For many of the former political office-holders who gathered at the Oba’s Complex, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, the cheques handed to them were worth much more than the figures written on them. They represented something that money alone cannot adequately measure: relief after years of waiting, recognition after service and, perhaps most importantly, the restoration of hope.
The Ogun State Government’s payment of ₦3.503 billion in outstanding severance allowances to former political office-holders across the state’s 20 local government councils and Local Council Development Areas is therefore more than another government expenditure. It is a revealing moment in the character of governance and the meaning of leadership.
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The beneficiaries, comprising former chairmen, vice-chairmen, secretaries to local governments, supervisors, special advisers and councillors who served between 2016 and 2024, had waited for years for their legitimate entitlements. The liabilities covered 526 beneficiaries from the 2016–2019 tenure and 516 from the 2020–2024 tenure.
For some of them, the passage of time had steadily eroded the expectation that the money would ever come. Then came the intervention.
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Rather than allowing the obligation to disappear into the maze of inherited liabilities, the administration of Governor Dapo Abiodun subjected the claims to verification and reconciliation and proceeded to settle the verified obligations. That decision is where the story moves beyond the numbers.
Government is often discussed in terms of roads, bridges, schools, hospitals, investment figures and budgetary allocations. Those things matter. But there is another, less visible dimension of governance: what government does for people whose immediate needs do not necessarily make headlines. The former local government office-holders fall into that category.
They served their communities, left office and waited for what was due to them. For years, their claims remained unresolved. By the time the cheques arrived, some had moved from expectation to resignation.
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The words of Emiola Ghazal, former Chairman of Ijebu Ode Local Government, captured the emotion of the moment.
“This is unprecedented in Ogun State. We never believed a government could take responsibility for entitlements owed by its predecessor despite what the predecessor put the governor through. The governor is truly a promise keeper.”
Another beneficiary, Okunade Adebayo, alongside Hon. Abosede Balogun, commended the government for demonstrating that the contributions of former political office-holders to grassroots development had not been forgotten. They also praised the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs for what they described as a seamless, transparent and orderly process.
Ghazal went further, describing Governor Abiodun as “a leader with the milk of human kindness.” That phrase may sound simple, but it goes to the heart of what happened at Oke-Mosan.
Leadership is not only about making difficult decisions when the spotlight is on. It is also about making responsible decisions when the beneficiaries may no longer possess the political influence they once had.
In this instance, the administration had an opportunity to allow an inherited liability to remain an inherited problem. Instead, it chose to resolve the verified claims.
That is the practical meaning of responsible governance. The payment also fits into a broader picture of an administration that has sought to combine social responsibility with long-term economic transformation.
Abiodun’s years in office have been marked by programmes and policies aimed at expanding Ogun’s economic base, improving infrastructure, attracting investment, strengthening agriculture and industrial production, creating opportunities for young people and positioning the state as a major destination for domestic and international capital.
The significance of that economic agenda goes beyond individual projects. A state cannot sustainably meet its obligations to its people without expanding the productive capacity of its economy.
The logic is straightforward: care for the people today, while building an economy capable of supporting generations tomorrow.
That is why the severance payment should not be viewed in isolation from the administration’s wider development strategy.
The same government that is pursuing investment, industrialisation, infrastructure and economic expansion is also confronting inherited obligations to people who served at the grassroots. One addresses the future; the other honours the past. Both are important dimensions of responsible leadership.
There is also an institutional lesson in the episode. Public administration should not operate on the principle that every change of government wipes the slate clean. Legitimate obligations do not cease to exist because the administration that incurred them has left office. Where such obligations are verified, government has a responsibility to deal with them within the law and available resources.
That principle was at the centre of the administration’s decision to undertake the verification and reconciliation exercise involving the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, the State Audit Department and the Local Government Service Commission.
The process mattered because compassion in government must be accompanied by accountability. It is not enough to say that people deserve to be paid; the claims must be established, verified and properly documented. The Ogun exercise sought to combine the two.
For the beneficiaries, however, the accounting procedures were secondary to the outcome. They received their money.
For some, it will settle debts. For others, it will support families, businesses or long-delayed personal commitments. For many, perhaps the greatest value is simply the knowledge that after years of uncertainty, government eventually honoured what they believed they were legitimately owed. That is why the emotional response to the payment has been so strong.
The ₦3.5 billion is significant, but the deeper significance lies in what the payment communicates about the relationship between government and citizens who have served it.
It says that service should have value. It says that legitimate obligations should not be forgotten. It says that inherited problems can be confronted rather than endlessly deferred.
And it says that governance, at its best, must retain a human face. The beneficiaries have urged serving political office-holders to remain committed to quality service and expressed hope that policies promoting the welfare of workers and other stakeholders will continue.
Their message is perhaps the most fitting conclusion to the episode. A government builds roads and infrastructure to connect people to opportunities. It builds schools and healthcare facilities to improve lives. It attracts investment to create jobs and expand prosperity.
But sometimes, leadership is simply about putting a smile on the face of someone who had stopped expecting one.
At Oke-Mosan, that is what the ₦3.503 billion severance settlement represented for more than a thousand former local government political office-holders. It was not just a payment. For many, it was a restoration of hope.
*Akinmade is the Special Adviser to Governor Dapo Abiodun on Information and Strategy.
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