As the dust settles over the National Assembly leadership elections where Hon. Tajudeen Abbas was elected as the Speaker of the House Of Representatives in a hotly contested election that he eventually won by a canter, the next phase for the newly elected and returning legislators is legislation, oversight functions and community relations.
One of the Members that stood out during the election is Hon.Akin Alabi representing Egbeda/Ona Ara in Oyo state, he won his re election for a second term in the green chamber in May after effective and quality representation in his first term where he presented life changing bills like the Bill to establish a medical center in Ona Ara(Establishment bill) 2020, A Bill for an Act to Establish Vocational and Technical studies institute in Egbeda, Promoted gender equality with the constitutional amendment Bill to stop the discrimination against women in the Nationality law by allowing wives pass their citizenship to foreign husbands and a Bill to stop the FRSC from bearing arms.
Hon. Alabi also moved much needed motions like the motion on the urgent need to proscribe SARS at the height of their human rights abuse, a motion to make the INEC voter registration to be truly continuous, pro business motions like the motion to address the purported FIRS move to charge VAT on online transactions, motion against APCON’s move to vet and regulate online advertising by non advertising practitioners and the need to stop online loan creditors from harassing their clients.
At 46 years old, he is a trailblazer that pioneered the sports betting industry in Nigeria that is now worth billions of dollars and employs 1m Nigerians both directly and indirectly with billions in monthly revenue for both the Federal and State Governments, also improving local sporting facilities with sponsorships. He is the author of multiple books on doing business in Nigeria.
Immediately after he won his election for this stellar performance, Hon Alabi immediately started pushing for the North West zone to be rewarded with the speakership position and got in front of TV, radio and online discussions to state the need to zone the position to the North West, one name that kept coming from him is the newly elected Speaker, Hon. Tajudeen Abbas PHD, someone he believes will lead the 10th Assembly with brilliance.
Hon. Alabi leveraged his presence on Social media where he has over 500 thousand followers across platforms as a leading young politician to interact with young people, teach them about how the legislature work and involve them in the process of electing a new Speaker while he pushed for the Tajudeen Abass Candidacy.
Hon. Alabi has always enjoyed interacting with young people, this is why he organizes the youth conference called YECO to educate young professionals about the business world by inviting successful and experienced professionals to share their stories and lessons, these conferences are attended by thousands of young people. He continues this interaction with different conferences and book signings to keep teaching business to young people, a strong passion for him.
Hon. Akin Alabi is considered one of the young politicians in Oyo state at the fore front of progressive politics, with his experience in business and politics, he has mentored others to get into politics and business and he is fast emerging as a young leader in the entire state and not just his constituency, as a returning member that successfully stood with his party’s choice in the legislature, he is expected to have a bright future in the 10th Assembly with better oversight function, bills and motions. The future looks bright for him.
Abiola Adekunle writes from Ogbomoso.