Some people characterized Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo as “stingy” when he took office.
It was a term created by people who anticipated that government funds would keep going to godfathers and political power brokers.
However, after months in office, that particular “stinginess” is becoming a golden virtue that is driving a transformation in public utility, healthcare, education, and rural infrastructure.
Kogi may be on the cusp of a new age of significant development if compassion toward the populace is translated into stinginess toward political rent-seekers.
The Kogi State Government recently received many transformers to improve the state’s electrical supply, with an emphasis on rural areas. For many years, a significant chunk of our rural areas were literally and economically in the dark. The tide is now shifting.
Electricity serves as a catalyst for rural development and is more than just light. Small-scale food processors are now able to add value to agricultural products including rice, groundnuts, yams, and cassava thanks to improved power supplies. This will lower post-harvest losses and increase household income. This is liberating for craftspeople who rely on electricity to operate their enterprises, 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 resources.
Because 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 prevented.
We refer to what some people term stinginess as surgical prudence. The government is diverting money from unnecessary spending to areas where it is most needed.
In the healthcare industry, the same revolutionary tale is being told. More than 200 Primary Health Centers are undergoing renovations throughout the state’s 21 Local Government Areas. However, this goes beyond a simple patch job or coat of paint. By equipping these health centers to manage secondary healthcare functions, rural people will have access to life-saving services. This is without a doubt the boldest investment Kogi State has ever made in its rural healthcare system.
Shining new health centers are emerging from the ground in villages like Otafun, Ayede, and many others that have never experienced governmental investment.
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Basic medical care is now accessible to residents without requiring them to travel for hours. Prenatal care, vaccinations, basic procedures, and chronic disease therapy are increasingly accessible.
Kogi is discreetly creating a healthcare safety net throughout her most distant towns at a time when many governments are fighting to maintain urban facilities.
The governor’s “stinginess” is also helping education. Consider Takete-Ide’s Government Day Secondary School. Since their founding in 1980, the community-built classrooms have served as a symbol of grassroots sacrifice for many years.
However, something changed two months ago. Modern classrooms with tiled floors, strong roofs, attractive walls, electric fixtures, and safe doors and windows were delivered to the school.
Teachers and pupils felt the government’s presence for the first time in more than 40 years. Furthermore, this is not a singular occurrence. Similar changes are taking place throughout the state, transforming schools from temporary sheds into actual educational hubs.
But buildings aren’t the only thing involved. Under Governor Ododo, the State Government proclaimed education a public right and supported that claim with action. The state no longer charges tuition for elementary and secondary education. Additionally, the government covers the cost of internal and external exams like WAEC, NECO, and others. Bursaries are being given to tertiary students to enable them concentrate on their studies rather than their tuition, so they are not excluded.
This implies that impoverished students sense the support of the government from the first day of elementary school to the last day in a university lecture hall. This is the ideal of governance: removing obstacles rather than adding new ones. 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.
The changes are not limited to healthcare, education, or power. Additionally, the state’s urban and rural infrastructure is getting never-before-seen attention. 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.
To serve as many people as possible, every kobo is being stretched. Contractors are chosen based on their skills, not their connections. Projects are made for practical purposes, not for publicity.
Under Governor Ododo, security—another crucial aspect of development—has also significantly increased.
In addition to supporting the deployment and training of community-based security personnel, his administration has heavily invested in the acquisition of supplies for security organizations. As 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. Once-violent and bandit-prone flashpoints are now experiencing a relative peace. This enhanced security environment is not a coincidence; rather, it is the outcome of intentional, targeted investment in preserving lives and livelihoods.
Additionally, through the Kogi Enterprise Development Agency (KEDA), the Governor has placed 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 funds. Aspiring business owners throughout the state are receiving soft loans, training, and technical assistance. This “stinginess” places confidence at the core of the economy and capital in the hands of the people. Under Governor Ododo, generating wealth at the local level is a movement rather than merely a policy.
Additionally, the Kogi Geographic Information System (KOGIS) has been used by his government to automate land administration, increasing the transparency, accessibility, and investor-friendliness of land documents. This will increase the value of real estate and give the state steady income, which is another outcome of wise leadership.
Governor Ododo takes a straightforward but uncommon stance: if something doesn’t help the people, it isn’t worth their money. It is best to imitate this stinginess.
The people who formerly criticized him for not “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 many, even if it means disappointing the self-centered few, at a time when some politicians still think that governance is about appeasing a select few.
When stinginess is used to shield the commonwealth from the avaricious grasp of self-serving political manipulators, he has reinvented it as a public virtue.
So, does Kogi benefit from Ododo’s frugal behavior? The solution can be 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 Kogi will always have governors who are giving to the general good but frugal to the self-centered.
