Femi Ogbonnikan
Any public officeholder who desires to reach and keep his place at the top of his political career must be prepared to do so the hard way. He must be determined to go the extra-mile to entrench good governance because in our today’s incredibly fast-moving world, giving reasons for none performance is no longer fashionable. It is rather a mark of failure of leadership. This is one lesson to learn from the gale of endorsements that has greeted Governor Dapo Abiodun’s second term re-election bid.
Oftentimes, politicians aspiring for leadership positions use delivery of dividends of democracy as a catchphrase to snatch away victory at the poll only for many of them to return to the electorate at the end of their tenure with empty hands. Governor Abiodun is an exception to this abnormality. Of course, coming into the saddle at a troubled time when the world was on lockdown, it would have been much convenient to hide under the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic to justify a poor performance. But here is he again for his re-election campaign with a bag-full of deliverables.
Among others, he has in his kitty a network of massive road infrastructures, 97 percent chosen by the people themselves, conducive environment for rapid industrial transformation, 1, 200 affordable housing units, over 100 Primary Healthcare Centres to boast healthcare service delivery, investment in the education sector covering primary, secondary and tertiary, youth empowerment, human capital development, support for agro-allied industry, the ease of doing business, enhanced security network, inclusive governance culminating in bottom-up approach to governance and most significant of all, the International Cargo Airport which will be ready for commissioning anytime soon.
This is in keeping with his electoral promises to lead the state to the next level through rapid socio-economic and industrial transformation. At the beginning of the ongoing campaign activities, Governor Abiodun had declared that the remaining part of his first term tenure was going to a festival of project commissioning. That precisely has been the case since he made the declaration. And up till now, he has not let the guard down. All the while since his campaign train hit the ground running, criss-crossing all the local government areas of the state, he has kept fate with his words, reassuring the people that dividends of democracy would reach very doorstep at urban and grassroots level.
It is in pursuance of that commitment that the governor has been holding town hall meetings to brainstorm with the stakeholders and galvanizing support for the actualization of his vision to lead the state to the Eldorado. Gratefully, the response has been quite impressive and encouraging. In all areas visited so far, his effort to seek people’s endorsement of his re-election has been greeted with a resounding success.
In a practical demonstration of the ‘Building Our Future Together’ mantra of his administration, Governor Abiodun is today very well at home with virtually all well-meaning citizens of the state. From his former predecessors, Aremo Olusegun Osoba, Otunba Gbanga Daniel to revered traditional rulers, students’ unions, organized labour, transport union, hitherto traumatized civil servants, artisans as well as market men and women, everybody is working in tandem with the government to take the state to the next level. No one else has achieved that level of camaraderie since the beginning of the present democratic dispensation.
For being able to rally the support of the grassroots people, the bottom-top approach adopted by the government has also taken a firm root in the state, promoting an equal sense of belonging for the developmental projects implemented within different localities. From the onset, Abiodun has consistently assured the people of inclusiveness in governance, an open and transparent process, grassroots participation in the decision-making process as well as even, and equal distribution of developmental projects.
He reiterated the same commitment on Thursday, January 19, 2023 during the commissioning of 5.7 kilometre Oru-Awa-Alaporu Road in Ijebu North Local Government Area as part of the continuation of his second term campaign tour of the state. The newly inaugurated road is the third in the series of roads that have been commissioned within the space of one month in the council area. The first was Igan road, Ago-Iwoye, followed by Molusi College Road in Ijebu-Igbo. All this is a clear testimony of the administration’s drive to open up the state for easy movement of people, foods, and services.
At Odeda Local Government Area, the governor didn’t go on his campaign train without something tangible to present to the residents either. In matching words with action, he commissioned a 5.6 Km Somorin-Kemta-Idi-Aba road project promised during his electioneering in the build up to the 2019 general elections. Speaking during the unveiling of the project, he noted that the huge infrastructural gap inherited by his administration informed the adoption of a strategic approach that would ensure that every part of the state benefits from one project or the other.
For the records, Kemta is one of the communities to benefit from the first housing estate built by the present administration which perhaps underscores the importance
While commending the traditional rulers in Odeda Local Government for maintaining peace in their domains, the governor promised that his administration would not stop until all access roads were put in good condition, calling on the people to vote for him to continue his good works.
In his commendation, the Olu of Kemta, Oba Okikiola Tejuosho noted that more than 40 communities would benefit from the road.
Similarly, it was the same festival of project inauguration when the APC campaign train hit Odogbolu Local Government area. Elated Governor Abiodun, who inaugurated the 18km Ala-Idowa-Ibefun Road, with the full complement of former deputy governors on hand to rally support for his re-election, reiterated his administration’s commitment to construct more roads in the state to further open it for more economic prosperity. The former number two citizens present at the occasion included Senator Gbenga Kaka, Alhaja Salimot Badru, and two other immediate past successors who served with former governor Ibikunle Amosun-Segun Adesegun and Mrs.Yetunde Onanuga. One after the other, they all declared their support at the campaign rally held at Odogbolu town.
