By joshua SENATOR KARIMI SUNDAY STEVE: A SCORE CARD OF CONSISTENT QUALITY REPRESENTATION — PART 6
By Abu Micheal
…‘THE PEOPLE’S VERDICT AND THE ROAD TO A LASTING LEGACY’
Every great representation story must end with one question: did the people feel it? After five parts detailing water, light, schools, jobs, and laws, this final part is about impact, perception, and what comes next for Senator Sunday Steve Karimi and Kogi West.
Born March 10 in Egbe, an Engineer turned lawmaker, first elected to the House in 2011, re-elected in 2015, and in 2023 made history as the first man from Yagba to enter the Senate since 1999, Senator Karimi has spent 14 years in the National Assembly. Through it all, he has held to one creed: equal opportunity quality representation. Not for a town. Not for a clan. For every ward, in all seven LGAs of Kogi West.
Now, as the 10th Senate approaches its midpoint, the people are doing their own assessment.
In Nigerian politics, we love big figures. But in Kabba, Isanlu, Egbe, and Lokoja, the metrics are smaller and more personal.
It is the borehole behind Moremi Restaurant in Lokoja Ward A that has not gone dry in two dry seasons.
It is the 500KVA transformer in Iyara that now allows welders to work without borrowing generators.
It is the N100,000 bursary that paid a final year fee in Federal University Lokoja.
It is the solar street light in Ogidi that means a mother can walk home safely.
It is the Army FOB in Egbe that means a farmer can go to his farm without fear.
These are not abstract. They are daily. And that is why the scorecard resonates.
What separates Senator Karimi’s tenure is the attempt to move from projects to systems.
The Yagba People Empowerment Initiative from 2014 was the prototype. N34 million personal donation, about N100 million raised, managed by trustees, not by aides. That model is now replicated in the Women Cooperative Revolving Fund — N100 million to 50 cooperatives in 2024. The money goes out, comes back, and goes out again.
The annual bursary is also now institutionalized. 1,000 students in Kogi West at N100,000 each. Then scaled to 3,000 students across Kogi State with the Tinubu Support Group under Renewed Hope. Direct payment. Ward-based quota. No middlemen.
Even the rice distribution during Christmas, Ramadan, Sallah and Easter — about one trailer per LGA — is now expected. He has extended it to Kogi East and Central in the President’s name, building goodwill for both the Senator and the APC.
That is how you move from “he gave us” to “we have a program.”
Some things will define his name long after he leaves office.
The Federal University of Agriculture, Kabba bill and the Federal University of Medicine and Medical Sciences, Egbe bill. If assented to, they will change the economy of two towns forever. Lecturers, students, hostels, hospitals, businesses. Kabba becomes an agronomy hub. Egbe becomes a medical hub. That is generational impact.
The N2.5 billion remodeling of Government Science Secondary School, Kotonkarfe is meant to feed those universities. The classroom blocks in St. Barnabas Kabba, Odo-Ape, Iluke-Bunu and Igbaruku are the pipeline. The National Open University Study Centre is for adults who missed the chance.
On security, the 85-bed Army Forward Operating Base in Egbe was a personal intervention. Land acquired. Construction self-financed. Solar and generators installed. It sits on the Kwara border and has reduced kidnapping across the axis. Security agencies say response time has dropped drastically.
On connectivity, the Pakuta Bridge linking Ijumu, Bunu and Lokoja is ongoing. When done, it will save farmers millions. He has also consistently pushed the Obajana-Kabba-Isanlu-Egbe-Omu Aran road on the Senate floor.
In the 10th Senate, Senator Karimi has not been a benchwarmer.
Bills: Dishonored Cheques Repeal and Re-enactment, CBN Amendment, ICPC Amendment, Electoral Act Amendment. The two university bills. Constitutional alterations on State Police and Local Government Autonomy. Bills on National E-Gaming, National Sports Development Fund, Federal Highways Amendment, Delegated Legislation, and NASS Financial Autonomy.
