Abiodun and his social contract with Ogun citizens

AS Nigerians take stock of 22 years of civil rule in the country, KUNLE ODEREMI writes on the state of affairs in Ogun State under the administration of Governor Dapo Abiodun the last wo years.

Created on February 3, 1976, Ogun State has, from the beginning, a number of comparative advantages over most of its contemporaries: access to the sea, congruity to the nation’s commercial hub, Lagos, coupled with a huge volume of human and material endowments to bolster progress and prosperity. Bordered by Oyo, Osun and of course, Lagos states, Ogun occupies a strategic location thus the epitaph, the Gateway State. The last two years have seen the state pragmatically awake to its huge potentials, deploying all energies to tap into those resources for economic growth and development. With a holistic blueprint, Governor Dapo Abiodun with an assemblage of proven professionals, has succeeded in raising the bar of governance and service delivery. Today, most economic indicators point to a fact that Ogun has become an investors’ destination, given the rising scale of multibillion naira manufacturing industries dotting the landscape.

Immediately, he laid his hands on the plough on May 29, 2019, the governor ensured there will be no looking back in redeeming his social contract with the people, initiating development projects, such that in the first year of his administration, his achievements underscored the dictum: the morning shows the day. In that steady movement, he ensured equity, fairness and justice in the distribution of projects cutting across sectors and at all levels, restoring hope and confidence in government as the catalyst for positive change, good governance and economic growth. In two years, his Midas Touch is evident in all critical sectors with great impact on the welfare of the people. A few examples will suffice.

Infrastructure

Since he came to the saddle in May 2019, Governor Abiodun has upheld his promise to develop road infrastructure with an even distribution and commitment of resources and time to all the three senatorial districts in the state. In Ogun West, the government has reconstructed Raypower Road and Imasayi-Ayetoro Road to the satisfaction motorists, while Oke Ola Road in Imeko and Owode-Ilaro Road are under reconstruction, even as it has reconstructed the Odo Afa Road and Bridge in Ipokia LGA.  The road and bridge were in awful condition over a long time. Of particu lar importance is the 19.2km Agbara-Lusada-Atan Road which had long been abandoned despite the industrial significance of the region to the State’s economy. The road project, which was flagged off by HE Prince Dapo Abiodun on Thursday, April 29, 2021, is going at a commendable pace that will deliver a quality road on completion. It’d also be recalled that in the same month, the Governor commissioned the 10.25km Lusada-Igbesa Road which was constructed by the Ogun Guangdong Free Trade Zone in partnership with the state government. In Ogun East, the completed road projects include Oru-Awa-Ilaporu-Ibadan Road, Fusigboye-Ojofa Street Road and Asafa Oke-Asafa Isale-Ayegun-Ojofa Street Road in Ijebu Ode. Other projects, which are ongoing, are the 14km Ijebu Ode-Epe Expressway; Oba Erinwole Dual Carriageway, Sagamu; Molusi College Road; Ilishan Market Road; 11km Atan-Erunwon Road; Ogbagba Street Road; and Ejinrin-Oluwalogbon-Mobalufon-Ibadan Road. In Ogun Central, completed road projects include: Obantoko Road (Fajol-American Junction-Unity Estate-Gbonagun); Idi Aba-Oke Lantoro Road; and Ikoritameje-Adenrele/Olose Titun-Vespa Road. Ongoing project which are nearing completion at a commendable pace include: construction of the 42km Abeokuta-Sagamu Interchange; reconstruction of Panseke-Adigbe Road; as well as extension of the proposed gate Development at Sagamu Interchange. In Ifo LGA, there are ongoing intensive roadworks on Akute-Denro-Ishasi-Oluwakemi road.

