Ogun State: Why Dapo Abiodun must take his time!

The new Executive Governor of Ogun State, Prince Dapo Abiodun took the baton of leadership in Ogun state via the grace of God and hardwork of men.

The immediate past governor of Ogun State, Senator Ibikunle Amosun has driven the state through various policies and programmes of his own which has had both positive and negative effect on the state. Many till today still argue that the negative effects outweighed the positive effects.

Prince Dapo Abiodun is an astute business man who's success in the private sector is evident to everybody in the country. Going into politics has never been seen as a business for Dapo Abiodun but a call to serve. This has made him to have an edge to professionally handle Ogun state from his vast experience and success in the private sector.

A wise person doesn't just thread a path because it appears clear. A wise person think and watches every step he takes on a particular path especially if the part is a new one, so as not to fall into unseen bobby traps.

In Ogun, the immediate past government awarded capital projects in the excess of N300bn. Some of these projects have been paid for in full while others have not been paid for in full or at all. An example is the Somorin to Kemta road which was awarded to Zebragold for N3.6bn and nothing was done. Another example is the Sango Ojodu road which the government initially budgeted and awarded for N12bn and as at today, it has undergone variations with the cost rising to N70bn and N22bn already expended. The same can also be said of the Ilaro Owode road and a host of other capital projects.

A government with a sense of direction and sincerity would naturally check into these abnormalities so as to be accountable to it's people and deliver premium dividends of democracy according to what the people want and not what the government want.

Another aspect of the state's economy where Prince Dapo Abiodun is threading carefully is the business deal with the state and the world bank which involves agriculture and rural road construction. The immediate past government negotiated a world bank loan of $350m and processed the accessing of a $4m rice revolution loan without making available structures that would enable the government to pay its own counterpart fund to access the loans which will bring rural development to the state, reduce rural to urban migration, revolutionise the agricultural sector in the state thereby providing employment and creating thousands of jobs.

The world bank has revealed that any state with shady financial deals in order to obtain it's loan will be blacklisted. The story of the fake rice pyramid got to the world bank and the present governor is doing everything within its power to position Ogun state as a sincere state that is committed to the well-being of its people.

Lastly, the government of Prince Dapo Abiodun is planning and achieving the timely payment of key recurrent expenditure which inpacts directly in key citizens of the state. Recurrent expenditures such as salary payment, deductions, pension and gratuities, leave bonuses, subvebtion to secondary and tertiary schools etc. These are areas that have ran into comatose during the immediate past administration which the present government of Prince Dapo Abiodun is bringing back to life.

It's better for Prince Dapo Abiodun to take his time to sharpen his axe than rush to the bush to cut a tree with a blunt axe. He will never cut down a tree with a blunt axe. In Abraham Lincoln's quote, he said that he'd spend more time sharpening than cutting. But at the end of the day, he cut down that tree!