THE JOURNEY SO FAR: AN ADDRESS DELIVERED ON THE OCCASION OF THE THIRD CONSTITUENCY BRIEFING ORGANISED FOR THE GOOD PEOPLE OF ETSAKO FEDERAL CONSTITUENCY OF EDO STATE BY HON. ANAMERO DEKERI, THE REPRESENTATIVE OF ETSAKO FEDERAL CONSTITUENCY IN THE 10TH ASSEMBLY, ABUJA, HOLDING AT THE CONSTITUENCY OFFICE AUCHI ON THE 26TH DAY OF DECEMBER, 2024.
PROTOCOLS
With every sense of humility, I stand before you today as your humble servant to take you on a journey you sent me over the past 18 months. I promised during my electioneering campaign to always return to you periodically to brief you and afford us the opportunity to rub minds as a family.
I will not bore you with a long speech, but I crave your indulgence to patiently listen as I deliver this brief speech on the key areas we have made remarkable achievements.
As we are aware, the primary responsibility of legislators is to enact laws for the Executive Arm of Government who are saddled with the responsibility of implementing such laws for the common good of the society. In light of the above, I wish to state that we have made tremendous progress as your elected Representative in the 10th Assembly with the following achievements;
BILLS AND MOTIONS
We have sponsored 4 bills and 4 motions as follows;
1. A bill for an Act to amend the Federal Medical Center Establishment Act, to establish Federal Medical Center, Ukuoke-Uzairue
2. A bill for an Act to establish the Solid Minerals Communities Development Bill.
Fellow Constituents, considering the vast Solid Minerals deposits in ETSAKO Federal Constituency being mined with little or no consideration for the host communities, we thought it is high time we sponsored a bill to make provision for the development of the host communities to compliment what has been achieved with the Petroleum Industrial Act (PIA) in the Oil Producing Communities.
3. A bill for an Act to amend the Federal Colleges of Education establishment Act to establish the Federal College of Education (Technical) in Okpella, Edo State.
4. Co-sponsored a bill for a 6 single tenure for President and rotation of Presidency among the 6 geo-political zones.
Dear Constituents, what influenced those bills was the situation that we met in ETSAKO during our campaign across the entire Federal Constituency, where banners and postals of notifications of funeral services by the bereaved conspicuously littered virtually every community, of which most of the deceased died in their prime which we believed could be attributed to lack of access to good health care facilities in the Federal Constituency; our people cannot be dying of curable and preventable diseases like it was in the primitive age.
When the bill is eventually passed into law, it will go a long way to reducing the mortality rate amongst our people that emanate from curable and preventable diseases.
The Federal College of Education (Technical) amendment bill for the establishment of Federal College of Education Ogute-Opkella is a bill that we proposed for the education of our talented teeming populace, especially the youths that need educational support to be able to harness their potentials.
Still on education, in 2023, we gave WAEC enrolment scholarship to 10,000 Edo indigent WAEC intending students. Similarly, we have just concluded payment for 5000 WAEC intending students across the state both of which formed the 12th and 13th editions of the Annual WAEC Scholarship Awards.
To put the records straight, the WAEC enrolment scholarship is not a Constituency Project, it is being sponsored by our foundation, Anamero Idofe Anamero Foundation. There is no public fund committed to the project; it is simply a philanthropic gesture that knows no political party but caters for the less privileged in our society.
The Solid Minerals Communities Development has also passed second reading in the floor of the House.
MOTIONS
We have also moved several Motions in the House as listed below;
1. Motion for the declaration of the 2023 WAEC enrolment free for the children of the poor.
We sponsored this motion in the wake of the removal of fuel subsidy when the aftermath was biting hard on the low income earners most whom have their children who were intending to sit for WAEC examinations. We thought it would have been ideal if the government could take off the financial burden from poor parents as a palliative for the fuel subsidy removal. Though, the motion did not scale through parliamentary debate but widely adjudged as one of the brightest motions that was moved in the floor of the House at the time.
2. Motion for the deployment of security personnel to Okpella to quell the incessant and senseless killings resulting from the Clan Head crisis. Security of lives and properties is the exclusive responsibility of government, we could not have folded our arms and watched while the people we were elected to represent kill themselves. However, the motion was stepped down for further legislative action.
3. Motion for the Declaration of State of Emergency on the gully erosion in ETSAKO Federal Constituency.
We moved this motion because we have firsthand information of the devastating effect of gully erosion in ETSAKO Federal Constituency. This was our first motion in the House and the motion has been sent to the appropriate government agency for necessary action.
CONSTITUENCY PROJECTS
In line with our campaign promises, development of ETSAKO Federal Constituency through execution of Constituency Projects was also on our priorities.
Upon resumption in the House, we commenced immediate assessment of the projects begging for urgent attention in the Constituency. Top in our list was the devastating gully erosion, we sponsored officials of the National Ecological Agency under the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation to conduct assessment of the gully erosion sites in the constituency. We spent out of pocket, millions of Naira on the project and we ensured that all the known sites were captured and valuation was carried out. But because of the sum involved in this project, we needed a much higher political support to push the file from the SGF office to Mr. President for approval.
In the same vein, we also sponsored the Rural Electrification Agency to conduct assessment of the electricity needs of ETSAKO Federal Constituency. The officials from the agency spent days across every nooks and crannies of the Federal Constituency. I wish to inform you that significant progress has been made in this regard.
My dear people of Etsako FederalConstituency, upon resumption, I brought the Federal Ministry of Works’ attention to the poor condition of the Okpella-Iyuku road (Uzairue) that spanned 24 km distance. We engaged engineers and surveyors to carry out surveys. This was facilitated through out of pocket that cost millions of Naira. As at the time of this briefing, the file is still awaiting attention in the Federal Ministry of Works.
