Kaduna 2019: A fresh face surfaces
The emergence of Engineer Ahmed Rufa’i Sirajo as an aspirant for membership of the House of Representatives from the Kaduna North Federal Constituency in the 2019 general elections is a consolidation of the needed trend. Deepening democracy and delivering dividends of good governance in Kaduna State and Nigeria needs the engagement of more mature, energetic, highly trained and widely exposed entrants from diverse professional backgrounds especially those who will not expect to profit financially from politicking. Here is such a new politician.
Sirajo is a 52-years-old certified Electrical Engineer with over two decades of experience on the field and dozens of major state, federal and international projects across the country to his credit. His specialization is on system design, installation and certification of electrical power generation, transmission and distribution equipment. He has also worked in engineering and specialist equipment procurement for the water supply, oil and gas industry. The scope of these projects typically includes investigation works, mechanical and electrical installations as well as water treatment, storage and distribution.
Service in the public and private sector has enabled the engineer to travel to many nooks and crannies of the country. For instance, his participation in the World Bank assisted National Water Rehabilitation Project for Borno State saw him combing towns like Bama, Biu, Monguno, Gamboru Ngala and Gwoza all now made famous by Boko Haram terrorists before the advent of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration. Another segment of the project saw him working on rehabilitation and improvement of surface water treatment plants at Bida, Badeggi, Agaie, Lapai and Zungeru all in Niger State. One of his recent projects is the supervision of the construction of the Alaoji, Ohafia, Mbalano, Okigwe and Arochukwu 330/132kv TCN transmission lines and associated substations in Abia state.
His acumen and expertise enabled him to work so successfully with local and foreign partners such as the World Bank, Islamic Development Bank and the Canada International Development Agency that his employers and partners propelled him to top leadership positions in record time. From Board Member at the National Rural Electrification Agency, he was appointed the Chairman. Sirajo was also at various times; executive chairman of Nalado Nigeria Limited, chief executive officer of AfriInternational Projects and Consulting Limited and an associate partner at Coplan Associates.
One obvious question is why would someone with such a full, fulfilling and financially rewarding career venture into the political fray? The answer is best in the aspirant’s words. In his letter expressing intent to vie for membership of the House of Representatives, Sirajo said “I intend to deploy my humble background and extensive experience to make an important difference in the lives of our people who voted APC into power on the great hope for positive change and progress…”
An even more concrete answer to the question above lies in Sirajo’s record of engagement with individuals, especially youths, groups and communities in need. Over the years, his intervention has covered community projects, prisoners’ welfare, scholarships, medical grants and the construction of classrooms or rehabilitation of local schools and worship centres. Sirajo’s exposure in corporate governance social responsibility has focused his format on engagement in entrepreneurial training of youth and women, which is also his wife’s own area of specialization. Apart from graduating dozens of gainfully employed artisans (carpenters, tailors, welders and hair-dressers) the exercise has led him to extensive research on youth empowerment through small and medium scale enterprises development in Nigeria.
Results from this research combined with his life experience have convinced Engineer Sirajo that there is great potential in Nigeria and the Nigerian youth who only need quality education, sustained counselling, altruistic guidance, mentorship and the enabling environment to realize their dreams in life and make their country great again. This is also the way to go for the rapid development of the country to a status commensurate with its enormous human and material endowments. When this vision became clear, the passion led him to consider membership of the legislature as the pathway to greater service in this direction.
Aminu Isa Doka, Kaduna