Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan’s Heart Of Gold: A Lesson For Selfish Politicians

By Frank Oshanugor

The recent celebration of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan’s 46th birthday was quite remarkable in some ways. It had come with enormous and unique display of the humanity in her, and this was another pointer to the fact that she is not a political rabble rouser as her traducers would want Nigerians to believe. She is unarguably, a visionary politician with humongous heart of gold.

The activities that characterized the birthday celebration which began a day or so before the 9th of December, 2025 (the actual date of her birthday), would remain symbolic in the heart of those who cherish good things. This was because, her every step in bringing smile to people of her constituency was organically driven. There were no cosmetic tendencies garnished to hoodwink anybody.

Here is a woman who has barely spent three years in office as a first term Senator with six months ‘controversial’ suspension from office; yet she has remained unshaken and focussed in delivering dividends of democracy for her people of Kogi Central Senatorial District whom she represents.

Within the two years she has been in the Senate, it has become quite evident that she is there to make positive difference between selfishness and selfless service. While some of her colleague law makers at the National Assembly are there to feather their own nest by deeply involving themselves in primitive accumulation and building of personal empires with money meant to improve lives of the masses, Natasha has chosen to put enduring smile on the faces of her constituents with her constituency allocation and crowd-funding of certain projects, courtesy of her husband, Chief Emmanuel Uduaghan’s connection.

Few months ago while marking her second year in office as a Senator, she had commissioned a lot of people oriented projects which included two beautifully constructed markets for traders especially market women. Each market has 80 shops, abbatoir, water supply system and toilet. At that occasion, she commissioned brand new primary and secondary schools with quarters for teachers. The schools have electricity and water supply system.

Also, people of her constituency were gifted with 14 solar powered water articulation system, 2000 solar powered electric poles, a police station with brand new patrol vehicle and speed bike. No fewer than five local government areas in her senatorial district got eight brand new 500 KVA ADB transformers while she also empowered about 2000 constituents with career and trade equipment particularly the youths and women.

As she marked her 46th birthday few days ago, it was quite amazing to see her commissioning projects (beneficial to the masses) worth hundreds of millions of naira for her people of Kogi Central and beyond, at a time some of her colleagues were busy stashing away billions, out of Nigeria, buying choice properties in Europe, America and elsewhere.

Beginning with her alma mater, Federal Government College, Idoani in Ondo State which is located outside Kogi State and her Senatorial zone, Natasha, a day to her birthday had gone there to conduct a ground breaking ceremony of a number of projects for the College where she was the Head Girl in 1997 set.

The projects gifted to the school by her, included 2000-seater capacity amphitheater, staff quarters, water supply system etc.

In her Ebira community, she donated a multi-million naira ultra modern Maternity Centre tastefully equipped with modern facilities just as she empowered thousands of youths and women with trade tools, grinding machines, mini buses, sewing machines, power generating machines and so on.

Obviously in line with her birthday mantra of “giving with a heart of gratitude,” Natasha took the humanity in her to a higher level by presenting brand new houses to about six of her legislative aides and domestic staff.

Permit me to say that this happened in the same country where some lawmakers are appropriating to themselves some percentage of the salaries of their legislative aides. What a huge contrast?

It’s not as if some other legislators at both the National and State Assemblies with interest of their constituencies at heart do not exist but the question is, how many of them are genuinely extending such huge dividends of democracy to their people?

I can safely say that some of them do so as fait accompli not because they are genuinely driven by their inner minds to do so. This assertion is hinged on many reported cases of shabby jobs particularly roads said to have been constructed under the aegis of constituency projects. A lot of money have often been allocated to such projects but at the end, greater percentage ends in some one’s pocket with the contractors left with little or nothing to do the job.

If we have a greater percentage of our law makers at the National and State Assemblies utilizing their constituency project allocations like Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, who in just two years has marvelously done, the Federal, State and Local Governments would have been relieved of some burdens in providing for the masses.

With Natasha’s training of hundreds of youths in skill acquisition, job creation, including provision of opportunities in oil and gas training and empowerment, one can imagine the number of youths she has saved from indulging in crimes of kidnapping, banditry and such other vices.

I know some other good Nigerians in the corridors of power can do as much, so I wish to urge more of our lawmakers to emulate her while those in similar terrain already, should upscale their efforts for the sake of reducing the unemployment and crime levels in the country because kidnapping, banditry, terrorism etc as we have today are all products of poverty occasioned by unemployment.