Senator OKO: Redefining And Expanding The Horizon Of Quality Representation

The people of Cross River State Northern
Senatorial District will always look over
their shoulders with overwhelming
sense of pride, for having entrusted
their mandate during the 2015 general
elections on a worthy daughter, Senator
(Dr.) Rose Okoji Oko to be their voice at
the upper legislative chamber of the
National Assembly.


The electoral victory
way back then was quite resounding,
indicative of wide acceptance and
popularity of the candidate.


This however, was not unconnected
with her quintessential performance,
when she served as a member of the
House of Representatives, representing
Ogoja/Yala Federal Constituency,
between 2011 and 2015.


The reasoning
then was that if she could served her
constituency so meritoriously well at the
lower chamber, then the sky would
definitely be a stepping stone if given
the opportunity to serve at the upper
chamber.


Rightly so, Distinguished Sen.
(Dr.) Rose Okoji Oko is living out the
truth behind that wise and elderly
reasoning, since she was elected into
the Senate in 2015.


So far, her less than three years in the
Red Chamber is indeed, a time well
spent.

This brief, but significant period
has been quite eventful, as it is dotted all
over with dividends upon dividends of
democracy.


As a seasoned scholar and
educationist, Senator Oko is
passionately disposed to engendering
qualitative education in Cross River State
Northern Senatorial District. her firm
belief in human capacity development
through the instrumentality of quality
and accessible education, has led her,like a messiah, to bring significant turn-
around in the Cross River North
educational landscape, which until her
appearance on the scene, was a forlorn
and unattractive enterprise,sharply
marked by deplorable state of
infrastructure and a visible absence of
teaching and learning materials. This
unpalatable condition of Primary and
Secondary schools in Northern
Senatorial District saw everything
education dancing precariously to the
precipice.


The mental torture evoked by
mere sight of classrooms, which looked
more like vestiges of long era of neglect,was enough to break the stoutest of
mind.


Teachers and students
abandoned classrooms, and parents
frowned at the idea of enrolling their
children and wards into public schools
in their localities.


The trend continued
unabated, so much that its effects
became telling on the general school
enrolment.


To those who could afford
them, private schools readily became the
toast of parents and guardians. Due to
exorbitant fees, hopes of most children,
whose parents lacked the financial
muscle to get them admitted into these
private schools, were left wandering
and gazing despondently into the dark
horizon,praying and wishing a messiah
miraculously turned up in the open sky.


And, just at a juncture when fate were
to hit the final nail on the future hope of
Cross River North, which the children
amply represent, a messiah and
restorer, in the person of Senator Oko,
stepped in to salvage what was indeed,
the remains of education in the
Northern Senatorial District of Cross
River State.

To start with, she dealt a decisively
accurate and heavy-weight punch at the
pitiable and sorry state of education
that confronted the Senatorial District.

This blow was masterfully materialized
and delivered in the Senator’s
2015/2016 and 2016/2017 zonal
intervention projects in education
worth over One Hundred and Eighty-Five
Million Naira (N185,000,000.00).Under
these projects, the lawmaker embarked
upon educational infrastructure
intervention in Thirty-Four (34) primary
and secondary schools across the five
local government areas of Bekwara,
Obanliku, Obudu, Ogoja and Yala that
make up the Northern Senatorial District.


In one fell swoop, Community Science
School, Olachor; Community Secondary
School, Aliforkpa; Community Secondary
School, Ore, Ijiegu; Comprehensive
Secondary School, Okwel Urban II;
Community Secondary School, Nwang;
Science Secondary School, Wanihem;
Secondary Grammar School, Wanokom;
Government Secondary School Ijiegu;
UBEC Model Junior Secondary School,
Abachor Okuru; Bagga Secondary
School, Otaga; Community Science
School Aladim; Government Science
School, Ishibori; Community Secondary
School, Utugwang; Igbeku
Comprehensive Secondary School,
Igbeku; Technical School, Ijiraga;
Technical School, Ipong; Government
Science School, Ipong; Government
Secondary School, Ukpa; Technical
School, Bendi II, were all touched by the
wave of Senator Rose Oko’s
transformational and purpose driven
representation.

This insightful
masterstroke saw a whole new page in
the educational system opened, as
dilapidated classroom blocks and offices
were totally renovated.

