Abiodun’s Education Trust Fund: Building Ogun’s future beyond projects, By Kayode Akinmade

There is a defining difference between occupying public office and using the privilege of office to establish institutions capable of serving the public long after the officeholder has left.

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Governor Dapo Abiodun’s assent to the Ogun State Education and Skills Trust Fund Bill marks an important step in that direction. By signing the Bill into law, the governor has established a statutory framework for mobilising additional resources for education and skills development in Ogun State.

The significance of the new law lies not simply in the creation of another government fund, but in establishing a more durable financing mechanism for education and skills development beyond the State’s regular annual budgetary process.

The Fund is designed to support educational infrastructure, bursaries, teacher development and support, maintenance of educational facilities, vocational and technical training, and skills development through both formal and informal learning systems. It also provides a framework for re-engineering the traditional apprenticeship system to make it more structured, relevant and responsive to contemporary economic needs.

This gives the legislation its potential legacy value.

Government projects are often associated with the administrations that initiate and complete them. An institution established by law is different. Its continuity can extend beyond a particular tenure, although its effectiveness will depend on subsequent administrations, funding, governance, accountability and implementation.

The law, therefore, creates a framework through which investment in education and skills can be sustained over time. Passing it does not, by itself, guarantee funding, successful implementation or improved outcomes. Those will depend on how the Fund is administered in the years ahead.

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Education is not simply a social service. It is an investment in the productive capacity of society.

Roads connect communities. Industries create employment. Infrastructure opens up economic opportunities. But it is educated, skilled and adaptable people who operate industries, manage enterprises, provide essential services and sustain development.

The Education and Skills Trust Fund is therefore about strengthening the human capital required to make other development investments productive and sustainable.

One of its important areas of intervention is educational infrastructure.

Across Ogun State, resources from the Fund can be directed towards the rehabilitation, renovation and equipping of classrooms, laboratories, libraries and other learning facilities, subject to the Fund’s governing framework and approved priorities.

Its focus on maintenance is equally important. Public investment does not end when a building is commissioned. Facilities must be maintained, equipment replaced or upgraded where necessary, and learning environments kept functional if they are to continue serving the purpose for which they were established.

The bursary component also has the potential to widen educational access for students who require financial assistance. Properly administered, such support can help reduce financial barriers that prevent some young people from continuing their education.

But infrastructure and access alone cannot guarantee quality education.

Teachers remain central to the learning process.

The Fund’s provision for teacher development creates an additional avenue for supporting professional development, improved instructional methods and the acquisition of contemporary teaching skills. The quality of the classroom experience ultimately depends not only on the physical environment, but also on the competence and preparedness of the teacher.

Perhaps the most distinctive feature of the legislation is its attention to skills development and informal learning.

Ogun has a long tradition of apprenticeship and practical skills acquisition. Generations of mechanics, welders, electricians, fabricators, artisans, traders and other skilled workers have learned through apprenticeship arrangements.

The objective should not be to displace that tradition, but to modernise and strengthen it.

Structured training, improved equipment, relevant technology, certification, occupational standards and basic enterprise-management skills can help make apprenticeship more productive and give beneficiaries clearer pathways to employment and entrepreneurship.

This is particularly relevant to Ogun’s expanding industrial and commercial economy.

Modern industries require technicians, machine operators, electricians, welders, mechanics, fabricators, builders, digital specialists and other categories of skilled workers. A skills-development system informed by the requirements of employers can help reduce the disconnect between training and the labour market.

The Abiodun administration has stated that more than 9,000 young people have already received training in various vocational skills. The new law provides a statutory framework through which skills-development interventions can be further organised, supported and potentially expanded.

The important issue going forward is what happens after training.

The number of people trained is only one measure of a skills programme. Other measures include the acquisition of recognised competencies, access to employment, establishment of viable enterprises and the ability of beneficiaries to earn sustainable incomes.

That is where skills development can have a wider economic impact.

A young person who acquires a marketable skill can become an employee, an artisan, a service provider or an entrepreneur. Where a business succeeds and creates additional jobs, the impact extends beyond the original beneficiary to other members of the community.

There is also a social-stability dimension to expanding access to education and productive economic opportunities.

Unemployment and criminality have complex and multiple causes, and skills training alone cannot resolve insecurity. However, providing young people with meaningful opportunities for education, skills acquisition and legitimate economic participation can form part of a broader effort to strengthen social inclusion and stability.

The Education and Skills Trust Fund also fits within the interconnected objectives of Ogun State’s ISEYA development agenda.

It advances Infrastructure through investment in educational and vocational facilities. It supports Social Well-being through measures such as bursaries and improved access. It strengthens Education through investment in learning environments and teacher development. It promotes Youth Empowerment and Job Creation through vocational training and skills acquisition. It can also support Agriculture by helping develop technical and entrepreneurial capacity across the agricultural value chain.

Another important dimension is the opportunity for private-sector participation.

Government cannot, on its own, meet every emerging need in education and skills development. Ogun’s industrial and business community has a direct interest in the availability of a skilled workforce and can potentially contribute through funding, equipment, technical expertise, internships, apprenticeships and industry-based training.

Such partnerships can also help ensure that skills programmes remain connected to changing labour-market requirements.

But legislation is only the beginning.

The credibility and effectiveness of the Fund will ultimately depend on how it is administered. Transparency, accountability, equitable distribution and measurable outcomes must remain central to its implementation. Resources should be deployed according to clearly established priorities, while projects and beneficiaries should be monitored to determine whether intended outcomes are being achieved.

The Fund should also complement, rather than replace, the State’s regular education budget. Its purpose is to provide an additional financing mechanism for education and skills development, not to relieve government of its existing responsibility to fund the sector.

Ultimately, the significance of Governor Abiodun’s intervention lies in creating the statutory foundation for sustained investment in education and skills beyond individual projects or a single administration. The law does not guarantee the outcome; its enduring value will depend on whether it is properly funded, transparently managed and effectively implemented by successive governments.

If that happens, the Fund could become a lasting part of Ogun’s education architecture, supporting better-equipped schools, stronger teacher development, wider educational access, relevant skills acquisition and clearer pathways to employment and enterprise.

The strongest legacy claim, therefore, is not that one administration has solved Ogun’s education challenges. It is that the Abiodun administration has created a legal mechanism through which future governments can continue to address them.

A building can be completed and a project commissioned. An institution, properly established and sustained, can serve generations.

That is the promise embedded in the Education and Skills Trust Fund: building Ogun’s future beyond projects by creating a framework for sustained investment in the people who will ultimately drive that future.

*Mr Akinmade is the Special Advisef to Ogun State Governor on Information and Strategy