Housing

The government has completed the construction of the King’s Court Estate in the state capital, Abeokuta, following the final touches in March 2021 by the state’s Property and Investment Corporation that handled the project designed for middle-class income earners. The Phase II of the Prince Court Estate at Kemta Idi-Aba is nearing completion. The first phase delivered 150 low-cost housing units, while the government plans to extend the scheme to other areas such as Ota, Ilaro, Sagamu, Ikenne and Ijebu Ode and it is already constructing an affordable housing estate in Kobape, is at about 60 percent completed. The government embarked on the rehabilitation of the Iberekodo Dam, with evidence that as at May 28, 2021, remarkable progress had been made, with five new gates installed as well as gear hoists, cofferdam demolished, and water flow restored. With such feat achieved, the Ogun State Water Corporation is almost set to recommence supply. Similarly, the government, through the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency, rehabilitated nine hand and motorised boreholes into complete solar-powered boreholes in Odeda, while constructing two new ones. In Yewa North LGA, eight boreholes have been rehabilitated with solar power, with five fully constructed. Five hand and motorised boreholes were also rehabilitated in Ado Odo/Ota LGA, while13 new ones were constructed. In Ipokia LGA, 12 new solar-powered boreholes were constructed, while eight were rehabilitated. While this rehabilitation and construction projects are ongoing, those already executed have brought the needed relief to residents who had in the past had to search for potable water or settle for what they could lay their hands on.

Education

In March, 2021, the government began the Ogun State Teaching Experience Acquisition Channel (Ogun TEACh). It is a paying special intervention two-year scheme set up to fill the existing vacancies in the public primary and secondary schools, as well as technical colleges in the state.  Widely described as the Yellow Roof Revolution, the government has embarked on a massive overhaul and paradigm shift in the quality and standard of education. Structures already erected in schools across the 20 LGAs include classrooms, hostels, toilets, offices, stores and equipped e-libraries/computer rooms. At the same time, 570 schools have been rehabilitated (with reconstruction, reinforcement and reroofing) till date across Ogun State within the period under review. These schools include even the Emeritus Ogunlesi Model School in Sagamu, the construction of which was left half done by the last administration as at May 29, 2019.

On 22nd April, 2021, Governor Abiodun gave special recognition to Ms Faith Odunsi and Mr Oladimeji Shotunde, among others. Odunsi had topped the Global Open Mathematics Competition, as Shotunde emerged Best Graduating Student of the Lagos State University, LASU. While the government launched an endowment fund seeded with N5 million for Ms Odunsi, it awarded Mr Shotunde a two-bedroom bungalow and a N2 million cash prize, as 32 other teachers and students got various other prizes.

Electricity

As part of the determination to up the ante in the provision of public utilities, the government commissioned the 100KWp solar mini-grid Hybrid Electrification System at Olooji community. Atapa Community in Ogun Central senatorial district and Koto Obo in Ogun West have benefitted from complete Household Solar Lighting Systems, just as the government, through the Ministry of Rural Development, fabricated and distributed a large number of modern smoking kilns to fish processors in different LGAs, including Ikenne, Sagamu, Odogbolu, Ijebo Ode, Obafemi Owode, among others. To further open up the state for greater economic gains, the government upgraded the six-kilometre Koriko Village Road that leads to the Association of Senior Civil Servant Housing scheme.

Health

Despite being the state to host the index case of Covid-19 in February 2020, the sate contained the virus in a laudable manner with quick and effective moves taken by the state’s Ministry of Health up to the point of vaccination. Thus, Ogun has a record of low fatalities, with: 70,200 persons tested, 4,600 treated, 80,000 vaccinated, and 50 fatalities. A total of 42 primary health centres have been renovated and equipped, with 60 others in all the 20 LGAs of the state towards improving access to healthcare, especially at the grassroots. The renovation of general hospitals is in progress in three different locations: Idiroko, Ibiade and Odeda. The government has also carried out some construction at, while also renovating, the state general hospitals in Iberekodo and Ijebu Ife. However, renovation had been done at the 120-bed Mother-and-Child Ward at the general hospital in Iperu. In September 2020, Governor Abiodun approved the recruitment of medical personnel, including resident doctors, nurses, pharmacists and others, with specific instructions to all state-owned hospitals to recruit 20 consultant doctors, to address the existent shortfall at the time. As at May 28, 2021, a total of 310 medical staff had been employed:- from consultant to attendants. To complement the initiave, the government upgraded the Mortuary and Accident & Emergencies; A&E Unit of the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, OOUTH, Sagamu., just as  the government conducted a total overhaul of the mortuary with six freezers and renovated the A&E Unit. The holistic package towards giving fillip to the health sector also included the launching of a 24-hour ambulance service across the state. So, the number of available ambulances has increased. Whereas as at May 2019, the state had barely six ambulances, there are 21 of them now, with plans underway to have about 30 for easier access to prompt healthcare delivery. And towards improved access, an ambulance unit has been established in each of the nine Federal Constituency in the state. The administration has paid the sum of N100 million as commitment fund into the Basic Health Care Provision Fund, which targets persons categorised as vulnerable, including the aged, pregnant women, and children under the age of 5. Already, the state’s Health Insurance Agency, through its 236 officers-in-charge and ward development chairmen trained for this purpose, is already registering 20,000 beneficiaries for free healthcare across the LGAs, while N600,000 has been disbursed under the scheme to 196 PHCs, with payment to be sustained monthly with N100,000. And to ease access to public health facilities especially in emergencies, the government distributed 34 tricycle ambulances to rural PHCs to reduce maternal and infant mortality which may have increased due to the remote location of the areas.

