’s needless to say that since he was elected as the lawmaker to represent the good people of Kaduna Central Senatorial District, Senator LA has been positively touching the lives of his constituents. Of course, according to analysts and watchers of Kaduna politics, with the failure of the “flawed strategies” of his immediate predecessors and the meteoric successes Senator LA has recorded within his 24 months in the National Assembly, it’s easier to concur that he’s been delivering regarding his responsibilities to his constituents in Kaduna Central Senatorial District and the country in general.
Moreover, Senator LA, who doubles as the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Education (Basic and Secondary), and Vice Chairman of, the Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance, and Other Financial Institutions, has also, in just two years in the Senate, done so much in raising the standards and improving services as well as integrity in these two very important sectors. He, alongside his committee, had established a robust relationship with the CBN working to stabilise as well as mobilise the fiscal and monetary policies of the apex bank.
Similarly, in the area of engaging and empowering the people, Senator LA can also raise his shoulders high amongst the lawmakers who have been meeting the expectations of their constituents.
So far, he has doled out a whopping sum of over N500million to empower youths and women across his constituency, in fulfillment of his campaign promises to empower the youths and the vulnerable. The beneficiaries, who got the sum of N500,000 each as start-up capital, were selected from the seven local government areas constituting the Kaduna Central Senatorial District. The Senator has also donated other valuables, including food items and hundreds of sewing and knitting machines, worth over N500million to many widows to assist them in fending for themselves and tackling their financial problems. Altogether, the lawmaker has facilitated the training of over 1000 persons in skills acquisition. Senator LA has continued to sponsor people to perform the lesser Hajj in Saudi Arabia to offer prayers for the peace, progress and unity of Nigeria.
He has been putting smiles on the faces of the less privileged members of his constituency with the continuation of his gesture of payment of tuition fees of indigent students across the state. Senator LA has also fulfilled his promise by giving the sum of between N100,000 and N150,000 bursary allowances to over 1000 students in the Humanities and Sciences, Medicine, health and Engineering, respectively, across his Senatorial District, having announced the setting aside of N500 million for settling tuition fees for hundreds of students of tertiary institutions in his constituency. Also, over 1000 students drawn from across the Senatorial District have been awarded scholarships by the lawmaker. Of course, the scholarship given by Senator LA will go a long way in relieving many parents of the financial burden of funding their children’s education.
To assist his constituents to light up their homes and have access to regular electricity supply, Senator LA has distributed over 200 power transformers to communities across the seven local government areas of Kaduna Central Senatorial District.
Similarly, in his efforts to provide potable water for his constituents, the lawmaker has provided solar-powered boreholes to ensure the unrestricted flow and supply of clean water to over 100 communities across Kaduna Central Senatorial District.
During last year’s farming season, Senator LA distributed over 10,000 tons of fertilizers to farmers across his constituency. Lately, over 20,000 bags of fertilizer have also been given out to farmers in the senatorial district.
To facilitate the easy transportation of persons, goods and farm produce throughout Kaduna Central Senatorial District, finishing touches are currently being put to Senator LA’s plan to construct over 20,000 kilometres of roads traversing the seven local government areas in the district.
Of course, the people of Kaduna Central have weighed Senator LA in terms of the achievements recorded for their benefits, in his two years in office, and have come to the conclusion that their choice of this lawmaker in the 2023 election has brought unprecedented changes and developments, as they now truly enjoy the real dividends of democracy they had for long been denied, before they decided to give him their mandate in 2023.
Anyway, now the people of Kaduna Central know better and have vowed never again to fall for the lies and shenanigans of those bent on bringing back some misfits to lord it over them through the lies being peddled by some amorphous opposition groups being sponsored to pull the Senator down.
For the good people of Kaduna Central Senatorial District, 2027 is a done deal with Senator LA.
Signed:
Distinguished Senator Lawal Adamu Usman’s Media Office
