Babajimi Benson’s Story in Public Service 

Before Babajimi Benson entered the House of Representatives in 2015, he had already held positions that most politicians never reach. He served as Company Secretary and General Counsel at the Lagos State Development and Property Corporation, sat as a Non-Executive Director on the board of Lekki Worldwide Investment Limited, and worked as a Legal Officer in the General Counsel Division at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

With such an institutional background, a careful observer can easily understand how he has approached a decade of legislative work representing the Ikorodu Federal Constituency of Lagos State. Now in his third term and Chairman of the House Committee on Defence, Benson has five bills signed into law.

The DICON Amendment Act transformed the Defence Industries Corporation into a self-sustaining military industrial complex. The Electricity Amendment Act requires power-generating companies to direct five per cent of their operating expenditure toward host communities, a provision with direct implications for Ikorodu, home to the Egbin Thermal Power Station. The Defence Research and Development Bureau Act created a body to coordinate technological research across the armed forces. A constitutional railway amendment moved rail infrastructure from the Exclusive to the Concurrent Legislative List, opening the sector to state-level development. He also backed the Good Samaritan Bill.

In Ikorodu itself, his infrastructure record covers over 65 roads built or rehabilitated, an 80-bed Mother and Child Hospital in Imota, solar streetlights and residential power installations across 8,000 homes, the Modupe Oshikoya Mini Stadium in Ita Elewa, and sports facilities at LASUSTECH. He has built over 30 school classroom blocks and established ICT centres for youth development.

His iCare FoodBank, running for eight years, distributes monthly food packages known locally as Apo Anu to elderly residents, widows, and vulnerable families. IKD 106.1 FM, built on constituency grounds, gives local communities a direct media voice.

Benson is now seeking a fourth term. In Ikorodu, the argument for continuity is written into the landscape.