Seyi Bakare
How time flies! It’s been nine months already since the Ogun State government headed by Prince Dapo Abiodun came into being. In that period, a whole lot has been done to place the state at a vantage position for positive growth and development, whether you are looking at security, infrastructure development or agricultural revolution. As many are no doubt aware, the governor has taken the gospel of road construction to every nook and cranny of Ogun State, firm in the belief that mere window dressing of state capitals to which many are prone cannot advance the development cause. Today in Ogun, hitherto neglected communities, especially those “remote areas” that have hardly ever been anything more than campaign points and statistics during electioneering, are now experiencing what it means to have a government that truly cares, a government committed to a fair deal for all and foul treatment for none. If you had cause to visit even major areas like Sango Ota in recent years, you would no doubt have experienced nightmares on the roads, with gullies swallowing vehicles as it were, especially during the rainy season. But all of that is fast become history, and now you can actually drive through without headaches. There’s no local government in the state where the Public Works agency is not active. Governor Abiodun has in fact established an agency to conduct, audit and provide a roadmap to actualising the “Light Up Ogun” project, with a view to ensuring that most cities in the state have uninterrupted power supply. The objective is to regenerate the state’s old cities, including even the state capital, Abeokuta; Ijebu-Ode, Sagamu and Ilaro, in a sustainable fashion and without compromising the future.
Significantly, in just nine months, Prince Abiodun has been able to demystify governance. In the past, some governors were inaccessible to a large section of the people and failed to take their yearnings and aspirations very seriously. But that is now past, and it is not fortuitous that the governor has personally attended to the yearnings of traders in the markets gutted by fire, being the first person to get there for on-the-spot assessment. He has been there for the traders, pacifying them and promising that the government would take immediate action to ameliorate their plight. It also cannot be a surprise that the Ogun helmsman has made it a duty to attend convocation ceremonies in all tertiary institutions in the state, interfacing with their management both formally and informally and seeking ways to make them deliver on their core mandates in research and innovation. He wants to deliver on his electoral promises. The best students in those institutions get automatic employment, a sign that academic excellence would be rewarded in an era where many students increasingly resort to short cuts and where many graduates fail to get jobs. In the area of security, it is no longer news that the government bought 100 vehicles and 200 motorcycles; these now dot every area in Ogun State, and the security challenges hitherto experienced have reduced significantly.
Of late, Prince Abiodun was in the United Kingdom to attract investors to the state, having created an enabling environment for investment to thrive. Prince Abiodun met with executives of six United Kingdom-based companies in a bid to pull investments into the state. At the UK-Africa Investment Summit 2020 in Lonon facilitated by the UK Department of International Trade under the Investment Promotion Programme, a platform that avails participating countries of the opportunity to establish a new phase of partnerships on investments and mutually beneficial economic prosperity, Governor Abiodun sought investment packages for Ogun State. He undertook an assessment tour of the UK manufacturing and agroprocessing headquarters of Alvan Blanch, a company that specialises in the manufacturing and supply of machines used for the processing of agricultural produce and waste. He interfaced with different companies with specialisations in energy, infrastructure, agriculture and agroprocessing, investment and asset management. In particular, he engaged Rod Bassett, Director, Agriculture and Dairy and Amin Ajami, Director, Principal Investment, on the possibility of siting a commercial dairy farm in Ogun State. He was also at AgDevCo, a company that invests in the transformation of agribusiness in Africa, ensuring food security by providing growth capital and support to high-potential partners. He again met with
Lion Head’s Global Partner, Christopher Egerton, and its Directors. The investment bank operates globally across high-potential markets in financial advisory, capital raising and other investment management activities.Indeed, during a recent visit to the governor in Abeokuta, the French Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Jerome Pasquier, stated France wanted to be active in its relationship with Nigeria, describing Ogun State as dynamic and suitable for investments.As the Ambassador noted, the state’s fertile land and good climate condition were a good prospect for the country’s desired investment in the agricultural growth of the state. He noted that in March this year, his country would host an agricultural fair in Paris, expressing delight that a delegation from the state would attend the fair, as it would provide a good opportunity to meet with French businessmen and women with expertise in agriculture, especially tropical agriculture. Pasquier used the opportunity to invite the state to the French-African Summit scheduled for June, where companies from all African countries and France would gather, saying the occasion would not only be for political discussions alone, but would deal with business and climate change. Prince Abiodun, speaking on the potentials for investment, observed that with a land mass of more than 16,000 square kilometres, Ogun State was noted for producing rice, currently had the largest producer of casava, the best-quality cotton, and a large expanse of rubber plantation. He added that apart from having a large palm oil plantation of several thousand hectares, the state also had the biggest fish farm colony which had become a model for the United Nations.
Moreover, Governor Abiodun has brought so many technocrats into governance in Ogun in order to give the state a massive turnaround. His motto, Let’s build our future together, is on course. With him at the helm of affairs, the future of Ogun State is certainly assured. Here is a man who did not retaliate the attacks on him by his predecessor and who has not practised politics of bitterness, laying a good example for coming generations by teaching the lesson that what is paramount is the interest of Ogun State and not personal interests. In the past nine months, he has been working tirelessly everyday to ensure that Ogun gets it right. It’s certainly been nine beautiful months in Ogun.
Bakare wrote from 8 Emmanuel Oluwole Crescent, Mowe Ogun State.