Infrastructural Rejuvenation as Hallmark of Governance in Ogun

By Olaniyi Ajibola

As a leading state in human and material resources, coupled with its comparative advantage of location, Ogun State, which is proudly Nigeria’s Gateway of modernity deserves a thought leader, as a compass for consistent advancement and development in all ramifications.

While successive administrations in the State had embarked on various policies to build infrastructure that could support the status of the state, the political will and capacity to drive it to fruition and sustain it were missing along the line, resulting into dilapidated and abandoned projects.

To this end, the Ibara Government Reservation Area(GRA) in Abeokuta, the Gateway International Airport in Iperu and the 250-bed hospital at Oke-mosan, also in Abeokuta metropolis quickly came to mind for review, as the administration of Prince Dapo Abiodun has been very deliberate and intentional in changing narratives in total departure from the past.

Starting from the Ogun state Medical Centre of Excellence, a world-class medical facility of 250-bed capacity, sited at Oke-mosan but recklessly abandoned by the immediate past administration left a lot to be desired in the consideration of quality leadership, however, Governor Dapo Abiodun, being a visionary leader with utmost interest of the state at heart is not following the bandwagon of inemptitude.

The residents of the state were ecstatically happy on Tuesday, when the Governor, during inspection of the level of work done at the hospital announced that the Medical Centre of Excellence would be commissioned in December, 2025.

Governor Abiodun also disclosed that the hospital, when commissioned would be managed by the Abuja Medical Centre of Excellence, which has the King’s College Hospital as one of its international partners, noting that the hospital would be a ‘Spoke’ for the Abuja Medical Centre of Excellence and that the Ogun State Medical Centre of Excellence would be everybody’s first bus stop.

In his words ”, We are looking forward to the completion of this project. You can see the exterior is looking very nice, we’ve started landscaping, they’ve built an entrance canopy and the gate, oxygen equipments are working. I have told them to double up on manpower so that we commence operations in the next 2-3 weeks.

“My intention is to come by the grace of God to commission this project sometime in December. This will be one of our Christmas present to Ogun State, this facility was left with a lot of civil engineering gaps, I mean a lot, a lot of structural engineering gaps, a lot of electrical engineering gaps, almost nil electrical engineering.

“The Abuja Medical Centre of Excellence has agreed in principle that if indeed this facility is completed in line with what we planned to, the way we’ve conceived it, if indeed it is going to be run by Healthshare, that they will partner with this facility”.

According to the Governor, the hospital when finally commissioned would help reduce medical tourism to the barest minimum, saying that the facility would rival others around it.

“We know how much Nigerians spend on medical tourism. We know how many instances people are rushed from Ogun State to Lagos hospitals, from Abeokuta to Babcock to Olabisi Onabanjo Teaching Hospital and when that case is beyond them, they now take them to Lagos.By the time this hospital is commissioned, all that will stop”.

That is the kind of hope every Nigerian expects from their leader, it is called responsive leadership in political parlance and governance with human face in the social arena, it is the only way to go if truly democracy is all about the people.

It is the same spirit and zeal of a visionary leader that changed the story of Gateway International Airport in the State. The project, which was conceived by the administration of Otunba Gbenga Daniel in 2006 but suffered the same fate of reckless abandonment before Prince Dapo Abiodun took it upon himself and reversed the gear.

From a tick forest OGD left his supposed Airport without a single structure, Governor Dapo Abiodun built a world standard Airport of pride, where both President of Nigeria, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu,GCFR and the Vice-president, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, GCON had landed in the recent past.

The airport’s inaugural flight took off on Tuesday, October 7th, 2025, as Governor Dapo Abiodun witnessed the screening process and takeoff. Passengers who used the airport expressed their delight with the facilities and services, commending the governor for his vision and leadership.

In the same vein, every resident of Abeokuta is a witness to the state of Ibara Government Reserved Area(GRA) before now, a total eyesore and embarrassing cluster within the metropolis, until the administration of Prince Dapo Abiodun changed the ugly situation through it’s Urban Regeneration Scheme.

As it stands, over 150 houses out of more than 200 planned for the GRA have been completed, giving the area a befitting ambience expected of a Government Reservation Area located in a state capital.

Speaking after inspecting the houses, Governor Dapo Abiodun, said his administration would ensure that Abeokuta has modern houses that befit its status as the state capital, as he described the former state of the GRA as an eyesore, noted that the dilapidated structures, apart from serving as a haven for criminals, were occupied illegally by people who made use of the buildings as their personal properties.

He said: “Sometime in March, having held different townhall meetings and consultations with those that were living here, most of whom were illegal inhabitants—some as a matter of fact were illegal and turned themselves into landlords, renting out spaces to people illegally.

“But, nonetheless, because it was not our desire to make people homeless, we discussed with them, we agreed on different terms and we managed to do what previous administrations either did not envision or have the foresight to do, or did not have the political will to achieve.

“We were able to convince people that the future is here and now and Ogun State capital cannot be looking like what it was looking like, particularly the high brow area called the GRA in Abeokuta. So in March, we began to clean up this place, and began to demolish and implement the regeneration scheme.

“In all, we have what we planned, about 213 to 220 houses that are earmarked to be built here, either directly by the state government, Ministry of Housing, or by allocation to others to build in line with stipulated designs”.

While John Maxwell describes a leader as ,” One who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way”, Warren Bennis, posited that,” Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality”.

In truth and indeed, the above thoughts capture the leadership traits embedded in the man called Dapo Abiodun, and that is the reason why his naysayers and traducers would continue to rant in total delusions while the Prince of Iperu continues to build an enduring legacies in the Gateway State.

*Ajibola is a Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to Governor Dapo Abiodun on Strategic Communications