Abayomi Bello an aspirant for the house Of Representative Kabba Bunu/Ijumu Federal Constituency, Kogi State, in the upcoming 2023 general elections. He is the owner of Sologic Group and Omoboja farms in Kabba. The Kaduna-state born entrepreneur had his education both in Nigeria and the United Kingdom where he obtained a B.Sc. in Political Science and Human Resource Management.
In this interview with GLOBAL SENTINEL , Bello shares his vision, and plans for his constituency if elected.
What inspired this ambition to represents your people?
The inspiration is more about the fact that I’m a businessman, and in the past, some of us had the mind-set of not associating or involving in politics, we just want to face our business and encourage people. But, we have now realized that when we sit on the fence, those that get elected have no vision for the people or don’t even know how the economy is run. They make policies that affects we that are in business, so our businesses suffer in the long run.
So I looked at it, and realized that we can be in business and be in politics, we can merge the two. When it comes to business, we are there to make profit, to expand, build infrastructures and industries. In politics, we will help develop the communities, businesses and factories, create jobs and create wealth as well.
As you aspire to represent the Kaba/Bunu/Ijumu federal constituency Kogi state what do you intend bringing to the table?
I intend to bring quality representation; to leverage on legislation and government policies to bring about development in our communities. There are three basic things that we’re focusing on; wealth creation, empowerment and then real development.
Every sector, from health to education, and to security falls under these three categories. That’s basically what this aspiration is about.
What specific change would you like to effect?
One thing everybody is talking about is insecurity. We have a lot of security problems because the government has left the young people, particularly those carrying out these act with no choice because there are no jobs, and no food. The schools are not working, the health system is not working. So the only resort they have is to go around the best way they can to obtain these things for themselves, while those in government are roaming around enjoying themselves, living lavish lifestyles, and throwing parties of all kinds.
So for people like us, we want to help fix this, and I am emphasizing that wealth creation, real development can help engage these young minds and thereby curb insecurity. If you have wealth, or source of livelihood, you wouldn’t be dependent on any body when you have problem. We want to look at the education sector, we know that legislation can help correct some of the shortcomings of these sectors.
What gives you the confidence that you are the best candidate to represent the constituency?
From my antecedent you can tell. Long before I nursed the idea of coming into politics, I have been investing and impacting on the communities.
The critical question the leaders of the community, stakeholders, the traditional institution and everybody in the community must begin to ask intending political leaders now is for them to show evidence of what they have done, and the commitment they have shown in their community. They should also show evidence of the investments and work they have done in their community.
You see, your attention would always be where your money and your house is. So I am representing that by being practical. We have cited an industry here in this community, we invested a lot of money into the oil processing mill. The Omoboja farm has a chicken and fish portion. We have a hotel, restaurant and a lounge all within the community. We are practically investing in this community, and we want people to see what we have done in a bid to help in create wealth and develop the community. So you can trust us when given the opportunity to do more, unlike other persons who have no history of impact on the community aside their personal houses built in Millions of naira which is the reason they only visit the community.
I have put in the investment of almost $2 million and there’s no reason why I will not consistently come home to look at my investment. I could have made the investment in Abuja or Kano where we have investments of this sort, but, we understand the economic impact on our people, we engage young people, farmers, and market women. These are circle of people that will be impacted. We have done this and we are asking others to show us what they have done within this federal constituency, this is the first and only oil mill. It’s all about impact.
What is your vision for the Kabba federal constituency Kogi?
My vision is to have a better community where people don’t have to queue in houses of individuals to beg for something as simple as food to eat, or even health for the children or school fees for their kids. My vision is to set a generation right now that understands the power of the private sector participating in politics. My vision is to have individuals that can independently develop the community without having to wait for government all the time. That’s the ultimate goal.
I am a true believer that genuine empowerment leads to wealth creation which in turn attracts real development and as such some areas we would be looking at is education. As we all know, education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. My vision is to ensure education remain the catalyst for economic growth within the federal constituency. Scholarships, infrastructural development, teachers empowerment and general interventionist policies are part of the strategies we intend to use.
We shall give top priority to the agriculture sector with the view to encourage federal and state governments in achieving food sufficiency in the federal constituency and as well as promote exportation. We will promote mechanized farming, Public Private partnership (PPP), training of agricultural extension workers, production of improved seedlings and so many other interventions.
Health is another sector we will give maximum attention to. Affordable health care delivery across the federal constituency is a priority. Employment, industrialization and transportation are sectors we seek to revamp if given the chance.
You established an oil processing mill, what is the employment target?
We can have over 1000 direct and indirect employees in the value chain. It’s a whole value chain process, from procurement of receipts to milling, down to selling the oil.
Apart from agriculture, how do you intend to impact other sectors of the economy?
For the benefit of those who think we are doing all these because of politics, I would like to state that even before we thought about politics, we have had intervention with the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and the West African Examination Council (WAEC) in payment of school fees and even teachers salaries because some of them don’t even get salaries. We have intervened for indigene students that can’t afford education . We’re still doing it in health. We have tapped into the health insurance scheme, and we have enrolled a couple of elderly people into the health insurance scheme.