LIST OF EXECUTED PROJECTS
Below are the list of already executed projects;
1. Installation of Solar streetlights in Iyamho, Uzairue.
2. Installation of solar streetlights in Ogute-Okpella.
3. Installation of solar streetlights in Imiagbese-Okpella.
4. Installation of solar streetlights in Ubiane, Etsako West LGA.
5. Installation of solar streetlights in Auchi.
6. Installation of solar streetlights in South Ibie.
7. Installation of solar streetlights in Okugbe-Okpella.
8. Installation of solar streetlights in Ogiriga-Okpella.
9. Installation of solar streetlights in Iturogbe-Opkella.
10. Installation of solar streetlights in Okhu 1 & 2-Okpella.
11. Installation of solar streetlights in Imiekuri-Okpella.
12. Installation of solar streetlights in Iyuku-Uzairue.
13. Installation of solar streetlights in Ayogwiri-Uzairue.
14. Installation of solar streetlights in Ekperi, Etsako Central.
15. Installation of solar streetlights in Udaba, Etsako Central.
16. Installation of solar streetlights in Osomegbe.
17. Installation of solar streetlights- Ofukpo.
18. Installation of solar streetlights- Abavo
19. Installation of solar streetlights-Odame
20. Installation of solar streetlights-Ugbekpe
21. Installation of solar streetlights- Azhukhala.
22. Installation of solar streetlights in Okpiemi.
23. Installation of solar streetlights in Ogochi.
24. Installation of solar streetlights.
25. Installation of solar streetlights in Oghomere
26. Installation of solar streetlights in Iguzi-Etsako Central.
27. Installation of solar streetlights in Usogu-Auchi Etsako West.
28. Installation of solar streetlights in Akpekpe-Auchi, Etsako West.
29. Construction of a Block of 6 Classrooms in Afokpella, Etsako East.
30. Construction of a block of 3 classrooms in Ebele, North Ibie, Etsako East.
31. Construction of a block of 3 classrooms in Orange, Agenebode in Etsako East.
32. Construction of a block of 3 classrooms in Ogute-Okpella, Etsako East.
33. Installation of 509KVA transformer in Iddo Okpella, Etsako East.
34. Installation of Solar-powered Boreholes in Apana-Uzairue, Etsako West.
35. Installation of Solar-powered Boreholes in Okpeneda, Ekperi, Etsako East.
36. Installation of Solar-powered Boreholes in Iyora-Uzairue, Etsako West.
37. Installation of Solar-powered Borehole in Egawori-Agenebode, Etsako East East.
38. Installation of Solar-powered Boreholes in Osogun Quarters, Auchi, Etsako West.
39. Installation of Solar-powered Boreholes in Iddo-Okpella, Etsako East.
40. Installation of Solar-powered Boreholes in Ufuokpara-Okpella Etsako East.
41. Installation of Solar-powered Boreholes in Udiegua-Okpella, Etsakk East.
42. Installation of Solar-powered Boreholes in Okugbe-Okpella, Etsako East.
43. Installation of Solar-powered Boreholes in Imiagbese-Okpella, Etsako East.
44. Installation of Solar-powered Boreholes in Awuyemi-Okpella, Etsako East.
45. Distribution of school desks to Omoaka in Agbede-Etsako West.
46. Distribution of school desks to Akpekpe Modern primary Auchi- Etsako West Local Government Area,
47. Distribution of School desks to Iddo Community Grammar school, -Okpella in Etsako East.
48. Distribution of school desks to Ogute Secondary School-Okpella, Etsako East.
EMPOWERMENT
49. Distribution of fertilizers to farmers in Etsako Federal Constituency.
50. Distribution of relief materials to the flood victims in Ekperi IDP Camp in Etsako Central.
51. Distribution of Musical equipment for religious centers in Etsako Federal Constituency.
52. Distribution of drugs and hospital equipment to Pharmacists and hospitals in Etsako Federal Constituency.
53. School fees payment support for selected students in Etsako Federal Constituency.
54. Training and Cash support for 50 selected persons by ITF in Auchi Polytechnic and Inu Umoru Hall in Auchi.
55. Cash support and donation of wheelchair to survivors of Jattu Marjery rainstorm disaster.
56. Visitation and Cash support for the families of the deceased farmers allegedly killed by herdsmen in Okpekpe -North Ibie, Etsako East.
57. Visitation and Cash transfer for the diseased families allegedly killed by herdsmen in Awuyemi-Okpella.
58. Issuance of hundreds of recommendation letters to job seekers from Etsako Federal Constituency.
58. Legislative Directive to Contractors executing our constituency projects to patronise local artisans to promote employment and
59. Distribution of Grinding Machines to selected women in Etsako Federal Constituency.
Fellow Constituents, our journey is not limited to the above achievements, Etsako voice is also being heard aloud whenever debates bothering on National issues are laid before the floor of the House. Etsako spoke meticulously on the tax reform bills that are currently before the National Assembly. We have also aired our view on the on-going creation of South-South Development Commission.
The 2025 Appropriation Bill Code-named “Budget of Restoration” laid before a Joint Sitting of the National Assembly on the 18th of December, 2024, has also received contribution on the floor of the House through your representative, my humble self, Hon. Anamero Dekeri.
Space will not permit me to list what we have achieved over the past 18 months that we embarked on this journey, let me re-emphasize that for every single day that we have to spend on this assignment, we will work for you even with the last salary and wages will be committed to the common man on the street of Etsako Federal Constituency.
As we look up to the new year 2025 in high hope, I want to assure you that the interest of Etsako Federal Constituency will always be prioritised on this assignment.
Thank you.
God bless the good people of Etsako Federal Constituency!
God bless Edo State!!
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria!!!
