Omoniyi Salaudeen

In today’s troubled Nigeria, delivery of dividends of democracy is now a growing concern to every level of government. This is partly owing to the rising security challenge in the country, which is already giving those in positions of authority sleepless nights.  And there is no breather in sight. Where the bandits are not wreaking havoc on innocent citizens, kidnapping, maiming and raping, the organized labour is threatening a big showdown over the issue of minimum wage.  

In the face of all of these, governments at all levels have had to grapple with the challenge of striking a delicate balance between the limited resources available in the depressed economy and the rising expectations from the electorate vis-à-vis the bogus electioneering promises made during their campaigns.

For the Ogun State governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, the take off of his new administration was no less stormy, especially coming into the saddle to inherit a disillusioned workforce, over bloated civil service, disenchanted populace and a highly polarized political class. But with his experience as a private sector boardroom guru, he appears to be gradually navigating through the storm by way of consultation and consensus building.

At the inception of the new administration on May 29, Governor Abiodun had to first and foremost confront the challenge of paying workers’ salary for the month. According to him, he had to apply for a loan of N7 billion to settle the month’s salary. His predecessor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, had claimed that he left N9 billion in the government’s kitty even as he justified the employment of additional 1,000 workers at the twilight of his administration, saying “the newly recruited staff is not kangaroo recruitment. These are people that sat for the exam almost a year back and the procedures were followed.”

But Abiodun, who said he did not want to be bogged down by the needless controversy, met with the organized labour and assured the workers regular payment of their salaries, cooperative deductions and other statutory entitlements. “Let me reiterate our irrevocable commitment to workers, that regular payments of salaries, remittance of pension to Pension Fund Administration (PFA), and other entitlement will occupy the burner of this administration, never again will you experience non-remittance of deductions,” he said.  Even though there might still be some rough edges, there is now a reasonable degree of confidence between the government and the workers, on one hand, and the expectant populace on the other hand.

Pursuant to the administration’s commitment to quick delivery of dividends of democracy to the grassroots, Abiodun disclosed that he would build one primary healthcare centre in each of the 236 wards in the state using local manpower, rehabilitate 236 primary schools, one in each ward, and set up a job portal for accurate statistics of skilled and unskilled labour in the state. “To ensure that the citizens and residents are not shortchanged, we will send a local content bill for legislative action, such that investors will first look inward to availability of workers in Ogun State and make our youths their catchment area when they site their companies here,” he said.     In the interim, he added that the government was working towards reducing the alarming rate of youth unemployment by establishing vocational training centres to provide training on tilling, carpentry, shoe making, fashion design, among others, to make them self-reliant.

For the infrastructure deficit, he charged the stakeholders across party lines to “help us list your first three roads in each local government and in order of preference so that work can begin in earnest.” He gave this charge at a closed-door meeting with the APC stalwarts in the state where he briefed them on the activities of his administration so far. This, he said, was to ensure that all sections of the state were treated equally.

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In order to make the state a secured investment destination, Governor Abiodun also promised to make security of lives and property one of the topmost priorities of his administration. To this end, he said the necessary framework had been put in place to involve financial institutions as critical stakeholders in the new robust security architecture of the state. He made the disclosure when he played host to a team from Wema Bank Plc led by its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mr Demola Adebise, at his Okemosan office, Abeokuta, the state capital, saying “we will lay emphasis on security, knowing full well that being the gateway state, hoodlums will like to move from the neighbouring states and countries to cause havoc here. So, security will be one of our priority areas.”

Already, some business concerns have indicated their readiness to tap into the Public Private Partnership initiative of the administration. Just recently, an Irish Company, Global Diary Limited, gave the governor full assurance of its preparedness to set up a manufacturing plant in the state. The Chief Executive Officer of the company, Samir Boudjada, during a meeting with the governor said that the decision to choose Ogun was based on its proximity to Lagos State, as well as the friendly business environment in the state. “This is the ultimate state for us. The feedback is really positive and we are looking forward to being part of this private partnership and creating jobs in Nigeria. Ogun State is strategically relevant to the business of this nature and we did not mistake, Ogun State has passed all the tests,” Boudjada declared.

Prince Abiodun on his part pledged the commitment of his administration to establish a world-class ranch in place of the traditional open grazing system through the Public Private Partnership arrangement to support the industry. In the same vein, another Chinese firm is also said to have indicated its interest to invest in the agricultural sector of the state through the PPP programme of administration. This is without losing focus of the government’s commitment to boost local production of cassava, maize, as well as livestock to make the state the food basket of the nation.

To achieve his laudable objectives, Governor Abiodun assured that his administration would leverage on the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) intervention programmes in the agricultural sector to turnaround the economic fortune of the rural populace and also facilitate export promotion. Accordingly, while playing host to the Executive Director/CEO of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Mr Olusegun Awolowo recently, he solicited the collaboration of the council to foster the promotion of a seamless export of goods and services coming from the state. He also made similar appeal to a team of the African Development Bank (AfDB) during a three-day visit to the state to tap into the business potentials of the state.

Healthcare delivery, as the most critical sector, has also not been left out of the scheme of things. Worried by the deplorable state of the health facilities at the state-owned Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital (OOUTH), Sagamu, Governor Abiodun has constituted a nine-man panel chaired by Dr Yemi Onabowale, the Chief Medical Director (CMD), Reddington Hospital, Lagos, to work out the modalities to reposition the institution to an acceptable standard for medical training, research and tertiary healthcare services

Above all, he disclosed that his administration was already holding talks with the Federal Ministry of Petroleum and other relevant core investors with a view to prospecting into the oil and mineral deposit at Tongeji Island and Ogun Waterside areas of the state in order to shore up revenue generation for the state.

All of these would form the groundwork for the economic prosperity of the next level administration in Ogun State when Abiodun’s promised all-inclusive cabinet is finally unveiled.