*set to empower constituents with #100 Million worth materials
Hon Charles Odedo is the member representing Idemili North and South federal constituency in the National Assembly. In this interview with Journalists at his office in Abuja he speaks on his journey into politics, his achievements for the his constituency, his aspiration to retain his current position in 2015 and his plans to empower his constituents with about a hundred million Naira worth materials.
The news going round is that you are aspiring for a third term, can we hear from the horse’s mouth?
By the time I finished this tenure, I would have spend six years and ten months in the House of Reps and that is less than two tenure. So Ideally, I am going to contest the 2015 House of Reps election so that I can convincingly say that I completed two tenures in the National Assembly. Some people are erroneously calling it the third tenure but I am going in to complete the the second tenure because I started in 2008.
Last year I embarked on N60m scholarship, I ve done that of 2013, hopefully, 2014 edition will be on 25th October. To that extent, I will like to continue and complete the tenure. I already sponsored five bills one of them has to do with harmful widowhood practices, seeking to correct some such behaviors, the other has to do with telcom equity bill which is aimed at enabling Nigerians buy into the giant telecom industry , there is the other one on national land transportation bill, I also have Nigeria Safety bill and Nigeria Career advice for school children bill. There are also some bills I co-sponsored, there are also some that I proposed amendments.
It is good to to sponsor bills and co-sponsor some others but the greatest impact on the constituents is empowerment. I can say with all sense of responsibility that I have one or two projects in the communities in my constituency. I have given scholarship to at least 10-15 students in each community. I have empowered each community in terms of starting a trade and expanding the existing ones, we have 5 per community in that regard. The scholarship scheme covers a minimum of 10 students per community, there is also this empowerment scheme where 5-10 youths are empowered with a car or bus also in each community. This is outside motorcycles.
The empowerment for 2014 will feature distribution of kekeNAPEP, motorcycles, I want to empower my people more that is why I seek to return to the House of Reps. The scholarship scheme will continue, these are projects that directly benefit our people. In 2011, after three years in the House, I got an overwhelming votes from Idemili North and South. That will tell you that the benefit of my being in the National Assembly is evenly distributed. Our people are happy with me and I will like to continue.
What is the content of the 2014 empowerment package?
There will be scholarship for 500 students, this is expected to gulp N30m, motorcycles N20m, other empowerment materials will take N30m, on the whole I intend to splash N100m on my constituents on that day.
So what is your source of income?
Let me tell you, I entered politics for the first time in my life in 2006 and then I was already fifty years old. I have my house at Nnobi, Abuja and essentially, I was coming to serve. Like I said earlier, I am product of my constituency, I am from Nnobi in Idemili South, I was born at Iyienu- Ogidi, Idemili North and I went through my primary school at Nnobi, my secondary schools at Oraukwu High School and virtually all my teachers were from Idemili even at University of Nigeria, Nzukka, where I read Estate Management, my HOD and Dean of the faculty Prof Umeh was from Nnobi, I was taught town planning by another professor from Nnobi.
Having being successful and at the age of fifty, I was looking for an opportunity to give back to my constituency and I am happy today because that dream has been partly fulfilled through my empowerment programs and it is my hope to continue in the House of Reps so that I can do more.
