By CHINYERE Nnaemeka
The Federal House of Representatives member representing Ikeduru/Mbaitoli Federal Constituency, Hon. Akarachi Etinosa Amadi has appreciated his constituents for massively voting for Governor Hope Uzodimma's reelection.
Akarachi in the same vein presented palliatives of 10,000 bags of 5kg rice, 400 bags of 25kg rice, 200bags of 50kg rice, and cartoons of Indomie to the people.
He also rolled out projects he has mapped out for the federal constituency which one of them according to him, is to create 1000 small and medium scale businesses, among others, within his 4-year tenure.
The lawmaker disclosed this recently at his hometown in Eziama, Ikeduru Local Government Area of Imo State, while having a Constituency Briefing on his legislative agenda for his people.
Speaking, Akarachi averred, "I am here not to just to acquaint you all with my plans and programmes for Mbaike, but to fulfill my promise of appreciating you all for massively voting for Governor Hope Uzodimma's reelection during the last Governorship Election. You people really made me proud, which is why I am here to keep to my promise of appreciating you all.
"This singular act has ones again proven your love for me, and for a great leader, His Excellency Distinguished Senator Hope Uzodimma, who has done marvelously well, and deserve another opportunity to complete what he has began for Imolites.
"I promise to make you all proud for our main purpose is to give effective representation which we will begin with building on already established structures, contracts, and bringing in fresh ideas to complement and surpass what our predecessors had already began as Government is a continuum.
"In few months that I have represented you in the Green Chambers, I have presented bills which are at different levels of readings as follows: Nigerian Institute or Center for vacation Training and Certification (Establishment) Bill, 2023 (HB.543) (Hon. Akarachi E.T. Amadi) for First Reading, Federal College of Entrepreneurship and Skill Acquisition, Mbaitoli, Imo State (Establishment) Bill, 2023, (HB.542)(Hon Akarachi E.T. Amadi) - First Reading, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency Act (Amendment) B, 2023, (HB.729)(HON. Akarachi E. T. Amadi) - First Reading, National Football Academy, Mbaitoli, Imo State (Establishment) Bill, 2023 (HB.730) (Hon. Akarachi E.T. Amadi) - First Reading, BIll for an Act to Amend the Border Communities Developrment Agency Act Cap B10, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 (Establshment) and for other related matters. (Hon. Akarachi E.T. Amadi) – First Reading. I also have five bills, and motions ready for Presentation upon resumption of the House with effect from 31st January 2024.
"To fully achieve our effective representation mandate, it is my duty to know your current yearnings, interests, or advice as per any matter of discourse both in our constituency, state, or nation. To Enable us to run an open door and all-inclusive representation, in the coming weeks, we will deploy and inaugurate our Constituency offices as follows: IKEDURU/MBAITOLI CONSTITUENCY OFFICE: @ KM 6 OKIGWE ROAD, OBILIBI, OBASU,MBAITOLI, 24 WARD CONSTITUENCY LIASON OFFICES. In the coming weeks we will issue a communique of our brothers and sisters saddled with the responsblites of leading these liaison offices who I assure will only on your interest.
"For accountability purpose and sharpening of our legislative agenda, we shall have a quarterly Constituency Briefings, where I will either physically or remotely give an account of my stewardship and hear your feedback, advice, solutions, and urgent needs. We shall also set out a day or two in year to have Constituency Diaspora Briefing with our brothers and sisters who reside outside the country for the progress of Ikeduru/Mbaitoli.
"There is too much infrastructure decay in Ikeduru/Mbaitoli and so our team has since inception begun an internal Audit and critical analysis of our problems as per community bases and providing solution therein, with this analysis when finished we will have developed a comprehensive Roadmap, that we shall begin to Advocate for the Federal Government to give critical attention and we shall strive to have a front-line place in the Agenda of this Government both State, Federal or Donor Agencies. Based on the preliminary reports of this Team and pending their Final Report we will launch in the coming months these Programs and Projects: LIGHT UP IKEDURU/MBAITOLI PROJECT, IKEDURU/MBAITOLI SCALE EROSION PROJECT, IKEDURU /MBAITOLI WATER FOR ALL PROJECT, IKEDURU /MBAITOLI COMMUNITY HALLS & MARKET INTERVENTION PROJECT, and IKEDURU /MBAITOLI RURAL ROADS INTERVENTION PROJECT.
"One of the benefits I enjoyed and I am more passionate about is Education. During the campaigns, while I visited our people community by community, I can categorically say that the Community Schools and Government Schools in Ikeduru/Mbaitoli is in a deplorable state and has necessitated the declaration of state of emergency by me. Therefore, we have declared a state of Emergency in this sector and we will laise and lobby every agency to hear our cry, including the state Government, Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), the Ministry of Education, the Federal Government and Donor Agencies. You have my assurances that we will not rest until our Educational Facilities or systems have a facelift.
"On my visit to our various schools; We awarded scholarships and in total paid for 1,173 students to take part in our Free Jamb Registration allowing them to pursue their chosen courses in various universities across Nigeria.
"We are not stopping there as I am using this opportunity to inform you all to bring your children/wards who have passed their WAEC exam with 5 credits inclusive of English and Mathematics to proceed to any of our constituency office to pick up the 2024 JAMB form already paid for by me. We will also renovate a minimum of 7 numbers of 3 classroom blocks
"We shall launch various programs in the coming months to help our brothers who didn't make it to be computer literate through the State Government Skill Up Programme with the Ministry of Digital Economy and also with the recent Federal Government 3MTT Project with the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy. On a community basis our target is to have over one thousand (1,000) ICT professionals from Ikeduru/Mbaitoli by the end of our 4year ternue.
"Our idea about empowerment isn't just about giving people things or finances, or doing photo ups for the media. We strongly believe in the word Empowerment as it connotes something that will transmit a person into an employer of labour no matter how small. We have opened talks with different government agencies Such as Small and medium Enterprise Development Agency (SMEDAN), where everyone under any of our programme will be encouraged and helped to first of all get a legal entity business registered first, also linked to trusted micro finance banks to help these businesses grow and stabilize. Our Target is to create 1,000 small and medium businesses in 4years in our Federal Constituency.
"We have also started engaging the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) and the National Productivity Centre (NPC) Abuja on a better framework to help our constituency through further engaging in the unemployment data base and framework to enable the Ikeduru/Mbaitoli First Agenda. We shall soon call for qualified candidates according to the criteria provided by any Federal Government Agency and we will be in the fore front to lobby and make sure we get most of our people involved, 'Akarachi stated,'
He further assured them of not disappointing in the confidence they have reposed in him as the betterment of Ikeduru/Mbaitoli is his utmost priority.