“This budget strives to balance fiscal responsibility with improved public service delivery, ensuring resources are used effectively to maximise prosperity for all, by tackling immediate issues like unemployment and poverty, while investing in long-term growth. It serves as a roadmap for economic and social progress. Its vision is to inspire hope, foster unity, and strengthen public trust in the government’s ability to manage resources responsibly and guide the State toward a more equitable and sustainable future.”
By all parameters, Prince Dapo Abiodun today can be rated as a shining star in Nigeria’s political firmament in terms of the remarkable achievements recorded by his administration in Ogun State, which have remained unparalleled in the Gateway State’s political history in over three decades.
A proponent of leadership by example, Abiodun, through his inclusive approach to leadership and fiscal discipline in governance, is at the vanguard of a transformational agenda aimed at rubbishing the lamentations of previous and current leaders about the paucity of funds through the holistic transformation of Ogun State’s revenue generation system for the improved well-being of millions of the hitherto poor and hopeless indigenes and residents of the socio-economically rich state.
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The highly intellectually resourceful and politically sagacious governor is, despite the volatility and uninspiring turf of the polity that is making other leaders to give excuses, bracing all odds to demonstrate to the people in the state that positive changes can be made if leaders prioritise fiscal discipline and deploy available resources to projects and programmes that focus directly on the needy. Indeed, the close to six years of Prince Abiodun’s administration have clearly demonstrated, as a former US President, John Quincy Adams, said that “if your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”
With his visionary Infrastructure, Social Welfare and well-being, Education, Youth Empowerment and Agriculture (ISEYA) mantra unveiled in 2019, Prince Abiodun has since then totally redefined political governance values through inclusive strategy and is now deepening, at faster velocity, his administration’s well-packaged dividends of democracy to the grassroots in all the senatorial zones of the state.
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A cursory appraisal of the Prince Abiodun-led administration’s scorecard on the five-thrust mantra shows that the government has radically transformed the state’s infrastructure, particularly in terms of renovating, rehabilitating and starting scores of capital projects in the health and transportation sectors with attendant positive effects on the people, and socio-economic performance of the state based on the current growth rate of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Most significantly, despite distractions by political ‘enemies’ of his administration, the princely Abiodun has shunned political vendetta in his approach to infrastructure projects across the senatorial zones by upgrading or awarding contracts for new road networks to ensure that over 120 communities in the state are accessible to investors and enable the people to take out their products/produces for marketing. Curiously, some of these road projects extend to the streets of his political detractors!
Similarly, conscious of the increasing challenge of food insecurity and poverty level in the country, the governor has done so much to develop the state’s agricultural sector through sundry initiatives, including the Ogun State Agricultural Policy and Ogun State Livestock Development Policy, Ogun State Investment Promotion Agency (OGUNIPA), Ogun State Business Executive Council (OGUNBEC) and the multibillion naira Gateway International Airport, an agro-cargo facility, all of which today are transforming Ogun State into a hub of investments and food exports.
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To encourage the state’s workforce and improve their capacities, the administration has promoted teachers and other civil servants as a way of encouraging them for more work and also organised series of capacity-building programmes and workshops for the workers across the sectorial value chains to enhance their skills for improved productivity on a sustainable basis. The governor’s futuristic approach to governance has further been exemplified in the fiscal and socio-economic plans for the people of Ogun State in his 2025 budget proposals as reeled out in his speech while laying the 2025 Appropriation Bill before the state’s House of Assembly last Wednesday, 4 December.
The Appropriation Bill titled “Budget of Hope and Prosperity” highlighted the governor’s sincerity of purpose and zeal to go the extra mile and ensure that, come rain or shine, Ogun people’s interests are his primary focus, after consistently leading them through the journey of greater hope for a better tomorrow over the past five years. An analysis of the budgetary provisions for capital and recurrent expenditures in the fiscal year, totalling N1.054 trillion, with provisions of N453.56 billion for recurrent and N600.98 billion for capital expenditures for 2025, derives from the prevailing micro and macroeconomic dynamics in the national and sub-national politico-economic landscape and the relentlessness of the Abiodun-led government to consolidate on the achievements of the past and create a swifter momentum for the ongoing efforts aimed at sustaining Ogun State among the fastest growing sub-national governments in the country.