Motions: On refinery turnaround maintenance, oil theft, naira redesign, subsidy palliatives, downstream pricing, market exploitation, and national unity. He co-sponsored the motion on peace in Edo and Ondo elections.
Colleagues describe him as prepared. He reads. He debates with data. And he always brings it back to Kogi West.
In the first year in the Senate alone: over 140 solar-powered motorized boreholes. Lokoja A, B, C, E. Lokoja II’s Kakanda, Kupa, Oworo. Kabba-Bunu’s Ayetoro, Iyara, Ogidi. Ijumu, Yagba East, Yagba West. Many are upgrades of the ones he did as a House member.
500KVA and 300KVA units to Sarkin Noma, Felele, Kabba, Iyara, Ponyan, Egbe, Isanlu, Mopa.
Solar street lights: over 200 across all LGAs. 44 in Yagba West, 80 in Yagba East, 81 in Kabba-Bunu, 30 in Ijumu, 50 in Kogi.
The result: businesses stay open longer, students read, crime drops. For SMEs, that is everything.
Beyond budgets, there is compassion in his
donation after the Egbe boat mishap. Support for community associations during Egbe, Isanlu, Iyamoye township days.
Facilitating federal jobs in NASS, NILS, FIRS, RMAFC, FCSC, NIWA, Fire Service, Police. One job changes a family tree.
His wife’s program putting N2 million into 50 women cooperatives annually.
These are not in the appropriation. They are in the heart.
Across Kogi West, political leaders are saying the same thing: the Senator has spread development evenly.
A borehole in Lokoja. A transformer in Ijumu. Street lights in Mopa. A classroom in Bunu. A bursary in Yagba. No LGA feels cheated.
Traditional rulers, labor leaders, women leaders, and youth groups have publicly endorsed the approach. The message for 2027 is already forming: continuity, not experiment.
Senator Karimi has also been smart about alignment. Every major program is tied to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda. The rice. The bursaries. The universities. That has earned him goodwill in Abuja and strengthened APC in Kogi West.
He will be the first to say the work is not done. The two university bills must be passed and funded.
The National Open University Centre must be completed.
The Pakuta Bridge must be delivered.
More ICT and skills centers are needed for youth.
More PHCs need upgrading.
Climate issues — flooding and erosion — require partnership with agencies like ACRESAL.
He has already signaled that the next phase will focus on technology, skills, and climate resilience. Talks are ongoing with NITDA and ITF for digital training hubs.
This is how people talk in Kogi West today: In Kabba, a trader: “The light has changed our market. We close at 9 now.”
In Isanlu, a student: “That bursary saved me. I would have dropped out.”
In Egbe, an elder: “Since the Army base came, we can relatively say we sleep with two eyes closed.”
In Lokoja, a woman cooperative member: “The N2 million is not dash. It is turning.”
In Ijumu, a farmer: “If Pakuta Bridge comes, we will smile.”
That is the verdict. Not from Abuja. From the streets. Senator Karimi often says three things:
1. Supervise what you start. That is why boreholes from 2014 are still running.
2. Spread it evenly. No ward should feel forgotten.
3. Build what will outlive you. Institutions, not just projects.
As an Engineer, he builds to last. As a politician, he listens first. As a Senator, he legislates with the nation in mind.
Fourteen years in the National Assembly. Two terms in the House. Now in the Senate. From rehabilitating hand pumps in Takete-Ide in 2011 to sponsoring university bills in 2025.
From 14 motorcycles to N300 million in bursaries.
From one transformer to over 20 across the district.
From constituency to nation.
Senator Sunday Steve Karimi has not been perfect. No public officer is. But he has been present. He has been consistent. He has been deliberate.
He promised equal opportunity. He has tried to deliver it — not with speeches, but with water that flows, lights that stay on, schools that have roofs, and young people who have hope.
As Kogi West looks ahead, the headline is already being written in town halls and market squares:
‘HE CAME. HE SAW THE NEED. HE DELIVERED. LET THE WORK CONTINUE.’
That is the scorecard of Senator Karimi Sunday Steve.
A record of consistent quality representation.
A legacy still being built — one community, one project, one life at a time.