ICT-enabled mass transit scheme

On May 11, 2021, the government received high-capacity buses, which it said was the first batch of the technology-enabled vehicles to be used for the state’s Bus Mass Transit Scheme targeted at easing access to safe, public transportation, as well as creating jobs in the value chain while also giving the State Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) a boost. Besides, way back on April 15, 2021, the government launched the Ogun State Digital Economy Infrastructure Project (OGDEIP). The project, which was approved by the Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy, will provide connectivity in key institutions, MDAs, and unconnected regions of the State through improved technology to ease the conduct of work and business both for the private and public sectors.

Empowerment

More than 26,540 jobs were created through the linkage of farmers and youths to agriculture opportunities through intervention programmes. The government provided input and facilitated the crediting of beneficiaries with over N1.5 billion in the CBN Anchor Borrowers Programme and the FGN/IFAD/Ogun State Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP). In addition to this, 11,099 more jobs are set to be created in the current year 2021, as this number of applicants have registered to be first-batch beneficiaries of linkage to inputs and credit in five commodities which include: fisheries (720), oil palm (750), poultry (8,084), piggery (1,245) and cattle (300); under the Expanded CBN/Ogun Anchor Borrowers Programme

In the quest to revamp cocoa production, the government also provided a total of 10,000 hectares of land In Iwoye-Ketu to cocoa farmers and the the initiative is covered under the CBN Anchor Borrowers Programme. Besides,steadily progressing is the Ogun Broiler Project that began with 54 pilot youth beneficiaries who made a cumulative profit of N450,000 in three cycles, with the beneficiaries producing 162,000 broilers and 3.24 metric tonnes of broiler meat. With more than 9,000 individuals showing interest in the project, the stage is set for similar ones in all the 20 local government areas of the state. Within the last two years, the government provided improved planting materials to 40,000 smallholder farmers, while fertilizer was provided to target 10,000 smallholder farmers. For example it facilitated the donation of about 100 million tomato seeds to vegetable farmers across the state. The seeds were donated by the Raw Materials Research Development Council, RMRDC. The state was declared as the perfect location for the proposed Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zone (SAPZ) by the African Development Bank (AfDB). This was jointly re-established in March of 2021 by the AfDB and the International Fund for Agricultural Development during their working visit which applauded the Government’s initiative of the ongoing Ilishan-Remo Agro-Cargo Airport project. As ample evidence of the increasing confidence in the state administration under Governor Abiodun is the ongoing World Bank/Ogun State Economic Transformation Project (OGSTEP), which targets 40,000 farmers in nine priority value chains that include cassava, maize, rice, soya bean, tomatoes and pepper, sesame, fishery and poultry.

The state is  a beneficiary of the World Bank/Nigeria COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus, N-CARES Project which would kick off next month. The programme is funded by the International Development Association (IDA) to support ICT services; water supply, sanitation and waste management; social protection; agricultural extension and research; and banking institutions in the aftermath of the dreaded coronavirus. In the bid to improve access to animal care for animal lovers and breeders, the government facilitated the construction of a primary animal health centre (with equipment and consumables) at Ajegunle Farm Settlement in Odeda LGA. The government together with the Federal Government cleared a total of 1,000 hectares of farmland at Apojola in Odeda LGA. Both governments collaborated to clear 400 hectares, while the remaining 600 were independently cleared by the government, which, in collaboration with the National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA), initiated a 200-trainee soil-testing programme and the gains of the collaboration include the setting up of an integrated farm estate as well as a garri packaging plant. The state government has also constructed 20km access roads in Obafemi-Owode, Yewa North and Ijebu North East LGAs; 14 solar-powered water schemes in Ijebu North East, Obafemi-Owode, Yewa North, Ifo, Ijebu East, Odeda and Odogbolu LGAs; as well as four cassava processing centres at Baara, Alapako-oni, Oke iyemi and Ayetoro, and Rice Processing Centre in Eggua. The government through the Ogun State Agricultural Development Programme (OGADEP) conducted a series of trainings with varied numbers of beneficiaries in different programmes. These include: 3rd batch of Anchor Borrowers Programme cassava beneficiaries in February 2021; 20 OGADEP extension workers and 2,520 farmers on cassava production and weed management, in collaboration with German International Cooperation, GIZ in March 2021; as well as 357 OGADEP extension agents and farmers on Pod Borer Resistance, PBR cowpea in July 2020.

