By joshua SENATOR KARIMI SUNDAY STEVE: A SCORE CARD OF CONSISTENT QUALITY REPRESENTATION — PART 2
By Abu Micheal
‘FROM PROMISE TO PROJECTS ACROSS KOGI WEST’
If the first chapter of Senator Sunday Steve Karimi’s representation was about laying foundations in Yagba Federal Constituency, the second chapter since 2023 has been about scaling that template across the entire Kogi West Senatorial District.
When he took his seat in the 10th Senate in 2023, he came with the weight of history. He is the first man from Yagba to enter the Senate since 1999. But rather than treat it as a personal milestone, he treated it as a mandate to expand access, to take the same energy that rehabilitated boreholes in Egbe and Mopa and apply it to Kabba, Lokoja, Ijumu and the riverine communities. The idea has remained unchanged: equal opportunity, quality representation, and projects that people can see, use, and defend.
One of the first major interventions he conceptualized was in security. Kidnapping and banditry along the Kogi-Kwara boundary had become a threat to farmers, traders and travelers. In response, Senator Karimi acquired land and self-financed the construction and furnishing of a Forward Operating Base for the Nigerian Army on the outskirts of Egbe, right at the border with Kwara State. The facility is not a token structure. It is an 85-bed FOB with a fully furnished separate office building, a three-bedroom detached bungalow for the Commander, an Officers’ Mess and a Soldiers’ Mess, a hidden armory, a watchtower, 25KVA solar generating inverters and a 22KVA standby generator. The goal was simple: reduce response time, deter crime, and give neighboring states confidence that Kogi West is secured. The base is completed and operational, and security agencies have acknowledged that it has improved patrols and intelligence gathering across the axis.
Education has been another priority, and the approach has been both infrastructural and financial. At the tertiary level, he sponsored two landmark establishment bills: the Federal University of Agriculture, Kabba Bill and the Federal University of Medicine and Medical Sciences, Egbe Bill. Both are aimed at bringing federal presence, jobs, and research capacity directly into Kogi West.
At the secondary level, the administration of Governor Ahmed Ododo and the Senator have aligned on upgrading existing schools. The Government Science Secondary School, Kotonkarfe is undergoing a total remodeling worth over N2.5 billion. It is being transformed into a modern science school with laboratories, hostels, and ICT facilities. New classroom blocks with principal’s offices have been constructed in St. Barnabas College, Kabba; Community Secondary School, Odo-Ape; Government Secondary School, Iluke-Bunu; and Government Secondary School, Igbaruku. A National Open University Study Centre is also ongoing in the district to expand access to distance learning for working adults.
But Senator Karimi knows that buildings alone do not keep children in school. In 2024 he launched a bursary scheme that paid N100,000 each to 1,000 indigent students from Kogi West in public tertiary institutions. The response was overwhelming. Working with the Tinubu Support Group, he extended the scheme to Kogi Central and Kogi East, disbursing N300 million to 3,000 Kogites under the Renewed Hope Initiative. Each beneficiary received N100,000. The program is now annual, and it is deliberately designed to reduce dropouts caused by fees and to align Kogi students with the federal government’s education agenda.
His wife complements this with a women-focused empowerment drive. Every year, 50 women cooperatives receive N2 million each on a revolving basis. In 2024, N100 million was disbursed. The money is not shared as handouts. It is lent to cooperative members to expand trading, farming and small-scale production, creating a cycle of capital that stays in the community.
Across Kogi West, power remains the enabler of small businesses. From 2023 to date, Senator Karimi has distributed transformers to communities that had been in darkness for years. In Lokoja LGA, a 500KVA/33 transformer was delivered to Sarkin Noma, another 500KVA to Upper Mountain Patti Road in Ward A, and a 300KVA to Aduho-Agesi. In Kabba-Bunu, two transformers, one 500KVA and one 300KVA, were installed. Ijumu received a 300KVA for Iyah-Gbede and a 500KVA for Iyara. Yagba East got a 500KVA for Ponyan and a 300KVA for Isanlu. Yagba West received a 500KVA for Odo-Ere and a 500KVA and 300KVA for Egbe. Mopa-Amuro got two transformers, one 500KVA and one 300KVA. Kogi LGA received a 500KVA for Gegu, and Lokoja II got a transformer for Felele Phase 3 behind the old NNPC.
Beyond transformers, solar street lighting has become a signature. Not less than 44 solar street lights were installed in Yagba West in Igaruku, Iyamerin, Ogbe, Ogga, Oke-Ere, Ejiba and Odo-Ara. Yagba East received over 80 in Isanlu, Ejuku, Ife-Olukotun, Igbo-Ero, Igbagun, Imela, Ogbom and Agimi. Ijumu got not less than 30 in Egbeda, Ikoyi and Iyara. Kabba-Bunu has over 81 installed across wards. Kogi LGA has not less than 50. The lights have extended trading hours, improved security, and given students light to read at night.
