Maybe because he was a student of John Maxwell or because his knack for leadership started when he was a student at the University of Birmingham where he served as the Vice President of the African-Caribbean Society; Seyi Adisa’s first year in office as a lawmaker has shown that he has come to change the status quo — for better.
In this report, OYOINSIGHT.COM’s Managing Editor, Abdulrahman ADEBAYO, peeps at the first year in office of former governor Abiola Ajimobi’s ‘adopted son’ as lawmaker representing AFIJIO State Constituency.
At about 5:45 am on the morning of 10th March 2019, Seyi Adisa was declared winner of the state house of assembly race for AFIJIO state constituency by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, but he had to wait until the 10th of June before he was sworn in as a lawmaker in the state.
Since then, Adisa has invested his energy to design an unusual style of leadership called ‘Politics of Development’.
“The politics of development is a brand of politics that deploys the power of partnerships, global and local networks, and political will, all for one goal only – the direct socioeconomic development of people and communities. It’s bigger than personal ambition,” Adisa once wrote on his social media page.
A Sustainable Project
In the month of December 2018, 100 unemployed youths across the 8 communities of AFIJIO local government area of Oyo State were enrolled into an empowerment program organised by Ejekaseyi — Seyi Adisa’s campaign tagline.
This empowerment programme was run by the 7Eleven Foundation, and the singular aim was not only to give them a source of income, but to start a chain reaction of job creation in the zone.
Six months after, when Adisa embarked on the revival of Akinmorin-Awe primary healthcare centre, which was one of his first projects in office, some of the experts employed were part of the beneficiaries of the empowerment programme.
The effect of this on AFIJIO is multi-dimensional, because, outside the fact that the health centre will improve the health standard of the people; a good percentage of the amount invested in its construction was earned by indigenes of the area — who used to be unemployed.
Similarly, this money would be injected back into the economy of this same locality when the beneficiaries use it for the purchase of goods and services.
The injection of this money back into the economy of the area would also ensure that some other people like traders remain employed.
The Ejekaseyi Job Model
Elizabeth — she was one of the 100 beneficiaries Ejekaseyi entrepreneurial programme.
According to Adisa, Elizabeth, a mother of three, with the free catering training and tools she got from the programme now support her family and kids’ education from her proceeds.
Salisu — another beneficiary of the Ejekaseyi empowerment programme, who was trained in paint-making and painting is, nine months after, now bossing the field and getting jobs.
These, among many others, are the gauge of an unusual empowerment project that goes beyond the audio distribution of machines or ineffective writing of checks that some Nigerian lawmakers celebrate.
It is a sustainable model that has shown that, with the right political will, effective planning, and well-structured management, attaining full employment in the Nigerian state is possible.
Speaking on this employment model, Adisa said: “When you look round Afijio at that time we started, what you’d observe, just like you will in some other parts of the country, is a pool of youths not getting productive with their time and energy mostly because of the lack of opportunities to thrive. We saw a situation of youth unemployment tethered to the lack of opportunities.
“But then, we also noticed that this situation has been persistent despite supposed empowerment programmes that have been brought to these youths. At that point, we were tasked with the question – What could be missing? Why are these pools of youths unproductive and unemployed despite a handful of opportunities they’ve been exposed to by successive empowerment programmes in the past?
“Well, we discovered three major gaps which were – a lack of financial and business management skills, a lack of mentoring and also a lack of supervision. And, these are the components we decided to add to our style of empowerment, much more like wholesome human capital development.”
“Our team accepted the fact that it will take more than arming these youths with vocational skills to make them gainfully empowered first and also so well enough to re-empower others. Tasking as it looked, still, it didn’t rocket science.”
The Ejekaseyi Education Model
Provision of education materials and accouterments, trainings, infrastructural upgrade — These were the there tenets the Ejekaseyi education was built on.
“The plan is not to focus on one at the expense of the other two, or focus on two at the expense of one,” Adisa said.
One year after, Seyi Adisa has touched all three areas.
A total of 5,900 textbooks; 2,000 exercise books; 100 instructional aids; 1,000 school bags and; 1,000 uniforms, were distributed on the day the project was kicked-off.
Several ‘financially-challenged but excellent’ students in AFIJIO were also supported with free JAMB registration for University admissions.
To ensure that selected candidates were adequately prepared, nominated candidates were also screened and prepped ahead of the exam.
Train The Trainer — An Unusual Training Model
Two teachers were selected from each secondary schools in the local government for a training program that had amongst its facilitators Mr. Odeogbola AY, a Global Teacher Prize Top 50 finalist.
The training was designed to ensure that the two teachers from each school train other teachers in their respective schools.
Sports As A Tool For Youth Development
Eight teams and over 300 youths participated in the Seyi Adisa Inter-town football competition.
Beyond the short term impact this competition had on its participants and the community, five out of the wonderful players who participated in rhe competition were enrolled for trial sessions organized by the Africa-USA Access.
Three, out of these five, Adisa announced, had been selected and are on their way to American football glory from Afijio.
A Law-Making Lawmaker
In his first year, Adisa did not only championed a politics of development in AFIJIO through the implementation of projects, he also actively took part in the law-making activities of the house.
He co-sponsored a motion with Hon. Oyeleke of Ogo Oluwa/Surulere, to see to the prompt rehabilitation of the Iwo Ate – Aawe link road.
Speaking on this motion, he said,”The hope is that this road serves as a veritable additional option at easing vehicular traffic this yuletide/holiday season, and ultimately become an alternate road to the old Oyo-Ogbomoso road.”
Similarly, in a bid to curb the avoidable traffic caused by the habit of indiscriminate parking y motorists in the state, he sponsored a motion aimed at creating an organized motor Park system.
In the motion, he suggested road mapping and the endorsement of Public Private Patnership arrangement for modern car park operations as practical solutions.
COVID-19 Response
In reaction to the outbreak of the pandemic, Seyi Adisa, through his constituency office made and distributed 2,500 face masks to his constituents.
Similarly, he partnered the private sector to give food packs to 1150 families in Afijio and another set of 7,500 face masks to his constituents.
