Imasuen Neda Bernards
Imasuen Neda Bernards is a Nigerian politician from Edo. They have contested 1 election (1 win) across 1 party. Most recent: 2023 Nigerian Senate Elections as Labour Party (LP) candidate.
Biography
Neda Bernards Imasuen is a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria from Edo State. He was disbarred by the New York State Supreme Court in 2010 for professional misconduct.
He was elected in 2023 to represent Edo South senatorial district in the National Assembly. He is a member of the Labour Party.
Imasuen started his primary education from St. Thomas' Catholic School, in Benin City, Edo State where he obtained his Primary School Leaving Certificate.
He proceeded to the Edo Boys High School, also in Benin City, and obtained the West African School Certificate.
After his secondary education, he proceeded to the University of Maiduguri where he graduated with a Bachelor of Laws degree.
He was certified and enrolled as a Solicitor and Advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in 1985.
He graduated with a Master's degree in Public Administration from the Long Island University, Brooklyn Campus in 2004.
In the Nigerian general elections of 2023, Imasuen of the Labour Party defeated Matthew Iduoriyekemwen of the PDP and Valentine Asuen of the APC to become the senator representing the Edo South senatorial district in the Nigerian Senate.
Imasuen is married with children.
Imasuen has faced allegations of corruption following reports that he and Senator Victor Umeh played a key role in organizing a meeting at the guest house of Senate President Godswill Akpabio.
According to Sahara Reporters, during this meeting, 87 senators allegedly received payouts ranging from $5,000 to $10,000 each to secure legislative support for President Bola Tinubu’s declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State.
Political Career
Party Positions
Policy positions from the Labour Party (LP) party manifesto.
Agriculture
Will optimize agricultural value chains across all 36 states with targeted investments, addressing impediments like banditry, kidnapping, and desertification to enhance food security and advance agro-based industrialization.
Governance & Reform
Will restructure the Nigerian federation through legal and institutional reforms to strengthen federalism by moving agreed items from the exclusive list of the Federal government to the concurrent list, ensuring effective public action for growth and sustainable livelihood.
Security & Defense
Will implement key recommendations from previous police and security sector reform reports, including a three-level policing structure (local, state, federal) with detailed guidelines to curb abuses.
Reliefs and scholarships
Will resolve the national minimum wage problem by replacing the extant salary structure with an hourly productivity-based national minimum wage, ensuring binding application across all sectors.
Economy & Trade
Will reform the transport system, including logistics, ports, customs, and other agencies, to create an integrated transport system promoting inter-connectivity among ports, roads, rail, and inland waterways to reduce trade costs and enhance competitiveness.
Enterprise grant support
Will devise programs to reskill youths, create mandatory national certification for blue-collar artisans, strengthen STEM tertiary schools, and establish a venture capital-like fund for young entrepreneurs.
Environment & Climate
Will establish a Green Army to tap into $3 trillion in international climate finance for green growth, employment, and transition to a green economy.
Anti-corruption
Will establish the Office of Special Counsel to investigate and prosecute executive abuses of power and corruption, with constitutional amendments to exempt its prosecutions from the Nolle Prosequi power of the Attorney General.
Energy
Launch a solar power revolution in Northern Nigeria, ensuring uninterrupted power supply in cities and industrial parks by the end of 2024 through re-engagement of 14 Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and resolving financial impediments to reach $2.5 billion in PPAs for 1,125 MW of solar capacity.
Technology & Digital
Support private sector-led fiber-optic backbone projects connecting tertiary institutions and state capitals to enable free broadband access for digital transformation.
Infrastructure
Creation of national multi-utility transport tunnels (MUT) to integrate masterplans for gas, road, railway, urban mass transit, telecommunications, water, sewage, and electricity for cost efficiency and streamlined infrastructure development.
Education
Will implement a Marshall Plan-style education reform program with compulsory technical and vocational skills, entrepreneurship, and digital training from primary to secondary level, with strategic partnerships for incubators and seed funding.
Healthcare
Expand health insurance coverage to 133 million poorest Nigerians (including pregnant women, children, the elderly, and disabled) through strengthened NHIS with private sector involvement, ensuring accessibility and affordability.
Foreign Policy
Engage in Afro-centric diplomacy to protect Nigerian citizens abroad and advance economic interests through trade, investment, and diplomatic leverage.
