Some people referred to Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo as “stingy” when he first took office.
The term was created by individuals who anticipated that government funds would keep going to godfathers and political power brokers.
However, months into his term, that particular “stinginess” is becoming a golden virtue, driving a transformation in public utility, healthcare, education, and rural infrastructure.
If generosity to the populace is a result of being frugal with political rent-seekers, Kogi might be entering a new phase of significant growth.
The Kogi State Government just received many transformers to improve the state’s electrical supply, with an emphasis on rural areas. Much of our rural communities were literally and economically in the dark for decades. The tide is now shifting that way.
Rural development is accelerated by electricity, which is more than just light. Small-scale food processors may now enhance the value of agricultural products including rice, groundnuts, yams, and cassava thanks to a better power supply. In addition to raising household income, this will lower post-harvest losses. This is emancipation for craftspeople who rely on electricity to operate their companies, such as mechanics, welders, hairdressers, and tailors.
By enabling them to function from their local communities, it deters the rural-urban movement that has long deprived our villages of their young people and productive potential.
Since many water pumping systems and boreholes rely on power, access to clean water will also be improved. As a result, women and children who must go great distances to gather water are less burdened, and more significantly, waterborne illnesses like cholera and typhoid are avoided.
We refer to what others term stinginess as surgical prudence. The government is rerouting monies from unnecessary spending to areas where they are most needed.
In healthcare, the same revolutionary tale is being told. More than 200 primary health centers are undergoing renovations throughout the state’s 21 LGAs. However, this is more than a simple patch job or coat of paint. By equipping these health centers to perform secondary healthcare functions, rural people will have access to life-saving services. Unquestionably, this is the most bold investment Kogi State has ever made in its rural healthcare system.
Shining new health centers are popping up in villages like Otafun, Ayede, and many others that had never experienced governmental investment.
Basic medical care is now accessible to residents without requiring them to travel hours. We can now access prenatal care, vaccinations, minor procedures, and chronic disease therapy.
In her most rural regions, Kogi is discreetly creating a healthcare safety net at a time when many governments are fighting to maintain urban facilities.
The governor’s “stinginess” is helping education as well. For example, Takete-Ide’s Government Day Secondary School. Established in 1980, the community-built classrooms have remained as a tribute to grassroots sacrifice for decades.
However, two months ago, a shift occurred. Modern classrooms with tile floors, strong roofs, attractive walls, electric fixtures, and safe doors and windows were delivered to the school.
The professors and pupils felt the government’s presence for the first time in more than 40 years. Furthermore, this is not a unique occurrence. Similar changes are being made throughout the state, transforming schools from temporary sheds into actual educational hubs.
It goes beyond buildings, though. Governor Ododo’s State Government has proclaimed education a public right and supported that claim with action. The state has eliminated tuition for elementary and secondary school. Internal and external exams like WAEC, NECO, and others are also funded by the government. Bursaries are being awarded to tertiary students to help them keep focused on their studies rather than their tuition costs, so they are not excluded.
This indicates that the impoverished children sense the support of the government from the first day of elementary school to the last day in a university lecture hall. Reducing burdens rather than adding new ones is what governance ought to be. The Governor’s refusal to play the game of “settling” the politically entitled at the expense of the voiceless masses is the only reason it’s feasible.
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The change extends beyond healthcare, education, and electricity. Unprecedented attention is also being paid to the state’s urban and rural infrastructure. The governor’s strategy is sustained and strategic, ranging from road developments that connect farming areas to markets to the ongoing erosion control efforts in portions of Kogi East, Kogi West, and Kogi Central.
In order to serve as many people as possible, every kobo is being stretched. Competency, not connection, is the deciding factor in the selection of contractors. The goal of a project is utility, not publicity.
Under Governor Ododo, security—another crucial aspect of development—has also significantly improved.
His administration has supported the deployment and training of community-based security personnel and made significant investments in the acquisition of supplies for security organizations. Being the first line of defense in their communities, these local officers have played a crucial role in stopping criminal activities before they get out of hand. Formerly violent and bandit locations are now seeing a relative peace. This better security environment is not a coincidence; rather, it is the outcome of intentional, targeted investment in preserving lives and livelihoods.
Through the Kogi Enterprise Development Agency (KEDA), the governor has also given his support behind the production of wealth. The government is empowering small and medium-sized enterprises, particularly those led by women and young people, by providing the agency with sufficient financing. All around the state, prospective business owners are receiving soft loans, training, and technical assistance. This is the “stinginess” that places confidence at the core of the economy and capital in the hands of the people. Under Governor Ododo, creating wealth at the grassroots level is a movement rather than merely a policy.
The Kogi Geographic Information System (KOGIS) has also been used by his government to digitize land administration, increasing the transparency, accessibility, and investor-friendliness of land paperwork. This will release the value of real estate and give the state steady money, which is another outcome of wise leadership.
Governor Ododo’s strategy is straightforward but uncommon: if it doesn’t help the people, it isn’t worth their money. It’s best to imitate this stinginess.
The critics who formerly griped that he wasn’t “spending” enough on pointless items are now facing an administration that is not only spending, but doing so prudently.
Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo is demonstrating that true leadership is about standing with the majority, even if it means disappointing the picky few, at a time when some politicians still think that governance is about appeasing a select few.
By using stinginess to shield the commonwealth from the avaricious grasp of self-serving political manipulators, he has reinvented it as a public virtue.
Does Kogi benefit from Ododo’s frugal behavior? The solution is found in the newly illuminated villages, the renovated health facilities, the redesigned schools, the relieved expressions of parents who are no longer responsible for school fees, and the capable hands of farmers and artisans who are at last reaping the benefits of democracy.
I hope that Kogi will always have governors who are giving to the general good but frugal to the self-centered.
