It was the iroko of African literature, Chinua Achebe – who rightly posited that, “Until the Lion have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunters.” This saying finds expression in the hitherto governance model of the senator representing the good people of Kogi East Senatorial District – Jibrin Isah-Echocho. For long, senator Echocho as fondly called by his people has been Chinua Achebe proverbial Lion-whose story of hunt has been told by the hunters but, that narrative has to change and is in fact changing; and the starting point is for his constituents to tell his story of good governance and impact driven interventions in the senate.
At the core of his service in the senate is to protect and project the interests of the good people of senatorial district, Kogi state and Nigeria writ-large; and so far so good, the senator has fit the bill. Senator Echocho has sponsored numerous bills in the senate that touch a cold of pride with the core interests of the people of Kogi East. There’s no debating the fact that cashew farming is one of the highest employers of labour in Kogi East. For long, the farmers have been left to their own devices and have been very much short changed by middlemen and buyers because of the absence of a regulatory framework protecting the interest of the farmers. Considering how instrumental cashew farming is to the livelihood of the people of Kogi East, Senator Echocho sponsored the bill for the establishment of Cashew Crop Processing Agency – which would be tasked with the responsibility of improving the value chain of cashew farming. Education, they say, is the engine room of development. This was what informed the sponsoring of the bill for the upgrade of College of Education Ankpa to a Federal University of Education by Senator Echocho. This bill is aimed at creating an academic environment that will produce the next generation of well trained teachers equipped with the requisite knowledge to improve the educational infrastructure of the state, country and also serve as a source of employment for the people of Kogi East and environs.
If effective and efficient representation has as it hallmark in the protection of the interests of those you represent, Senator Echocho went a step further by projecting the interest of Kogi state in the senate just a few days ago as he sponsored a motion for the recognition of Kogi state as an oil producing state. In his motion in the Senate, he stated that: “I urge the Senate to take the clarification that Kogi State is an oil-producing state, which has been receiving the constitutional 13 percent derivation since October 2022; and accord it the necessary recognition as an oil-producing state.” His motion was subsequently affirmed by the senate which recognized Kogi as an oil producing state receiving 13 percent derivation. This legislative milestone adds another cap to the feather of Senator Echocho.
If development is a language, Senator Echocho has been breaking his back to fluently speak that language to the people he represents. His numerous interventions especially at the grassroots will outlive him. Since the return to representative democracy in 1999, Kogi East has not had it this better in the context of legislative contributions and impact driven interventions by their representative in the national assembly. From agriculture to education, from roads to skill acquisition and empowerment, Senator Jibrin Isah-Echocho has left an indelible footprints in the sands of time. I started this thought piece with a quote from the legendary writer, Chinua Achebe and will end it with a quote from the Chinese philosopher and writer, Lao Tzu- which says, “a leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.” The quotes from Achebe and Tzu perfectly typify the paradox which Senator Jibrin Isah-Echocho embodies.