Federal-State partnership drives roads, healthcare, education and growth across Kogi communities

For decades, Kogi State has occupied a unique place in Nigeria’s geography.

Sitting at the confluence of the Rivers Niger and Benue and sharing boundaries with nine states, it has served as the country’s gateway, connecting the North and the South and facilitating the movement of people and goods across the federation.

Yet, despite its strategic location, many of the communities that define Kogi’s largely agrarian economy remained disconnected from the opportunities that geography promised.

Beyond Lokoja, the state capital, poor roads isolated farming settlements from markets, erosion threatened homes and livelihoods, access to quality healthcare remained limited, and many young people had to leave the state in search of educational and economic opportunities.

Today, that narrative is gradually changing.

Across Kogi’s three senatorial districts, new roads are opening up remote communities, primary healthcare centres are being transformed into 24-hour facilities, universities are expanding through federal interventions, while investments in renewable energy, environmental protection and modern markets are positioning the state for a future beyond subsistence agriculture.

The projects vary in size and ambition, but together they point to an emerging development model built on collaboration between the Federal Government and the Kogi State Government.

From increased fiscal allocations following President Bola Tinubu’s economic reforms to interventions by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), the World Bank-supported Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL) programme, and investments in primary healthcare and renewable energy, federal initiatives are increasingly complementing the state’s development priorities.

For Governor Usman Ododo’s administration, the opportunity has been to convert those partnerships into projects that directly improve the lives of ordinary citizens.

Rather than concentrating development within Lokoja, the administration has deliberately pushed investments into rural communities where agriculture remains the primary source of livelihood.

The philosophy became evident throughout a week-long inspection tour by members of the Renewed Hope Ambassadors, who visited projects spanning roads, healthcare, education, agriculture, renewable energy and ecological restoration across the state’s three senatorial districts.

What emerged was not merely a catalogue of infrastructure projects but an attempt to build a development ecosystem in which roads connect farmers to markets, healthcare keeps rural communities productive, education equips young people for emerging industries and environmental projects protect livelihoods.

Roads that Open Economies

Few sectors illustrate that philosophy better than road infrastructure.

From Okaito in Adavi Local Government Area to Ogane-Enugu in Dekina and communities across Kogi West, the state is investing heavily in feeder roads designed to connect farming settlements with highways and commercial centres.

For Abdulsalami Ozigi, the Commissioner for Works, the emphasis is intentional.

Standing beside a newly constructed concrete road in Okaito, he explained that the administration views rural connectivity as an economic strategy rather than simply a public works programme.

“What we desire to do as a government under the leadership of Alhaji Ahmed Usman Ododo is to make sure we connect villages, communities and local governments together by carrying out massive feeder road construction,” he said.

The nine-kilometre road linking Okaito to Obangede is one of several projects intended to reconnect communities that had remained isolated for years because of failed bridges and impassable roads.

“Communities had been disconnected because of bad roads and bridges that were cut off,” Ozigi said.

“But with this job, communities have been linked together. Transportation has become easier. Farmers now have access to markets. They can reach their farms and they can also access healthcare facilities.”

Across the state, similar projects reflect a deliberate departure from the traditional focus on urban highways.

Instead, roads are being extended into farming communities where improved access can have a more immediate impact on livelihoods.

For Commissioner for Agriculture Timothy Ojoma, that strategy is inseparable from Kogi’s agricultural economy.

“This is a farm settlement,” he said during an inspection of another rural road project in Dekina Local Government Area.

“Most of the people you are seeing here are farmers. Their produce needs to come from the interior to the market.”

Without functional roads, he explained, agricultural productivity translates into little economic value.

“If they cannot move their produce, whatever they harvest will spoil. It won’t benefit either the farmers or the people who need the crops.”

The commissioner argued that the scale of the projects can only be appreciated by understanding Kogi’s geography.

“Kogi State is a very, very large state,” he said. “If people don’t come here, they may think Kogi is not working. But Kogi State is working. This is only the tip of the iceberg.”

The impact of those investments is perhaps best understood through the experiences of residents.

In Ogane-Enugu, where construction equipment continued to reshape a road long abandoned, Amodu Joseph Silvas recalled decades of disappointment.

“The situation of this road has been something very bad,” he said.

