By joshua From N1.48bn Kotonkarfe Science School To 140 Boreholes, N750m Military Base, N400m Bursary, Kabba-Egbe Road, Sen. Karimi Redefines Representation In Kogi West
The recent commissioning of the rehabilitated Government Science Secondary School, Kotonkarfe, following a N1.48 billion Federal Government intervention facilitated by Senator Sunday Karimi, has been described as unusual in the history of representation in Kogi West, marking a shift from a past defined by individual handouts to a new era where corporate empowerment, infrastructure and socio-economic development take centre stage.
Executed through the National Senior Secondary Education Commission, NSSEC, as one of 50 senior secondary schools selected nationwide under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, the Kotonkarfe project is the very first to be completed. Commissioning it on Friday, NSSEC Executive Secretary, Dr. Iyela Ajayi, represented by Mr. Olugbenga Adelogun, noted that a school cannot deliver quality education without a safe and supportive environment, describing the intervention as an investment in children and their future while commending Senator Karimi for complementing government efforts.
Represented by retired Navy Commodore Folusho Daniel, Senator Karimi said the school is only one chapter of a broader transformation across Kogi West. Built in 24 weeks by Messrs First Man Industry Link Limited, the complex comprises an administrative block with seven offices accommodating 16 staff, the Principal’s office with secretary’s office, a 15-capacity boardroom, offices for Vice Principals and Senior Master, six classrooms of 46 students each with staff rooms and ramps, four science laboratories and four ICT laboratories for 48 students each, fully equipped with chemical stores, offices, conveniences, a gatehouse, 3KVA inverter, borehole with overhead tank and solar streetlights. The Principal, Mallam Inusa Dauda, pledged judicious use while appealing for perimeter fencing, a call supported by the State Senior Secondary Education Board Chairman, Mrs. Habiba Suleiman, and the Ohimege Igu of Kotonkarfe, HRM Dr. Saidu Akawu Salihu.
Beyond Kotonkarfe, Senator Karimi’s education footprint is unprecedented. He personally funded the rehabilitation of his alma mater, Titcombe College, Egbe, with N350 million, converted its library into a solar-powered Computer-Based Test centre and is building additional CBT centres in Lokoja, Kabba, Mopa and Isanlu to end long-distance travel for UTME.
Through his Sunday Steve Karimi Education Foundation, he has paid bursaries of N100,000 each to over 4,000 tertiary students, N100 million to 1,000 students in 2024 and N400 million to 3,000 students in 2025 across Kogi West and beyond, offset WAEC and NECO fees, built classroom blocks at St. Barnabas Odo-Ape and Iluke, and donated N10 million to Anglican Nursing School, Iyara.
His infrastructure revival is equally bold. He facilitated about N2 billion for the rehabilitation of the Kabba-Egbe-Ilorin road abandoned for over 11 years and secured an additional N6 billion from the Federal Ministry of Works to return contractors to site, while reconstructing the Pakuta Bridge linking Aiyegunle Gbede, Kiri, Kupa and Niger State, and grading rural roads across all seven local government areas.
In water, he has delivered over N1.24 billion investment with 140 interventions, 75 new solar-powered boreholes and 65 rehabilitated schemes, plus 22 solar-powered motorized boreholes and five planned industrial boreholes for Lokoja metropolis.
On power, he has supplied transformers to Sarki Noma, Mount Patti, Obajana, Offege-Baptist and Kotonkarfe and installed solar streetlights across towns.
On security, he funded a N750 million fully equipped Military Forward Operating Base along the Kogi West border, upgraded the existing 96-bed FOB in Egbe, donated two Hilux patrol vehicles and provided accommodation for personnel, with deployment to vulnerable communities like Jege, Odo-Ere, Isanlu and Olle-Bunu, earning him recognition as the Most Security-Conscious Senator.
He has also facilitated federal jobs for youths, disbursed N100 million to 50 women cooperatives and trained over 500 women in food processing and tailoring, supported farmers with inputs, artisans with equipment, distributed food worth over N300 million during festivities, and is sponsoring a N150 million community hospital in Kakanda, Lokoja LGA.
If performance is the benchmark for re-election, from Kogi LGA to Yagba West, constituents insist they have never had it so good, as representation today speaks not just in stipends to individuals, but in schools that stand, roads that connect, water that flows, lights that return and security that allows development to endure.