Osun’s moment of truth- The hour has arrived: Osun State needs Engr. Dideolu Falobi as next Governor

By Titus Olowokere

As Osun State approaches its APC gubernatorial primary election, the weight of this moment cannot be overstated. This is a referendum on whether we continue down the path of underwhelming performance or finally embrace the transformative leadership our state desperately needs.

The data from Osun’s own development profile tells a sobering story, one that demands we look beyond career politicians and toward a leader built for this exact challenge. And they also reveal why Engr. Dideolu Falobi, FNSE, FCIoD, is the one candidate whose background, integrity, and competence match the scale of the challenge.

Let’s start with the basics. Here is what frustrates those of us who love Osun deeply: the potential has always been there. Osun is not a poor state by potential. With a population of about 5.6 million people, nearly 60 percent under the age of 30, it has the human capital to drive innovation, agriculture, trade, and manufacturing. It has 14,875 square kilometers of land, with close to 80 percent cultivable and more than half already in arable use — over 761,600 hectares of fertile ground waiting to be turned into real revenue for real people. Beneath that land lie commercially viable deposits of gold, kaolin, feldspar, talc, and granite. This is a state with the ingredients of prosperity.

Yet the lived reality tells another story. Osun’s fiscal structure is fragile. In 2024, the state generated ₦54.7 billion in IGR, a leap forward but still nowhere near the ₦109.87 billion target for 2025. Federal allocations still carry almost 60 percent of the entire budget. Agriculture, commerce, and industry together receive barely ₦11.37 billion, just 2.7 percent of a ₦427.7 billion budget designed for “sustainable growth.” Even where money is allocated, utilization remains weak: in the first quarter of 2024, education received only 16.7 percent of its projection, agriculture only 4.3 percent.

This brings me to why Engr. Dideolu Falobi represents something fundamentally different. He is not a career politician. In a state where governance has been monopolized by individuals whose entire lives revolve around elections and party machinery, Falobi comes from a world where results matter more than rhetoric. As a businessman and management expert, he has spent decades building enterprises, creating value, managing complex systems, and delivering outcomes

in competitive environments where failure has real consequences. This is proven capacity. His credentials speak to the expertise that Osun State has rarely seen in its top office. As a Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Directors, he brings technical competence and governance acumen that this moment demands. Management is about systems, execution, accountability, and the disciplined pursuit of measurable goals. These are muscles that atrophy in pure political environments but remain strong in those who have built and sustained real enterprises.

Consider what transforming Osun actually requires. We need someone who can look at our 54.7-billion-naira IGR achievement and ask hard questions about revenue leakages and structural inefficiencies, leaving billions on the table. We need a leader who understands that our cocoa farmers are leaving money in the field because we lack processing infrastructure. Someone who recognizes that our mineral wealth cannot generate serious revenue without attracting credible investors, which requires transparent governance and bankable infrastructure.

The challenges facing Osun are management problems. Our population of approximately 5.6 million includes a demographic reality that should terrify any serious leader: nearly half our population is below 20 years of age, and over 60 percent are below 30. This youth bulge is either our greatest asset or our most dangerous liability, depending entirely on whether we can create economic opportunities at scale. Career politicians talk about youth empowerment in manifestos.

Business leaders understand that empowerment means jobs, which require functioning industries, which demand infrastructure, reliable power, educated workers, and an enabling environment for investment.

Falobi grasps this in ways that others cannot. When he discusses infrastructure, he is thinking about transport networks that reduce logistics costs. When he talks agriculture, he understands the entire ecosystem from mechanization through processing and market access. This is systems thinking that recognizes you cannot fix one part while ignoring connected pieces.

His integrity matters as much as his competence. In a political landscape where public office is often viewed as personal enrichment, Falobi represents a different ethos. He is not entering politics because he needs the salary or access to state resources. He is entering because he has the capacity to serve and the passion to see Osun reach its potential.

The question before Osun voters is straightforward. Do we want more of what we have been getting, or do we want transformation? If we are serious about closing that gap between our 54.7-billion-naira IGR and the 109.8-billion-naira target, if we genuinely want our mineral deposits converted into industrial activity, if we want our agricultural land to generate prosperity, then we need different leadership. We need Engr. Dideolu Falobi.

Management experts and successful business leaders bring discipline, systems thinking, and a bias toward execution that politicians often lack. These are exactly the skills that could turn Osun from a federal allocation dependent entity into an economically vibrant, self-sustaining state.

Only someone who understands investment incentives can turn Osun’s cocoa, cashew, and oil palm economy into a value-added export sector rather than a raw-material economy. Only someone who understands management can confront the reality that despite 1,378 public primary schools and 489 secondary schools, too many children still learn in dilapidated buildings and too many teachers lack modern training or deployment support.

Bottom line: this election is about competence. Osun’s challenges are not ideological. They are managerial and structural. They require a leader with the courage to overhaul systems and the technical grounding to build solutions that last. They require a reformer who does not view governance as patronage but as stewardship. They require someone unentangled by old political debts and free from the inertia of career politicians.

Engr. Dideolu Falobi brings that independence. He brings that professionalism. He brings that clarity of purpose. The truth is simple: Osun State is too rich in resources, too dense in talent, and too full of promise to remain where it is. The gap between its potential and its performance is not destiny. It is leadership.

That leader is Engr. Dideolu Falobi, FNSE, FCIoD. The countdown to the primary election is on. We can choose familiar faces promising familiar things, or we can choose a leader whose entire career has prepared him for transformation. Osun State deserves better. Our youth deserve economic opportunities. Our farmers deserve infrastructure. Our mineral wealth deserves to become jobs and revenue.

Engr. Dideolu Falobi possesses the exact combination of technical expertise, management acumen, and business experience that could finally unlock Osun State’s vast potential If Osun is serious about changing its story, then it needs a candidate who embodies change, by training, by experience, and by character.

The hour has arrived. Let us choose wisely.

Titus Olowokere, an indigene of Osun State, is a U.S.–based Nigerian trade-promotion advocate and business leader in Atlanta, where he works to strengthen investment and commercial ties between the United States and Africa.

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