There is a significant difference between occupying public office and using the opportunity of public service to establish institutions capable of delivering value long after an administration has left office.
Governor Dapo Abiodun’s signing of the Ogun State Education and Skills Trust Fund Bill into law represents a step in that direction. The legislation establishes a statutory framework for mobilising additional resources to strengthen education and skills development across the state.
Its significance goes beyond the creation of another government fund. At its core, the law seeks to provide a more sustainable financing mechanism for education and skills development beyond the limitations of the state’s annual budget cycle.
Under the framework, resources from the Fund can support educational infrastructure, bursaries, teacher development, maintenance of learning facilities, vocational and technical education, and skills development through both formal and informal learning systems.
It also provides an avenue to strengthen Ogun’s traditional apprenticeship system by making it more structured, relevant and responsive to the needs of a changing economy.
That gives the legislation its potential long-term value.
Government projects are often closely associated with the administrations that initiate them. Institutions created through legislation are different. Their existence can extend beyond individual political tenures, although their effectiveness will ultimately depend on sustained funding, responsible governance, accountability and effective implementation by successive administrations.
The passage of the law therefore creates a framework for maintaining investment in education and skills over time. But legislation alone cannot guarantee results. The real test will be how effectively the Fund is managed and what measurable outcomes it produces.
Investing in People, Not Just Infrastructure
Education is more than a social service. It is an investment in the productive capacity of society.
Roads connect communities. Industries create jobs. Infrastructure creates opportunities. But it is educated, skilled and adaptable people who operate industries, manage businesses, deliver essential services and sustain economic growth.
The Education and Skills Trust Fund can therefore be viewed as an investment in the human capital needed to make other development investments more productive and sustainable.
One of its major areas of focus is educational infrastructure.
Across Ogun State, resources can be directed towards rehabilitating, renovating and equipping classrooms, laboratories, libraries and other learning facilities in line with the Fund’s approved priorities.
Equally important is maintenance.
Public investment does not end when a school building is commissioned. Facilities require continuous maintenance, while equipment must be repaired, replaced or upgraded when necessary. Without proper maintenance, infrastructure designed to support learning can gradually lose its value.
The bursary component could also help expand access to education for students facing financial difficulties. When properly administered, such support can reduce the financial barriers that prevent young people from completing their education.
But access and infrastructure alone do not guarantee quality education.
Teachers Remain at the Centre
At the heart of every effective education system are teachers.
The Fund’s provision for teacher development creates an additional opportunity to support professional development, modern teaching methods and the acquisition of relevant instructional skills.
A well-equipped classroom matters, but the quality of the learning experience also depends on the competence, preparation and continuous development of the teacher standing in front of that classroom.
Modernising Ogun’s Apprenticeship Tradition
Perhaps one of the most distinctive aspects of the legislation is its focus on 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 built livelihoods through apprenticeship.
The goal should not be to replace this system but to strengthen and modernise it.
Structured training, improved equipment, access to technology, certification, occupational standards and basic business-management skills could make apprenticeship more productive while providing beneficiaries with clearer pathways to employment and entrepreneurship.
This is particularly important for a state with a growing industrial and commercial economy.
Modern industries need technicians, machine operators, electricians, welders, mechanics, fabricators, builders, digital specialists and other categories of skilled workers.
A skills-development system connected to the needs of employers can help narrow the gap between what people are trained to do and what the labour market actually requires.
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 such interventions can potentially be better organised and expanded.
However, the more important question is what happens after training.
The number of people trained is only one measure of a successful skills programme. Other indicators include whether beneficiaries acquire recognised competencies, secure employment, establish viable businesses and achieve sustainable incomes.
That is where skills development can produce broader economic benefits.
A young person with a marketable skill can become an employee, artisan, service provider or entrepreneur. When that enterprise grows and creates jobs, the benefits extend beyond the original beneficiary to other members of the community.
Education, Skills and Social Stability
Expanding access to education and productive economic opportunities also has a social dimension.
Unemployment and criminality have complex causes, and vocational training alone cannot solve insecurity. However, providing young people with meaningful opportunities to learn, acquire skills and participate legitimately in the economy can contribute to wider efforts to strengthen inclusion and social stability.
The Fund also aligns with the interconnected objectives of Ogun State’s ISEYA development agenda.
It supports Infrastructure through investment in educational and vocational facilities; Social Well-being through measures such as bursaries and improved access; Education through better learning environments and teacher development; and Youth Empowerment and Job Creation through vocational training and skills acquisition.
It can also contribute to Agriculture by strengthening technical and entrepreneurial capacity across the agricultural value chain.
A Role for the Private Sector
Another opportunity created by the Fund is greater private-sector participation.
Government cannot independently meet every emerging need in education and skills development. Ogun’s industrial and business communities have a direct interest in having access to a skilled workforce.
Their contribution could extend beyond financial support to include equipment, technical expertise, internships, apprenticeships and industry-based training.
Such partnerships can help ensure that training programmes remain connected to changing labour-market demands.
The Real Test Begins Now
Despite its promise, the passage of the legislation is only the beginning.
The credibility and effectiveness of the Fund will depend heavily on how it is administered. Transparency, accountability, equitable distribution and measurable outcomes must remain central to its implementation.
Resources should be allocated according to clearly defined priorities, while projects and beneficiaries should be monitored to determine whether the intended results are actually being achieved.
The Fund should also complement, rather than replace, Ogun State’s regular education budget. Its purpose should be 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 establishing a statutory foundation for sustained investment in education and skills beyond individual projects or a single administration.
The law does not guarantee success. Its long-term value will depend on whether it is adequately funded, transparently managed and effectively implemented by successive governments.
If those conditions are met, the Fund could become a lasting component 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, therefore, may not be that one administration has solved Ogun’s education challenges.
Rather, it is the creation of a legal mechanism through which future governments can continue working to address them.
A building can be completed. A project can be commissioned. But an institution, when properly established, funded and sustained, can serve generations.
That is the promise embedded in the Education and Skills Trust Fund: building Ogun’s future beyond projects by investing in the people who will ultimately drive that future.
Hon. Akinmade is Special Adviser to Governor Dapo Abiodun.