If there is one project type constituents mention most, it is water. In his first year in the Senate alone, Senator Karimi constructed over 140 solar-powered motorized boreholes across Kogi West. In Lokoja, Ward A has boreholes along Omehi House, behind Moremi Restaurant, in Marine Quarters behind Babadoko House, and in New Layout Otokiti House. Ward B has one in Cantonment and another in Shabayagi along the Central Mosque. Ward C has one along Kawaworo Cemetery. Ward E has boreholes at Gbancinku along Hakimi and at Kporoka Polling Unit.
In Lokoja II, Kakanda Ward has two, one in Shelvun and another in Yelwafu. Kupa North has one in Amiza. Kupa South, Mekugi and Oworo all have new motorized boreholes, with Oworo alone having four in Jamata, Felele along NASFAT, Obajana Ileta Street and Obajana-Bassa Community Road.
Kabba-Bunu received over 15 solar motorized boreholes spread across Ayetoro Ward 1 and 2, Odokoro-Gbede, Iyara, Ogale-Idi Oro, Ogidi, Aiyegunle, Iffe, Iyamoye, Araromi-Gbede, Ayere, Ayeh-Gbede, Egbeda-Egga, Akinrin-Ade and Iya-Gbede. Similar distributions have gone to Ijumu, Yagba East and Yagba West, ensuring that no local government is left out. Many of these are upgrades of hand pumps he had done as a House member, now converted to solar with larger tanks and better fetching points.
Infrastructure is not complete without access. The Pakuta Bridge project is being constructed to link Ijumu, Bunu and Lokoja LGAs, cutting travel time for farmers and traders who previously took long detours during the rainy season. It is a project constituents say will unlock agricultural evacuation and reduce post-harvest losses.
On the social front, Senator Karimi has institutionalized seasonal support. Every Christmas, Ramadan, Lent, Sallah and Easter, he purchases and distributes approximately one trailer of rice per local government in Kogi West. He has extended the same gesture to Kogi East and Kogi Central in the name of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda. When the Egbe boat mishap occurred, he made a handsome donation to affected families. He also supports community development associations in Egbe, Isanlu, Iyamoye and many others during their annual township days.
Beyond projects, he has used his office to secure federal employment for constituents in key agencies: the National Assembly Service Commission, National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies, FIRS, RMAFC, Federal College of Education Okene, NIWA, Federal Fire Service, Nigeria Police and Federal Civil Service Commission. For many families, that single job has changed household income and created a direct link between the constituency and Abuja.
In the 10th Senate, his legislative work has been deliberate. He has sponsored bills that address both national and local concerns. The Dishonored Cheques Repeal and Re-enactment Bill, CBN Amendment Bill, ICPC Amendment Bill and Electoral Act Amendment Bill speak to economic discipline and electoral integrity. His constitutional alteration bills on State Police, Local Government Autonomy and on restricting presiding officers to ranking members are aimed at restructuring governance for efficiency. He has also pushed bills for National E-Gaming, National Sports Development Fund, Federal Highways Amendment, Delegated Legislation and National Assembly Financial Autonomy.
His motions have kept the executive on its toes: on refinery turnaround maintenance, oil theft, the naira redesign contract, the $800 million subsidy palliative loan, and the need to resolve pricing disputes in the downstream sector to protect consumers. He has also co-sponsored motions on peace and security ahead of off-cycle elections, and on managing market exploitation of consumables.
What ties all of this together is a philosophy. Senator Karimi does not see representation as a four-year contract. He sees it as a relay. Projects started in the House between 2011 and 2019 are being upgraded in the Senate. Boreholes are being converted to solar. Schools are being remodeled, not just painted. Transformers are being paired with street lights so that the impact is felt 24 hours.
He also believes in supervision. Teams from his office visit sites, take pictures, and report back. That is why many of the boreholes sunk in 2014 are still running, and why new ones are sited where the need is greatest.
From Egbe to Kabba, from Isanlu to Lokoja, the story is converging. Senator Sunday Steve Karimi has taken the idea of equal opportunity and turned it into boreholes, classrooms, transformers, street lights, bursaries, bridges and security infrastructure. He has combined the discipline of an engineer with the empathy of a grassroots politician.
As 2027 approaches, constituents are not asking if he has worked. They are asking how to protect the momentum. For them, the scorecard is not in press releases. It is in water that flows, in lights that stay on, in students who stay in school, and in a Senate office that answers the phone.
That, they say, is what consistent quality representation looks like. And that is the record Senator Karimi Sunday Steve is building, one ward at a time, across Kogi West.