The member representing Kanke State Constituency in the Plateau State 10th Assembly, Joseph Gokum is already working towards improving the wellbeing of his constituents within his two months in office as their representative.
The lawmaker had on Wednesday through his efforts and partnership, traveled down to his constituency in Kanke with a Nigeria based, Non-Governmental Organization, NGO to enroll out of School Children in both Primary and Secondary Schools in the entire Constituency.
Aside the enrollment, the organization, the lawmaker has already secured a structure that will be converted to a Library at Chikwar in Kabwir District of the Constituency.
Executive Director of the organization, Dr. Aderonke Kujote said she had a fruitful discussion with the Education Secretary of Kanke Local Government Area on how to execute the project. Adding that strategies are being mapped out to identify the out of school children, starting with Primary School and that announcement would be made across the entire constituency for the enrollment.
“Our first step in Kanke is to ensure that all primary schools children are enrolled in school, it is not the end of the journey, we know that there are things that need to be done with Secondary Schools, we know that there are improvements that need to be done in the School when they get in.
“But as I said, the first step is to identify those that should be in school but are not in school and get them in the school building and we take up from there”, she added
Aside intervention in the education sector, Aderonke Foundation is also working towards improving the revenue generation of Kanke local government area as the representative , Hon. Joseph Gokum has already acquired 2 hectares of land to build an event center and recreational center at Amler in Kabwir District, aiming to improve the IGR of the locality.
“We are aware that unfortunately Kanke is one of the LGAs with low Internally generated revenue in Plateau State, so I think we can change this . We would make a difference in Kanke in terms of IGR.
“Kanke is not a one day journey for me, is not a one year journey for me, but is going to be a life time journey. God willing, until my last day, I will continue to see Kanke improve and improve and improve”, she emphasized.
The Foundation also visited the Dawaki Dog market where she described as a learning experience to her, saying she will also look at possibilities that would come from it and appreciated what they are doing over there.
Responding after the visit, the brain behind the intervention and member representing the constituency, Joseph Gokum who before now is known for his philanthropic work described himself as a child of necessity and hence, using every opportunity to improve the wellbeing of his people.
He noted that the reason he joined politics is to have a bigger platform that can be of help to add value to what he was doing with his personal resources to make an impact in the society.
“This is were I can get a voice, if I were doing my personal things I would not have met her, but with my position now you see I am able to meet and cry to them and then we made the connection…. That is the reason why she is coming all the way from the United States of America to partner with me based on how I carry the problem of Kanke and dropped it on her.
Hon. Joseph Gokum also revealed some of his plans for the constituency which includes the health sector. Noting that he is also making move for another partnership with international organizations to have a “Snake bite center” in the Constituency.
“For some of you that go on internet, if you goggle it, you will know which local government has the highest rate of Snake bites. You will discover that Kanke has the highest. So what I’m trying to do now is to see how we can partner with some other international NGOs to see how I can bring in a Snake bite center to my local government “, he said.
He also pledged intervention to revive the Primary Healthcare Centers for his people to access healthcare at ease.
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