Jimi Benson: Raising the Bar of Empowerment

Jimi Benson: Raising the Bar of Empowerment The idea of the gift that keeps giving is a strange one. What fountain, even if it never runs dry, seeks to keep pushing out water and never resting? Thus we are introduced to the man of empowerment, Ikorodu’s representative in the House of Representatives, Babajimi Benson. On October 20, 2026, Benson filled the Ikorodu Musical Village with a distribution that stretched from cash to electricity. N225 million went to 800 entrepreneurs, among whom 700 received N250,000 each and 100 received N500,000 each. Equipment came next: sewing machines, vulcanising machines, welding generators, deep freezers, and over 100 laptops. Nearly 2,000 households received solar home systems, more than 10 transformers went to communities, and roughly 150 vehicles, from tricycles and minibuses to motorcycles and electric bikes, went to drivers and operators. Many constituency programmes hand out one kind of item at once. This one covers capital, tools, transport, energy, and infrastructure in a single day, then rests on programmes that run all year. The year-round part is concrete. Benson’s Startup Ikorodu initiative pairs seed funding with mentorship, the iCare Job Portal links job seekers to Lagos vacancies, and the Ikorodu Town Hall ICT Centre trains people in programming and digital skills. Consistency is the other part of the case. His iCare FoodBank, launched in 2016, gives monthly food packs to widows, elderly residents, and people with disabilities, and has reached 60,000 households. His grants, such as N50,000 for 600 traders at a time, repeat across the constituency’s council areas. The same pattern shows in infrastructure: over 65 roads, including Solebo Road and the Agbede to Ita-Oluwo corridor, an 80-bed Mother and Child Hospital in Imota, and solar kits for more than 8,000 homes under Light Up Ikorodu. He also founded IKD 106.1 FM, a community radio station that carries Ikorodu’s news, culture and public services. Benson was born on March 30, 1972, studied law at Lagos State University, was called to the bar in 1995, and earned an MBA at Warwick Business School. A three-term member since 2015, he chairs the House Committee on Defence and authored the Good Samaritan Bill. That last point seems to rest the entirety of the man’s mission.