By joshua I Will Keep Showing Up, Listening And Supporting Projects That Truly Impact Lives — Says Sen. Karimi As He Tours Kogi West.
By Oshio Baba
Senator Sunday Karimi’s return to Kogi West at the weekend was more than a homecoming. It was a reaffirmation of a style of representation that has set him apart in the last three years at the Senate — being present where it matters most, among the people.
From town hall meetings with youths and women in Kabba-Bunu to homage to revered traditional rulers including the Elejuku of Ejuku, the Oba of Ife-Olukotun, the Agbana of Isanlu and the Oba of Odoolu in Kabba, the tour captured the essence of his mandate. He did not just send words from Abuja, he came home to listen, to inspect, to support and to reassure.
Recalled that in the last two months, the Senator has spent himself in terms of meeting with constituent’s to hear from them with assurance that the return of President Ahmed Bola Tinubu and the APC will further boost and consolidate on the gains made by Kogi West.
Addressing the youth and women demography that has become the heartbeat of his interventions, Karimi said his presence underscores what he has done in three years — providing access to federal jobs, bursaries and enterprise opportunities.
His education footprint has become the largest personal intervention in Kogi State in recent history, not funded from constituency projects but from his own resources through the Sunday Steve Karimi Education Foundation and Tinubu Support Group. It began in 2024 with N100 million for 1,000 students in Kogi West at N100,000 each, with 150 beneficiaries per local government from Kabba-Bunu and Ijumu, grew in 2025 to N300 million for 3,000 students across the state with 1,390 from Kogi West, 1,000 from Kogi East and 610 from Kogi Central after over 10,000 applications were received, and in August 2026 a third edition of another N300 million was opened from August 20 to September 20, bringing his total commitment to N700 million for over 4,000 students in three years with direct payment and ward-based quota.
That investment in people is matched by infrastructure that communities can see and touch. Karimi facilitated N2 billion for the rehabilitation of the abandoned Kabba-Egbe road and secured an additional N6 billion from the Minister of Works to ensure the contractor returned to site after eleven years of abandonment. He also captured N3 billion in the 2025 budget for the Iluhagba-Mopa-Isanlu-Egbe federal road with CGC now mobilized. Where the Pakuta Bridge linking Aiyegunle Gbede, Kiri Kingdom, Kupa North and South and parts of Niger State had collapsed and cut off economic life, he funded its reconstruction.
In Ilafin and Ejuku where he inspected erosion control, drainage and bridge projects at the weekend, residents trooped out in appreciation because those interventions saved their communities from annual flooding and isolation.
In education infrastructure, classroom blocks at Odo-Ape St. Barnabas and Iluke Bunu, the over N1.2 billion total remodeling of Government Science Secondary School Koton-Karfe, the rehabilitation works in Agbadu Bunu where he commended the pace of work, and the N10 million donation to the Anglican Church Nursing School Iyara speak to his priority.
His boldest investment is in digital learning. At his alma mater Titcombe College Egbe, a 288-seater solar-powered Computer-Based Test Centre worth over N350 million has already hosted over 1,200 JAMB candidates, while three more 275-capacity centres have been secured for Muslim Community Secondary School Lokogoma Lokoja, Government Science Secondary School Iyara Ijumu and Okutadudu Comprehensive College Odo-Ere Yagba West, with a fourth at ECWA Secondary School Mopa personally funded by him.
Across Kogi West, the story extends to over 85 solar-powered boreholes and more than 140 rehabilitated boreholes, five industrial boreholes proposed for Lokoja, transformers for Sarki Noma, Mount Patti, Obajana and Agbadu, rehabilitated transformers at Offege-Baptist and Koton-Karfe, solar streetlights in over 500 communities, a cottage hospital at Edu-Kakanda Lokoja built and awaiting equipping, a Forward Operating Base in Egbe Yagba West to tackle cross-border crimes, and empowerment through tricycles, grinding machines, sewing machines, start-up grants and a N100 million Women Cooperative Revolving Fund for 50 cooperative societies in Kabba-Bunu-Ijumu.
It was within this context that his support for security at the weekend resonated. He donated an 18-seater bus and six motorcycles to the Okun Hunters Association and local vigilante groups to aid their operations, a practical boost to community policing at a time when rural safety is paramount.
In Ayere, he joined Chief Olatunji Olusoji and the people in celebrating their rich cultural heritage and pledged support for the Ayere Palace project until completion, showing that representation also honours culture.
As Chairman of the Senate Committee on Senate Services and a ranking member with two terms in the House of Representatives before his Senate election, Karimi knows that ranking is leverage in Abuja and that a second term secures Kogi West a stronger voice for federal roads, projects and opportunities. That message is already resonating from the grassroots. With over 38 communities in Bunu and stakeholders across Lokoja, Kogi, Yagba East and Yagba West speaking openly in support, the summation is that his way of life — always showing up — has earned him maximum support ahead of the 2027 general election and points clearly to his return.