Understanding Governor Ododo’s governance masterstroke
By Jibrin Isah Egbolo
According to Walter Rodney in his seminal work, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, development is a continuous and gradual process of growth and advancement toward a more useful and productive state. It involves improving, expanding, and refining systems, institutions, and skills to meet specific societal expectations. Development manifests at the individual, societal, and governmental levels.
Since its creation, Kogi State has consistently strived toward modernisation. Successive administrations made commendable efforts, yet these initiatives rarely delivered significant reductions in poverty or meaningful improvements in the quality of life for the majority of citizens. That trajectory changed with the emergence of His Excellency, Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo.
With a profound understanding that poverty is a fertile incubator for criminality — manifesting in kidnapping, cultism, armed robbery, and drug abuse — Governor Ododo has placed security and human development at the centre of his administration. Under his leadership, the state is no longer enmeshed in pervasive violence and crisis. His proactive measures have restored relative peace and stability, allowing citizens to go about their daily lives with greater confidence.
Governor Ododo’s vision resonates strongly with the dreams of Kogi State’s founding fathers: a united, peaceful state where every citizen enjoys the dividends of even development without hindrance. Peace remains one of humanity’s highest values, yet governance indices are often misleading. They are distorted by false ethnic dichotomies, chauvinism, correlated errors, economic and social reluctance, political opportunism, and religious fundamentalism.
By prioritising practical solutions over rhetoric, His Excellency has emerged as a true development economist. He has tackled the structural plagues that undermine living standards and erode social cohesion. His leadership strategy focuses relentlessly on enhancing the potential of the masses through improved healthcare, quality education, and better working conditions — whether in the public or private sector.
Governor Ododo employs rigorous, evidence-based approaches to state development: intertemporal optimisation for project evaluation, combined qualitative and quantitative methods drawn from growth theory, poverty and inequality analysis, human capital development, and institutional strengthening. These methods are not abstract; they are delivering tangible results.
The proliferation of socio-ethnic and regional organisations pushing divisive agendas has been significantly neutralised under his watch. Instead, he maintains direct, close contact with the people, gaining first-hand insight into their hopes, aspirations, and challenges. Kogi State is no longer wobbling on unsteady legs of development and economic growth.
His administration demonstrates a deep understanding of poverty dynamics, gender issues, the unique characteristics of Nigerian society, the need to abolish harmful cultural practices, and the critical importance of equity across our diverse population. In the local context of governance, Kogi citizens deserve the best, for they ultimately hold the levers of power that ensure long-term sustainability.
Governor Ododo’s clear grasp of how poverty exploits vulnerability — often leading to broken families, early or forced marriages, and social isolation — has led him to design mitigation strategies rather than the aggravating policies that characterised some past leaderships.
It is therefore logical and patriotic to urge those engaged in falsehood, campaigns of calumny, and baseless criticism to desist. They should instead lend their support to the continuity of this purposeful leadership. As the saying goes: He who tears the garment of honour wears the mask of disgrace.
Jibrin Isah Egbolo is a businessman and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress in the Igalamela/Odolu local government area of Kogi State.
