By Taiwo Akanji
Senator Saliu Mustapha is a man with a helmsman’s steady hand, steering Kwara Central through the tides of challenge toward prosperity. As the Turaki of Ilorin Emirate and Aare Atunluse of Oro-Ago Kingdom, he charts a course with care, guiding his people with roads that connect communities, boreholes that bring clean water, and scholarships that open doors to education. On his 53rd birthday, September 26, 2025, his constituents celebrate a leader whose vision navigates their dreams to reality, setting a path for a brighter future.
In the Senate chambers, where Nigeria’s course is plotted, Mustapha doesn’t chase applause; he charts solutions. As Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agricultural Production, Services and Rural Development, his bills are like navigational markers, guiding the nation forward.
One proposes a Federal College of Agriculture in Oke-Oyi, Kwara State, where farmers can learn to turn fields into abundance. Another, the Nigerian Women and Youth Enterprise Equity Fund, offers a lifeline to women and young entrepreneurs dreaming of businesses but held back by lack of funds. He’s pushed to place the National Agricultural Land Development Authority under the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, ensuring support flows directly to farmers.
And with a bill for electronic transactions, he’s steering Nigeria into the digital age, where market traders can thrive online. Each law is a beacon, lighting the way to opportunity.
Out in Kwara Central, Mustapha’s steady hand builds pathways. In Ilorin West, he constructed a one-kilometer asphaltic road from Al-Hikmah University to Onimalu in just four months, from January to April 2024. Soon after, another kilometer stretched to Oke-Foma, a route that carries students to lectures and traders to markets. These roads are more than pavement—they’re channels, guiding communities to connect and prosper.
When night falls, Kwara Central stays on course. Mustapha installed over 3,500 smart solar-powered streetlights across 52 wards, their glow turning quiet evenings into vibrant nights.
Traders keep their stalls open late, their chatter filling the air with life. Children study under steady light, no longer relying on dim kerosene lamps. These lights are stars on the horizon, guiding people toward opportunity.
Water, the lifeblood of any community, was once a distant hope for many in Kwara Central. Mustapha navigated a new path, installing solar-powered motorized boreholes across four local government areas, each with lights so families can fetch water safely at night.
These boreholes are more than wells; they’re anchors of health, reducing waterborne diseases and keeping families rooted in their villages. The relief of a child drinking clean water is a quiet victory, guided by Mustapha’s care.
Farming is Kwara Central’s heartbeat, and Mustapha has steered it with purpose. He distributed 3,500 bags of high-quality fertilizer, worth over ₦200 million, to farmers across the district.
Another 3,500 tons of fertilizer and 1,000 pumping machines followed, easing irrigation and boosting harvests. Tractors rolled out to cooperatives, turning backbreaking labor into mechanized promise. For farmers, these gifts are a compass, pointing toward a season of abundance.
Education is the wind that fills the sails of progress, and Mustapha has harnessed it generously. He paid NECO and WAEC fees for over 141,000 students, a ₦3 billion gift that lifted burdens from families.
He cleared ₦748 million in inherited exam debts, ensuring no child was left behind. In 2024, he sponsored 2,000 UTME applicants and 250 NECO and WAEC candidates, while 200 students received full university scholarships.
Hundreds more indigent students saw their university fees covered, a gesture that brought tears to parents’ eyes. A two-day training workshop armed young people with entrepreneurial skills, guiding them to start businesses and chart their own paths.
In villages where healthcare was out of reach, Mustapha brought care closer. Free eye surgeries restored sight to hundreds, letting grandparents see their families clearly again.
Medical outreaches reached remote communities, delivering medicine to those who’d given up on it. These acts are guideposts, steering lives toward healing.
In Oko-Olowo, a neglected 15MVA Stepdown Transformer project stood as a lost marker. Mustapha revived it, pouring millions into its completion.
Now, homes glow with steady electricity, businesses hum, and children study under reliable light. This transformer is a waypoint, directing communities toward progress.
To keep his people on course, Mustapha built fully furnished constituency offices in each of Kwara Central’s four local government areas. These are more than buildings—they’re ports where communities gather, share concerns, and feel heard.
They’re spaces where the journey of democracy stays open, connecting people to their government.As Kwara Central celebrates Senator Saliu Mustapha’s 53rd birthday on September 26, 2025, the air hums with gratitude.
From farmers to students, from mothers to traders, his work has guided thousands of lives. His colleagues call him a visionary; his people call him family.
This birthday is a moment to honor a man who’s turned service into a voyage of renewal, steering the way with every road, light, and scholarship. As Kwara Central raises its voice in celebration, they wish him strength, wisdom, and many more years to keep navigating this extraordinary path, one life, one dream, one community at a time.
Akanji Phd wrote this piece from Unilorin.