Security

Yewa Crises: In the wake of the herder-farmer crises that rocked the Yewa region of the state, Governor Abiodun briskly set up an intervention squad, as well as a peace-keeping committee. The squad is a multi-agency security troop saddled with the primary responsibility of returning peace to, and maintaining same within the region, while the Committee administered palliatives provided by the State Government to victims of the crises. Displaced victims were also appropriately rehoused, following the express instructions of the governor. In his usual practical terms, on April 1, 2021, Governor Abiodun inaugurated the indigenous security outfit, AMOTEKUN corps, an initiative of all the governors from the South-West to tackle the rising wave of insecurity in the region.

Employment and youth

The special intervention two-year Ogun State Teaching Experience Acquisition Channel (Ogun TEACh) is one of the government’s approach to filling the vacancies in teaching positions of public primary and secondary schools. Employees, who were selected after a transparent selection process, may be accommodated into the full-time teaching service of the state at the expiration of their initial two years. Launched in August 2019, the Ogun Job Portal, another trail-blazer, has continued to connect unemployed persons and business owners seeking expansion, with their desired benefactors. The government has utilised the online platform to get details of applicants for employment and empowerment in different sectors, especially education, security and agriculture. On April 25, 2021, Governor Abiodun announced adoption of 24-year old Oluwatobiloba Ayomide Amusan, an indigene of Ogun State who won in the 2018 Commonwealth and 2019 African championships. With such adoptions, the government is now saddled with certain responsibilities like provision of sponsorship for official sports competitions that Amusan may be interested in the future.

Testimonies

The giant strides of the governor have been attracting recognition from independent and reputable organisations and individuals. For example, he has received, four awards in appreciation of stellar achievements in different sectors biz: Education: 2020 Best Governor on Education in Nigeria by the National Parent-Teacher Association, PTA in November 2020; 2020 Governor of the Year Award by the Nigeria Agriculture Awards, NAA in December 2020. Most Improved State on Agriculture and Economic Empowerment 2020 by Business Day Awards in April 2021; Most Improved State on Security Infrastructure 2019 (based on “100 days” parameters) by Business Day Awards in April 20. Some stakeholders also spoke glowingly on the activities of the administration. Many professionals, artisans, traders and other critical mass in the society applaud the major strides of the governor in strategic sectors. However, they had word of advice for him: remain focused; do not be distracted in view of the bond he signed with the citizens of Ogun as governor.

YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE

We Have Not Had Water Supply In Months ― Abeokuta Residents

In spite of the huge investment in the water sector by the government and international organisations, water scarcity has grown to become a perennial nightmare for residents of Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital. This report x-rays the lives and experiences of residents in getting clean, potable and affordable water amidst the surge of COVID-19 cases in the state…

Selfies, video calls and Chinese documentaries: The things you’ll meet onboard Lagos-Ibadan train

The Lagos-Ibadan railway was inaugurated recently for a full paid operation by the Nigerian Railway Corporation after about a year of free test-run. Our reporter joined the train to and fro Lagos from Ibadan and tells his experience in this report…

[ICYMI] Lekki Shootings: Why We Lied About Our Presence — General Taiwo

The Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry probing the killings at Lekki Toll Gate, on Saturday resumed viewing of the 24hrs footage of the October 20, 2020 shooting of #EndSARS protesters by personnel of the Nigerian Army…

ICYMI: How We Carried Out The 1993 Nigerian Airways Hijack —Ogunderu

On Monday, October 25, 1993, in the heat of June 12 annulment agitations, four Nigerian youngsters, Richard Ajibola Ogunderu, Kabir Adenuga, Benneth Oluwadaisi and Kenny Razak-Lawal, did the unthinkable! They hijacked an Abuja-bound aircraft, the Nigerian Airways airbus A310, and diverted it to Niger Republic. How did they so it? Excerpts…