Recently, Alhaji Jani Ibrahim, the Chairman of Lubcon Group and Kwara State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) gubernatorial aspirant turned 55. To many people, especially the people of Kwara State, Ibrahim remains one of the reputable businessmen and renowned philanthropists, who have put smiles on the faces of the people. Jani has been in the vanguard of creating wealth for the people of Kwara as his micro finance bank, called Bluecon, established in the state has provided opportunity for the less privileged people in the society to have access to soft loans and this has changed the lives of the people for better in the state.

These affected people remained a major lubricant of wealth creation and this has assisted the economy of the state to be more buoyant through the efforts of Ibrahim.

Alhaji Ibrahim, who was born 55 years ago, attended Kings College, Lagos from where he graduated with a Grade One Distinction and aggregate 06 in the West African School Certificate Examination (WAEC). After his A'Levels in the school, he proceeded to the United Kingdom to study Mechanical Engineering on a British Petroleum scholarship and graduated with First Class Honours.

At King's College, he also distinguished himself as one of the school's shinning stars, carting away more laurels at graduation than probably any other students in his set. This effort also fetched him a scholarship from the British Petroleum (BP) to read Mechanical Engineering at Greenwich University, London.

He started his working career with BP London before returning to Nigeria to work with African Petroleum Plc. He continued his working career with Unipetrol Nig Plc (now Oando Plc). At Unipetrol Nigeria Plc, he rose to become the Chief Executive Officer of Stallion Property and Development Company (a joint venture betweenUnipetrol and NNPC). In 1997, he was appointed the Managing Director and Chief Executive of Nigeria Airways from where he returned to private business in 1999.

Ibrahim is a Chartered Engineer, a Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (FNSE) and a Member of theEnergy Institute of the UK. In addition, he is an alumnus of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, from where he graduated in 1994. He became President of the Alumni Association of the National Institute (AANI) from 2009-2011. He is an awardee of Officer of the Order of Niger (OON). He is the Chairman of Lubcon Group, a conglomerate with lubrication oil blending factories in his home Ilorin, Kwara state as well as another in Tema, Ghana and Addis-Ababa in Ethiopia. He remain the second biggest employer of Labour in Kwara State after the State Government. He has business interests in oil and gas, construction, hospitality industry, manufacturing, and is a Director of Heritage Bank ltd. Ibrahim is currently promoting the development of a Fertilizer complex in Band, Kogi State that will generate employment for thousands as well as contribute to Agricultural development. The proposed plant is for 2000 MT per day, ammonia project for a 3,500 MT per day Urea plant.

Ibrahim's diligence at work, no doubt facilitated his meteoric rise in life. His emphasis has always been on hard work, high productivity, humility, dedication, efficiency and excellence in service. On the 21st of June 2013, Ibrahim was inducted as a fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Engineering at the Main Auditorium of theUniversity of Lagos, Akoka during the 2013 Annual Lecture of the Academy.

As a lover of sports, every year, he organises football competition among secondary schools in the state. He has resuscitated the moribund Principal's cup, a football competition among secondary schools that is intended to integrate the youths and inculcate in them the spirit of sportsmanship. The development has allowed talented footballers to be discovered for various clubs in the country and thereby providing employment opportunities for the players.

He plays Golf to relax. Apart from Golf, he also visits the Gym or read books. Alhaji Jani Ibrahim without any iota of doubt is the Number two largest employer of labour after the Kwara State Government. He built his business empire in Kwara, lives amongst his people and therefore understands the needs and challenges in the state. Because of his passion to put smile on the faces of his people, Alhaji Ibrahim has decided to throw his hat into the ring to run for the number one seat in Kwara State come 2015.

His core focus for Kwara State is derived from his name JANI (Jobs, agriculture, natural resources and infrastructural development. Top on his agenda is reducing the cost of governance and tight management of the fiscal resources as well as increase the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the state so that he can address youth education, empowerment and employment to reduce crime and create wealth in the state.

He also intends to address education through renovation of schools, re-equipment and re-orientation of the people. On the area of health, Ibrahim intend to improve healthcare by providing drugs to reduce infant mortality and maternal death.