Speaking at the event, Governor Abiodun said: “This is the first time all living past deputy governors will be in the same political camp and party. As you will agree with me, this is great. As you can see all of them here, we are all happy.”
Prior to the latest outing, former governor Olusegun Osoba had laid the tone for a new convivial relationship at Imeko-Afon Local Government Area of the state leading campaign for the re-election of Governor Abiodun from the front.
Aremo Osoba, while speaking at the event, explained that his coming to Imeko-Afon local government was a happy homecoming, recalling that his administration brought electricity to the area. Without mincing words, he declared that he could vouch for the competence of Governor Abiodun, urging the electorate to vote massively for the candidates of the APC in the coming general elections.
Governor Abiodun, in turn, pledged to establish a college of the technical institute as well as a School of Agriculture in Imeko. He also promised to address the challenge of bad roads within the area, while at the same time assuring of the readiness of his administration to reconstruct the Abeokuta/Imeko-Afon road.
The story was the same when Governor Abiodun in a carnival-like procession stormed Ijebu East Local Government Area to commission a 2.1-kilometre Esure road in Ijebu-Mushin. The project, he said, was in keeping with the promise he made in 2021 during the campaign for the local government election. While inaugurating the new road, he further promised to commence the light-up-the-rural-areas project of his administration in earnest with the distribution of electricity transformers and solar systems this week.
Excitement was no less palpable at Itori in Ewekoro Local Government Area of the state, as the governor inaugurated the township road with further commitment to fix major roads that were in a deplorable condition. Here also, he assured the people that his administration would soon commence the construction of affordable houses in Itori town.
Side-by-side with all these, President Muhammadu Buhari was also in the state recently to commission the first African Quality Assurance Centre aimed at ensuring the acceptability of Nigerian products in the global market. The President, addressing his audience on the occasion, said the centre would boost the confidence of producers and manufacturers in the quality of the raw materials from Nigeria, thereby putting Nigeria’s industrialization drive on a sound footing. “It will improve domestic consumption as our priority is to protect the lives and wellbeing of our people by ensuring the quality of what they consume. This is in line with the Federal Government policy of growing what we eat and eating what we grow. Quality assurance places us on the right footing as we continue to drive Nigeria’s industrialization”, he said.
In his remarks, Governor Abiodun said the opening of the African Quality Assurance Centre was a significant representation of the government’s commitment to diversify the nation’s economy from the over-reliance on crude oil.
The President of, the African Export and Import Bank (AFRIXEMBANK), Prof. Benedict Oramah, on his part, contended that standard and poor infrastructure had been a major constraint of African export, stressing the need to improve the standard of African export through the establishment of quality assurance centres across the continent of Africa.
While noting that the centre was equipped with cutting-edge technology, Oramah said the centre would raise the bar by testing member countries’ export products and ensure they meet the acceptable standard, thus improving the continent’s competitiveness in the global market. The Agro-Cargo Airport and the Special Agro-Processing Zone sited in the state, the AFREXIMBANK president further emphasised, would help in making Ogun State, and indeed the nation, an export zone for Africa in the near future.
At the heart of this aggressive policy drive is the high premium placed by the administration on human capital development as a veritable tool for sustainable industrial and economic growth. In this regard, no effort has been spared in confronting the challenges facing the education sector, especially dilapidated classrooms. This is particularly evident in the Yellow Roofs Revolution we now see all over our 1000 State-owned public Primary and Secondary Schools in the state.
The care of the voiceless and vulnerable is a primary responsibility of a responsive government. This imperative again lies behind the adoption of the social investment programme of the Federal Government through the Executive Order recently signed by the Governor to alleviate poverty and hunger by ensuring equitable distribution of resources to the poor, the widows, amongst others.
These are parts of the social contract Prince Abiodun willfully signed with the people while soliciting for their votes in the last general election. And now that campaign activities are increasingly becoming intense, it will be rather too presumptuous and a betrayal of trust to return to the same electorate with an empty hand and expect to earn their endorsement. Even though he may not have delivered on all his electoral promises for obvious reasons, the basket of goodies the governor has presented before the people in all his campaign tours in return for the mandate given him in 2019 gives an indication that things would be better than the way they are now if re-elected for his second term. And that is why it is imperative for all to have their Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVCs), so that they can vote for the continuity of the good work the administration has started with a commitment to do more in the coming dispensation.
Ogbonnikan wrote from Abeokuta, Ogun State