The air around the
school ambience was freshened up, and
like a coloured petal atop a rose flower
attracts birds, the interest of parents,
teachers and students were rekindled.
Confidence was gradually restored on the
educational system, brought about by a
servant and worthy Senator.
Without resting on her oars, and in seeing
that education in Senatorial District is top-
notch, the delectable Senator Oko
consistently followed up with provision of
science equipment to Thirteen (13)
Secondary Schools. The move was a
conscious effort geared towards reviving
the teaching and learning of science
subjects these in schools, which was
hitherto, greeted were lukewarm attitude
by both teachers and students, owing to
lack of teaching apparels. Among the
schools that benefitted from this gesture
are Mary knoll College, Yala, Ogoja;
Government Science School, Ukpa;
Government Science School, Ipong;
Technical School, Bendi, to mention but a
few.
The apparent dearth of books and other
learning materials in school libraries
across the Senatorial District, prompted
the legislator to embarked upon massive
provision of textbooks, reference
materials and computers to at least Ten
(10) schools in each of the five local
government areas under her constituency.
Here, secondary Commercial School, Yala;
Government Secondary School, Ukpa;
Secondary School, Abuochiche; Secondary
School, Mount Camel, Ogoja; Secondary
Grammar School, Yahe; Government
Science School, Egbe-Mbube;
Comprehensive Secondary School, Gakem,
among others, have felt the impactful
encounter with Dr. Rose Oko’s quality
representation.
Following the Senator’s Midas’ touch,
schools that were moribund began to
roar back to life. Gradually, this revival in
the education sector started manifesting
its own challenges. Like a flash, school
enrolment hit the roof, necessitating
additional classroom space to cater for the
influx of students and pupils. In
understanding this, the listening and
caring
lawmaker, urgently swung into action, by
initiating and completing the construction
of six (6) numbers of two (2) classroom
blocks for three (3) primary and four (4)
Secondary Schools in each of the five local
government areas of the Senatorial Zone.
In addition to this, the legislator ensured
the provision of standard classroom desks
for each of the newly built classroom
blocks, spread across Community Primary
School, Udiege, Obudu Urban II;
Community Primary School, Ntara II;
Community Primary School, Okpodom; St.
Ben Primary; School, Mfuma; Primary
School, Sankwala; St. Patrick Primary
School, Egbe-Mbube, among others.
As someone who desires to see youths
read further and attain the zenith of their
academic pursuits, Dr. Rose Oko, has
between 2015 to date, given out
scholarship, grants and other academic
support, amounting to the tune of Eighty
Million Naira (N80, 000,000), to over Two
Hundred Under-Graduate and Post-
Graduate students across the component
units that constituted the Senatorial Zone,
who are studying in various tertiary
institutions in the country.
In the area of health, the Senator deserves
commendation. The thinking of the
federal lawmaker is that, it is only when
people are healthy and sound, will they be
able to work and contribute meaningfully
to their socio-economic well-being and
that of the society at large. Hence, she has
been consistent in pursuing vigorous
health intervention campaigns for her
people.
In 2016 alone, Senator Rose Oko
undertook several medical outreach
programmes across the nooks and
corners of Cross River Northern Senatorial
District, so much to the admiration of
Traditional Rulers and chief, who
showered her with encomiums. She
generously bankrolled the medical bills for
Eighty (80) constituents who were
suffering from life-threatening illnesses.
This magnanimous gesture, no doubt,
gave beneficiaries a second chance at life.
Within the same year, she distributed
Eight Hundred (800) units of Sight
Corrective eye glasses to people with
varying degrees of visual impairments. To
this category of beneficiaries, Senator Oko,
represents the light at the end of their
dark tunnel.
To cap her effort in improving health
status of the people, she provided hospital
equipment worth Forty Million Naira (N40,
000,000) to different health care facilities
in zone; this is, in addition to the
provision of regular counseling on various
deadly diseases such as, HIV/AIDS, Lassa
fever, Breast Cancer and many more.
Under her social empowerment
programmes, which most often reflect
core element of human agency, the
humane Legislator has taught a good
number of the people how to fish, instead
of depending on her for fish. So far, the
Senator was instrumental for the inclusion
of Fourty-five (45) constituents in the
federal government’s N-Power
programme. She single-handedly
sponsored Fourty (40) constituents for
recruitment into the Nigeria Peace Corps.
Through her contacts, she facilitated and
perfected the employment of Five (5)
constituents into the Nigerian Navy in
2016.
As the people’s voice in the upper
legislative chamber, Senator Rose Oko
persistently raised her voices, until the
case of late Joy Odama, allegedly murdered
by Alhaji Usman Adamu in Abuja, was
given urgent attention. And, even at a time
when finance posed great challenges to
autopsy that was required to aid
investigation, the law maker intervened
and gave out three Hundred Thousand
Naira (N300, 000) to facilitate the process.
On the legislative front, Distinguished
Senator Rose Oko, has so far, so good,
sponsored Seven (7) significant bills and
moved Four (4) motions, which are all at
various stages of development.
It is pertinent to note that all these giant
strides were achieved within a short
space of two years, that is, 2015-2017
and there is high hope of grater and
better achievements in the years ahead.
To this silent achiever, the saying that one
good turn deserves another rightly comes
to play as we march towards another
general election in 2019.

By Matthew Okache
CEO Of Voplink