Up and
Close With
Hon (Sir) Somto Udeze
Honourable
Member Representing Ogbaru II Constituency
In Anambra State House of Assembly
I had a chat with Honorable (Sir) Somto Udeze during a
visit to his Atani residence over the weekend and seized that opportunity to hear
from him on why he decided to run for the State House of Assembly seat to
represent our people.
It is worthy to note that my visit was inspired by series
of activities he has spearheaded in this short time of his term in office in
the state legislative chambers, it is obvious that he has been so exceptional
in the service to our people. A lot of programs have emanated from him the past
years which is not in my purpose here to document, but I visited him to have a
sneak peek into what he has in stock for our people.
Below are the lines of an inspiring chat session with him.
Me:
What prompted you getting into the house of Assembly to represent the people of
Ogbaru II constituency was it preemptive or just purposeful, what was your intention
when you choose to run for the seat?.
Hon. (Sir) Somto Udeze: Me
Thank you for this opportunity you created to chat with me. I am Hon. (Sir)
Somto Udeze, Member representing Ogbaru II in Anambra State House of Assembly.
Initially, between 1998 and 2002, Ogbaru people have not
been fairly represented both at local government and state levels. It was not a
day’s choice, it was a kind of a life decision to see how to deliver dividends
of democracy to our people.
What actually drives me is the fate of our youths within
Ogbaru Local Government, how to focus our youths to face the reality of life,
that is my drive.
Me: Thank you Sir, based on the foregoing, what are your intentions,
how do you wish to enhance the welfare of the youths in your constituency, it
is very well know to us right now that you are consulting with stakeholders in
this constituency to see how the welfare of the youths will be bettered by the way of entrepreneurship
and otherwise, what do you have in the pipeline Sir?.
Hon. (Sir) Somto Udeze: I
will be honest with you, by this time last year, if someone ask me what my plans
are for the youths of Ogbaru.. I actually told a group that came that time that
have no plans for the youths and as of that time I meant it, but I took time to
study the problem facing Ogbaru youths, I now discovered that it is not about
empowerment alone, because everybody is talking about how to empower our youths
and so on. But of recent, I now discovered that there is a basic need to
re-orientate our youths, to refocus their vision, because most of them have a
clear vision but unfortunately majority of them doesn’t have a clear vision, so
I believe there is need to organize an orientation program to refocus our
youths, then if we can be able to engage them and discover what their needs
actually are, if this is achieved, then the issue of empowerment will come in.
Therefore I want to tackle the issue of Ogbaru youth
empowerment in two dimensions, first- Organise a RE-ORIENTATION PROGRAM for them and then the issues of EMPOWERMENT for the youths.
What I have at hand now is a target for December 2016, to
have a forum where I can have Ogbaru youths talk to Ogbaru youths, it should be
an in-house thing, We know that there are some established youths we can use as
mentors to teach/show other ones that they can do it.
I think that if everything goes the way I want it, this December
we shall have a YOUTH SUMMIT where
our young entrepreneurs can talk to majority of our youths from all the
communities.
Me: Thank you Sir, it’s been a good time with you Sir, I am
glad to be here today and I believe from the outcome of this interaction we
will take Ogbaru to the next level.
Thanks for your time.
By Comrade Ife Nwaolisa
