Hon. Gbenga Peter Makanjuola, a legal practitioner and a former member of Federal House of Representatives and former Deputy Chief of Staff to the Senate President, Bukola Saraki was born on July 27, 1967 in Zaria to the family of Chief Joseph Agboola Makanjuola of Omu-Aran, Kwara State. He is an Igbomina man to the core. He started his education from St. Michael’s Primary School , Taiwo Road, Ilorin between 1974 and 1980. Luck was on his side in 1981 when he secured an admission into Omu-Aran High School where he wrote his West African School Certificate Examinations. He gained admission into the Federal School of Arts and Science, Victoria Island, Lagos for his Advanced Level Certificate. He was in the Kwara State Polytechnic, Ilorin for a Diploma Course in Law in 1989. He gained admission in 1996 to the University of Maiduguri to read Law and bagged LLB (Hons.), Second Class Upper degree. He attended the Law school, Victoria Island for his B.L. Certificate as a Solicitor and Advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. He performed his NYSC scheme at Bauchi State Ministry of Justice.
In order to serve his people, Gbenga Makanjuola joined partisan politics and pitched his tent with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He was elected to the House of Representatives in 2003, from the Irepodun/Isin/Ekiti/Oke-Ero Federal Constituency in Kwara State. A good number of politicians after having won an election, abandon the electorate in his constituency, but Gbenga Makanjuola is a politician with a different. He is always around and keeping touch with the electorates. The people in his constituency know him like the lines in their palms. Being a grassroots politician, he always sees to the welfare of the downtrodden.
The saying that one good turn deserves another made the electorates and his party endorsed him for another tenure in the House of Representatives. The feat he has attained education-wise has prepared him for the task of legislation. During his sojourn in the House of Representatives, Abuja, he pushed for legislation on economic policy that alleviated the suffering of the masses and the widows. Makanjuola is reputably known as an advocacy of good governance. He says: “Good governance entails provision of the basic needs for the people and the basic needs are: qualitative education, good health, care services, motorable road networks, potable water, housing and uninterrupted electricity, at affordable and not at cut-throat prices”. He stated that the masses are in need of all these so as to develop their minds and have sense of belongings in the government they jointly put there.
Makanjuola said further that the representatives of the people in the government must ensure that there is an improvement in the living condition of the masses. He said that starting from the governor; and the state down to the councillors in the Local levels, while in the Federal level, starting from the president down to all members of the National Assembly, “we are all representatives of the people and we must show our commitments and be responsible to them at all time, he expressed his mind to Igbomina Today.
Speaking further on good governance, the two terms Honourable Member of the House of Representatives condemned the rates of poverty level in the country. He said Nigerians ought not to be suffering in the midst of plenty. According to Makanjuola, this is so because the governments at all levels have not been impacting positively on the masses. He was also not happy with the unemployment rates in the country. “Government should be able to provide jobs for the teeming graduates coming out of our universities every year”, adding that government should also create a conducive environment for other investors so that they too should be able to complement government’s efforts to provide jobs for the unemployed youths. Hon. Makanjuola has pledged that he would continue to do his best for the people of his constituency in Igbominaland, Kwara State and Nigeria at large. Recently, the Federal Lawmaker put smile on people’s face.
