Looking through Senator Oloriegbe’s Legislative Account
By Temitope Muhideen
Winning elections and quality representation are two different things. In the history of Nigeria and its political environment, politicians win elections through different methods but among many, only a few of them can fulfil the yearnings of the masses that voted them to power. Research shows that since 1999 only 20% of elected senators performed above average, hence, the need for us to appreciate a few of them who are blazing the trail.
One of them is Senator Ibrahim Yahya Oloriegbe, the representative of Kwara central in the 9th senate.
Kwara Central senatorial district has been the most prominent in the state. It has produced senators in the past, at a point, it produced the Deputy Minority Leader of the 4th Senate and later produced the President of the 8th National Assembly, Distinguished Sen. Abubakar Bukola Saraki. Senator Saraki joined the Red Chamber in 2011.
Since 1999 to date, no senator has had a bill assented to in their name. It means as a supposed lawmaker, Kwara central has never produced one in the true sense of it. I never knew this myself.
For the first time in more than two decades now, we have just had a man who believes that it is more substantial to represent a purpose, rather than just a title. Senator Oloriegbe is, therefore, rewriting the story of his senatorial district.
He has sponsored bills that have been passed and assented to by the President. These bills are not ordinary, they are bills that will touch the lives of his constituents and the totality of Nigerian citizens. Let us check and confirm as I have just discovered:
1. National Health Insurance Commission Bill, 2019 (SB. 65)- Passed
2. The Mental Health and Substance Abuse Bill, 2019 (SB. 66) – Passed
3. Medical and Dental Practitioners Act 1988 (Repeal & Re-enactment) Bill, 2020 (SB.480) – Passed
4. Maternal and Perinatal Deaths Surveillance and Response Bill, 2020 (SB. 581) -Passed
5. Federal College of Complementary and Alternative Medicine of Nigeria (SB.394)- Passed
6. A Bill to Amend the Psychiatric Hospitals Management Board Act Cap P34 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, to establish Federal Psychiatric Hospital, Budo-Egba, Kwara State (SB 376). This all-important bill has been passed and Assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari. It is the first of many firsts.
7. National Emergency Medical Service Agency (Est) Bill, 2021(SB 717)-passed
The aforementioned bills were sponsored and passed within two years, yet they represent the highest bills recorded by any Senator in the history of Kwara Central Senatorial District. The icing on the cake is the agency one of them has birthed, one that is the first of its kind in the whole of North-Central Geopolitical Zone. The establishment of Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Budo-Egba, Kwara State, will not only help in the development of the health sector, especially, accessibility to mental health treatments in the state and Northern Nigeria, but it will also provide employment opportunities to Kwarans and Nigerians at large.
Senator Oloriegbe is not a perfect politician, there is none anywhere, however, it would be outright foolishness to robe him in underserving clothes of filth. But if these records are anything to go by and development remains the impetus of democracy, he has done brilliantly well for his district, state and country as a lawmaker. It is about people who began putting respect on his name.
Temitope Tweets via @convydentwriter
