The legendary late Chinua Achebe in his book, The trouble with Nigeria aptly captures our leadership failure as follows: “The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership. There is nothing basically wrong with the Nigerian character. There is nothing wrong with the Nigerian land or climate or water or air or anything else. The Nigerian problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to the responsibility, to the challenge of personal example which are the hallmarks of true leadership. One of the commonest manifestations of under-development is a tendency among the ruling elite to live in a world of make-believe and unrealistic expectations.”

This quote can be the ascribed to the leadership style of the “petesi cap” Governor of Ogun State.

Yesterday, September 15, 2017, the Ogun State government laid the foundation for a newly established Polytechnic in Ipokia, Ogun West Senatorial District. The Polytechnic, according to the Governor, is to fulfill his electioneering campaign promise to the people.

Ogun State currently has two state universities, three polytechnics and one college of education all these institutions have one thing in common – they are gasping for breath at the moment like other institutions in the country. The necessary infrastructures are not in place, while some of these schools are better merged together than exist independently.

It is the highest form of insensitivity for the Ogun State government to go ahead with the establishment of a new Polytechnic. Education is not developed by the number of institutions you have but their viability. At a time the state is planning to upgrade the Moshood Abiola Polytechnic to a university, it went ahead to establish a new Polytechnic to fulfil his electoral promise??

With the dwindling resources accruing to states and the low IGR Ogun is generating, the Governor has put in place a problem for himself and a landmine for his successor.

The new Ogun State Polytechnic, Ipokia is a clear misplacement of priorities by the Ogun State government under the leadership of Govenor Amosun.