As the governor confirmed during his presentation of the proposed budget to the House of Assembly, the Appropriation Bill reflects current challenges, essential reforms, and the need for inclusive, diversified, and sustainable growth. It aims to stimulate economic growth, reduce inequality, and improve citizens’ well-being. According to him, in its developmental thrusts, the budgetary proposal prioritises infrastructure, healthcare, housing, security, education, youth empowerment, job creation, and agriculture, with policies designed to drive recovery and transformation during economic turbulence.
The governor said: “This budget strives to balance fiscal responsibility with improved public service delivery, ensuring resources are used effectively to maximise prosperity for all, by tackling immediate issues like unemployment and poverty, while investing in long-term growth. It serves as a roadmap for economic and social progress. Its vision is to inspire hope, foster unity, and strengthen public trust in the government’s ability to manage resources responsibly and guide the State toward a more equitable and sustainable future.
“As a responsive and responsible government, our vision for prosperity is rooted in building a robust and diversified economy capable of navigating contemporary challenges. By leveraging our diverse economic potential, we are creating a dynamic system that adapts, evolves, and withstands emerging shocks. This budget is our commitment to fostering sustainable growth, promoting equity, and strengthening resilience through pragmatic and inclusive policies.”
As the developmental impacts of yearly budgets in most climes globally are largely determined by capital allocations, the Prince Abiodun-led administration’s key physical capital projects and funding allocations to them in the proposed 2025 budget attest to the visionary leadership of the governor and his team. This is especially true at a time when the dynamics in the domestic and global economic landscapes require that funding commitments should be targeted at projects, particularly infrastructure. In terms of allocations of funds in the budget, the governor proposed 17 per cent of the budget to the education Sector; 13 per cent to the health sector; 6 per cent each to housing and community development, and agriculture and industry; 27 per cent to infrastructure; and 4 per cent to social protection.
Specifically, the message of the governor to the House of Assembly in the Appropriation Bill is that the agenda of taking Ogun State, which ranked second in the IGR among the 36 states in the recently published IGR data by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), requires more funding in key sectors with great potential for the state’s sustainable growth in the future. For instance, nothing attests to this point more than the 73 per cent allocation to the key sectors in the proposed budget. Another area the amiable and people-oriented Prince Abiodun has demonstrated political sagacity in his desire to transform Ogun State in the proposed budget is the environment-friendly component of the 2025 fiscal proposals.
Though his administration has over the past two years been prioritising save environment-friendly initiatives in its policies, the governor, again, clearly sent the message of ‘health is wealth’ or what the Yoruba call ‘ilera l’oro’ to the world that the government would not go back in its energy transition programme for sustainable healthier future for the indigenes and residents of the state.
As space constraints will not enable any analyst to fully cover the remarkable strides of Prince Abiodun in the close to six years of his championing the agenda of ‘real change and prosperity’ in Ogun State in this type of peace, one area that the governor has surpassed his successors in governance rating so far is his involvement of traditional and spiritual leaders in the rebuilding drive of the state.
In fact, nothing attests to the governor’s rich cultural value orientation than the comments by the elders in the state barely 24 hours after the presentation of the proposed budget that, come rain or shine, they were ready to give him all necessary support to achieve the collective dream of transforming Ogun State to the number one most developed state in the country.
In his remarks on the projects and programmes outlined by the governor for implementation in 2025, the Chairman, Governor’s Elders Advisory Council, Chief Olu Okuboyejo, said: ”Today, at the presentation of that budget, the synergy, affection, and closeness of the Legsilature and the Executive were demonstrated through the address of the Speaker and the response of the Governor. So, it gladdens our hearts to see that the relationship exists.” Wow!
In concluding this analysis on the Appropriation Bill 2025, one can clearly say that Prince Abiodun has again demonstrated his clairvoyance in the journey towards people-centric political governance in the country, and his desire to surpass Ogun State indigenes and residents’ expectations in terms of delivering lasting democratic dividends for all, and providing strong platforms for the future generations to fulfil their life ambitions.
Lekan Adeniran is the Chief Press Secretary to the Ogun State governor.
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