“It has been a prayer by our forefathers for this road to be constructed. Many of them were not able to witness it.”

For generations, transporting farm produce to neighbouring markets had been both expensive and uncertain.

“People who are even passing through this road are not from this place. They used to suffer a lot anytime they decided to pass here.”

His verdict on the project was simple.

“We really thank the government that remembered us.”

Traditional ruler, Dr. Ahmed Jimoh Eneji, the Obobanyi of Ohionwa Clan, offered a similar perspective.

“I think around 1982 or 1983 was the last time this road was constructed,” he said.

“Since then, everything disappeared.”

Looking at the completed road stretching across his community, he smiled.

“This place has become like a mini-Lagos.”

While such descriptions may sound exaggerated, they underscore the significance of infrastructure in communities that have waited decades for government presence.

 When Partnership Meets Policy

Members of the Renewed Hope Ambassadors who participated in the inspection tour argued that Kogi’s experience illustrates how federal policies can reinforce state priorities.

Temitope Ajayi, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, observed that one of the administration’s objectives is ensuring that development reaches the rural communities where most Nigerians live.

“One thing we have established is the emphasis the state government has placed on rural development,” he said.

“Our people live in communities. They live in farm settlements. So bringing development to where they actually live, especially agricultural communities, is extremely important.”

That collaboration extends beyond roads.

Across sectors, federal intervention programmes are complementing state investments, allowing Kogi to expand healthcare, strengthen tertiary education, tackle environmental degradation and prepare young people for industries that are expected to define the future economy.

It is perhaps in education that this partnership is most visible.

Barely five years after its establishment, the Confluence University of Science and Technology (CUSTECH), Osara, has emerged as one of Nigeria’s fastest-growing specialised universities.

According to the Director of Academic Planning, Prof. Muhammed Asuku Audu, the university’s rapid expansion has been driven by deliberate planning supported by federal interventions.

“This university was conceived in 2020,” he said.

“Within the same year, it received approval from the National Universities Commission and academic activities commenced in 2021.”

Today, the institution offers 56 accredited academic programmes and has grown to accommodate about 6,000 students.

Much of that expansion, Audu noted, has been supported through TETFund interventions alongside substantial state investment.

“When we were enlisted by TETFund, it was unprecedented,” he said.

“We received high-impact interventions that enabled us to construct faculty buildings, laboratories and other critical infrastructure.”

The university’s transformation reflects a broader pattern emerging across Kogi—one in which state ambition is increasingly reinforced by federal support, creating opportunities that neither level of government could have delivered as effectively in isolation.

Building Human Capital

If roads are opening up Kogi’s rural economy, healthcare and education are determining whether that economic opportunity can be sustained.

Throughout the inspection tour, one message echoed across ministries and project sites: infrastructure alone does not transform societies. Roads may connect communities, but it is access to quality healthcare, education and skills that determines whether those communities can fully participate in economic growth.

Like the road projects, many of these investments have been driven by a combination of state commitment and federal support.

Across the state, primary healthcare centres are undergoing extensive upgrades under programmes supported by the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, development partners and the Kogi State Government, transforming facilities that once offered only basic services into modern health centres capable of operating around the clock.

At the Primary Healthcare Centre in Adavi Local Government Area, the transformation was immediately evident. Solar panels now power the facility, clean water flows from newly installed boreholes, staff quarters ensure health workers remain on site, while upgraded maternity wards, pharmacies and laboratories have replaced what was once a basic rural clinic.

For the Executive Director of the Kogi State Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr. Muazu Musa, the changes represent a deliberate shift from simply constructing health facilities to building confidence in the healthcare system.

“This facility has been upgraded from a Level One Primary Healthcare Centre to a Level Two facility,” he explained. “That means it now provides services 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

Beyond the physical infrastructure, he said, the state has focused on ensuring that people actually use the facilities.

“Our utilisation rate has increased from about 30 per cent to almost 89 per cent,” Musa said.

“People now have confidence in the system because they know they can come here at any time and receive quality healthcare.”

According to him, the facilities now provide maternal healthcare, child immunisation, nutrition services and treatment for common illnesses, reducing the burden on secondary hospitals while bringing essential healthcare closer to rural communities.

