By Christian Agadibe
The Senator representing the good people of Enugu West Senatorial district, Osita Ngwu, has vowed that he would continue with the good works of his predecessor, Sen Ike Ekweremadu.
He made the promise after his inauguration as a senator of the federal Republic of Nigeria. He was accompanied to the inauguration by his wife and other dignitaries, including the Enugu State Governor, Peter Mbah, and former Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi.
Speaking during his reception held at the Base Landmarks, Independent Layout, Enugu, he assured the people of Enugu West that he would work hard to meet their expectations.
He said: “I told you to stand by me and you did and have continued to stand by me. This is the reason we called this meeting to show appreciation. We know that the inauguration was done in Abuja, and it was not possible for everyone to be in Abuja to appreciate what we did, but we have done the Abuja side and we are now in Enugu where the vote came from.
“It is here in Enugu that is more important because you are the one who put your fingerprints on the ballot and voted for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Osita Ngwu, to be the person who will represent you in the National Assembly.
“I thank you and appreciate you from the depth of my heart. This appreciation will not end today; it will continue. I want to appreciate you because you made me to be here today. One thing for sure is that I will not disappoint you.
“We were campaigning and we went to about 81 wards in Enugu West. In fact, we were at some wards for more than thrice. We were there to drive our message to the people, so that you would have a reason to believe us and vote for us when voting. Now that we have been inaugurated, I have not been in the senatorial seat for two weeks, but one thing I can tell you is that when the senate reconvenes, my voice will be heard, loud and clear.
“I have promised that when the Senate reconvenes, I will continue to say whatever that will represent the interest of Enugu West before I go down. Remember that Enugu West has not really lacked in terms of development; this is because we had Ike Ekweremadu who represented us for 20 years. Unfortunately, he is not here with us because of the issues of life, but we pray for him that one day, he will join us and rejoice with us.”
He said he would establish a yearly scholarship programme for his people who want to go into higher institutions of learning. “We may not give everybody from Enugu West scholarship, but we will give enough to people who can’t afford to go to school, and it is going to be instant. We are not going to keep it to last for a long time; we have already started.
“One of the things I promised during our campaign was that we would have a town hall meeting. After October 1, we are going to have the first Enugu West Town Hall meeting, so I will tell you what I have seen, what I will do and where we are heading to.
“We are going to set up five offices in the five local government areas of Enugu West. We want to put the offices in all the local government areas because we want to have the people close to us. If you have a complaint or something you want to tell your senator, you go to the office situated in your own local government area and report. We will have liaison officers who are going to be in those offices. They will directly link me up with the weekly information they receive from the people within their local government area of assignment.
“Another one is capacity building in our rural communities. We have taken time to articulate what our people need. It means that if we have N200 million or N500 million or any amount that we are allowed to put in our constituency project, we will distribute it based on the needs of the communities. We will optimize the constituency projects, so that all the towns will enjoy it. We will give them what they want and not the one we want,” he stated.
Ngwu noted that his election was not based on luck but on the votes of the people of Enugu West Senatorial district. “I am assuring you that you have a friend, brother, colleague and someone you can call and talk to as a senator,” he assured.
