By joshua 
From Boreholes to Ballot: How Sunday Karimi Turned ‘Effective Representation’ Into Four New CBT Centres for Kogi West
By Abu Micheal
For Hon. Idris Abubakar Lokoja, an All Progressives Congress chieftain from Lokoja LGA, the case for Senator Sunday Karimi’s second term is written in boreholes, transformers, classrooms, and now, computer screens. Describing the lawmaker as “most deserving to have a second term,”
Hon. Idris told newsmen that Senator Karimi has met the yearning and aspirations of Kogi West in effective representation on the floor of the Senate and in attracting infrastructure — a record he insists is unprecedented in the district’s history of Senate representation.
That record grew again last week when over 1,200 candidates sat for the 2026 Joint Admission and Matriculation Board examinations at the 288-seater CBT centre in Titcombe College, Egbe, facilitated by Karimi in partnership with the Titcombe College Old Students Association. Building on that success, the Senator representing Kogi West disclosed in Abuja that three more CBT centres have been earmarked in the 2026 appropriation for establishment before the next JAMB and West African Examinations Council examinations.
As part of his resolve to ensure access to education for all constituents, Karimi has influenced the upgrade of facilities in selected secondary schools for the establishment of additional computer based training centres within the senatorial district.
He has made funds available in the 2026 appropriation for the conversion of existing structures at Muslim Community Secondary School, Lokogoma in Lokoja LGA, Government Science School, Iyara in Ijumu LGA, and Okutadudu Comprehensive College, Odo Ere in Yagba West LGA, for rehabilitation and reconstruction to accommodate 275-capacity CBT testing centres.
Each centre will include 275 laptops, internet connectivity services, Close Circuit Television cameras, solar energy to power the system, standby generating sets, and toilet facilities tailored to meet JAMB requirements.
“I’m already in discussion with the contractor for a timely delivery of the projects without having to wait for fund releases from the federal government to enable the facilities to be ready and approved for 2027 JAMB and WAEC examinations,” Karimi said. With experience from the TCEOSA CBT centre at Titcombe College, Egbe, he added that efforts will be geared to ensure a seamless delivery of the additional three facilities to be located in Kabba/Bunu/Ijumu, Lokoja/Kotonkarfe, and Yagba Federal Constituencies.
In addition to the three centres in this year’s budget, the Chairman, Senate Services Committee, promised to personally fund a fourth CBT centre at ECWA Secondary School, Mopa in Mopamuro LGA in liaison with the community.
The CBT push sits on a wider ledger of projects that Hon. Idris says makes Karimi’s case for a second term. He mentioned the remodeling of Government Secondary School, Koton Karfe at the cost of N1.2 billion as unprecedented in representation over the years in Kogi West.
On water, the Senator has facilitated the sinking and rehabilitation of about 150 boreholes across Kogi West geared towards providing potable water to constituents — a move Hon. Idris called heartwarming. On power, Karimi has lightened over 62 communities with solar lights across the seven LGAs of Kogi West and distributed over 32 transformers while rehabilitating others, which the APC chieftain described as a rare feat.
In Egbe, he built a 300-capacity Computer Based Centre at Titcombe College, and has been in the forefront for the completion of the Kabba-Egbe road, a project he lobbied close to N10 billion to fix, towards ameliorating the suffering of the people and motorists. Work has now resumed on the Iluhagba–Mopa–Isanlu–Egbe federal road, with contractor CGC mobilized to site and making steady progress along the Isanlu–Ejiba axis.
Karimi confirmed the contractor’s return was made possible by N3 billion captured for the project in the 2025 budget and an additional N6 billion secured through discussions with the Minister of Works. He commended President Bola Tinubu and Minister of Works David Umahi for their support, expressing confidence that the road will improve lives and security, and that the Renewed Hope Agenda “continues to be a reality in Kogi West in particular and Nigeria in general.”
On human capital, Karimi gave out student bursaries to 1,000 tertiary institution students in 2024, and another N400 million has been released for bursaries for tertiary institution students across the State — a scale Hon. Idris described as unusual.
He also commended the Senator’s N100 million women empowerment program and his intervention with truckloads of palliatives like rice, semovita, rams, and cows during festive and Ramadan periods for Christians and Muslims.
In health and education infrastructure, Karimi is credited with construction of a health care centre in Kakanda, and the construction and furnishing of classrooms with desks.
On security, Hon. Idris praised the foresight of Karimi who built with personal resources a forward military base at Egbe, a project close to a billion naira.
Legislatively, he noted that from available and verifiable facts, unlike in time past, Karimi has sponsored bills and motions that have national outlook for good governance. In employment, the Senator has secured over 34 pensionable appointments in the civil service and paramilitary for his constituents.
Hon. Idris was emphatic that Lokoja has had the lion share of Karimi’s representation with the highest numbers of boreholes, transformers, and beneficiaries of the 2024 bursary for tertiary institution students. He added that never in the history of representation in Kogi West have the people enjoyed dividends of democracy like is being witnessed.
On the politics of rotation, Hon. Idris explained that when it was the turn of Lokoja/Koto, they spent 8 years, with Kabba/Bunu/Ijumu Federal Constituency spending 16 years, and said since this is the first time for Yagba Federal Constituency to be in the Senate before returning to Lokoja/Kogi Federal Constituency, Karimi has made the West proud.
All options considered, Hon. Idris insisted, Senator Karimi is deserving of a second term — a term that, if the first is any guide, will be measured not in promises but in projects, from Iluhagba–Egbe road to four new CBT centres in Lokoja, Iyara, Odo-Ere, and Mopa.