The improvements are particularly significant in a state where distance has often determined access to healthcare.

For years, many pregnant women travelled long distances to general hospitals, while children missed routine immunisation because their parents could not afford the cost or time required to reach health facilities.

The state’s strategy, Kingsley Fanwo, the Commissioner for Information and Communications explained, is to reverse that trend.

“What we are doing is upgrading our primary healthcare centres so that for minor surgeries and treatments, people don’t have to travel to general hospitals,” he said during a visit to Orokere Primary Health Centre in Mopamuro Local Government Area.

“Our goal is to make quality healthcare accessible to every Kogi citizen, irrespective of where they live.”

Fanwo noted that the facilities are equipped with solar-powered electricity, staff accommodation and vaccine storage systems to ensure uninterrupted service delivery.

The administration, he added, has also prioritised maternal and child health.

“Children between zero and six years access healthcare almost free of charge,” he said.

“Pregnant women also receive free medical care.”

The philosophy behind the policy, according to him, is simple.

“In the words of the Governor, while bringing life into the world, we do not want to lose the mother.”

The impact is already being felt by frontline health workers.

For Agnes Obaje Agnes, Head of Department at the Orokere Primary Healthcare Centre, the difference extends beyond new buildings.

“The health facilities are now very close to the communities,” she said.

“There is no longer any need for people to travel far before receiving adequate medical attention.”

Healthcare, however, is only one aspect of the state’s investment in human capital.

Education is receiving similar attention.

At the Confluence University of Science and Technology (CUSTECH), Osara, cranes, construction workers and newly completed academic buildings provide evidence of an institution expanding at remarkable speed.

Barely five years after admitting its first students, the university has become one of Nigeria’s fastest-growing specialised institutions.

According to Prof. Muhammed Asuku Audu, Director of Academic Planning, that growth would have been difficult without collaboration between the state government and the Federal Government through TETFund.

“When we were enlisted by TETFund, it was unprecedented,” he said.

“We received high-impact interventions that enabled us to construct faculty buildings, laboratories and other critical infrastructure.”

The university currently offers 56 accredited programmes, with student enrolment approaching 6,000, a remarkable trajectory for an institution established in 2020.

Yet perhaps the most visible example of federal-state collaboration in education lies a few kilometres away.

Nestled within the university campus is the Barefoot Renewable Energy College, a project expected to position Kogi at the forefront of Nigeria’s transition to clean energy.

The institution is designed to train young Nigerians in solar technology, renewable energy systems and green hydrogen, skills expected to become increasingly important as the world shifts towards cleaner sources of energy.

O’Tega Ogra, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Digital Engagement and Strategy, , described the project as one of the flagship initiatives of the Tinubu administration.

“This is only the second Barefoot Renewable Energy College in the world,” he said.

“It is designed to train young Nigerians in renewable energy technologies, solar installations and green hydrogen.”

For a state historically associated with agriculture and mining, the project signals an effort to diversify its economic future while preparing its youth for opportunities beyond traditional sectors.

Sunday Dare,  the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communications, believes that such investments are central to the administration’s long-term development strategy.

“The greatest weapon against poverty is education,” he said.

“When government invests in education, it invests in the future of the country.”

That investment is also taking a more direct form through the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND).

At Prince Abubakar Audu University, Anyigba, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration), Prof. Sani Abdullahi, said the student loan scheme has become a lifeline for many undergraduates struggling with rising educational costs.

“Our students embraced NELFUND from the beginning,” he said.

He recalled the excitement that followed the disbursement of upkeep allowances shortly before examinations.

“Their pockets were dry,” he said with a smile.

“When the money came, they were jubilating.”

For many students, he explained, the intervention meant they could concentrate on their studies instead of worrying about tuition fees, accommodation and daily living expenses.

Taken together, the investments in roads, healthcare and education reveal a broader philosophy underpinning Kogi’s development agenda.

Rather than treating infrastructure as isolated projects, the state appears to be building interconnected systems—roads that lead to schools, schools that prepare young people for emerging industries, healthcare that keeps communities productive and federal partnerships that provide the resources needed to sustain those ambitions.

That same thinking is also reshaping the state’s response to another longstanding challenge: environmental degradation and climate resilience.