Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, has signed the State Education and Skills Trust Fund Bill into law, creating an additional funding framework for education, vocational training and skills development across the state.
The governor signed the legislation on Friday, September 18, 2026, at the Governor’s Office in Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta. The law is expected to provide a funding window outside the state’s regular budgetary allocation and support critical areas of the education sector, including school infrastructure, bursaries, teacher support and maintenance.
Speaking after the signing ceremony, the Speaker of the Ogun State House of Assembly, Oludaisi Elemide, said the legislation was designed to strengthen the delivery of quality education and improve learning outcomes across the state. He said the Bill followed consultations with members of the public and other stakeholders.
The Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Prof Abayomi Arigbabu, said the Trust Fund would cover both formal and informal education, with particular attention to skills acquisition and vocational development. According to him, the legislation would create a mechanism through which education could receive additional funding beyond the conventional government budget.
Arigbabu also said the new law would support the integration of informal education into Ogun’s education system through the re-engineering of the traditional apprenticeship model. He disclosed that more than 9,000 young people had already received training in various vocational areas through the state’s existing skills-development initiatives.
The establishment of the Trust Fund comes as governments across Nigeria continue to explore alternative ways of financing education amid demands for improved infrastructure, teacher development, technical skills and greater access to learning opportunities. The Ogun law is therefore expected to provide a more structured framework for mobilising resources for these areas.
The Speaker, however, stressed that government alone could not provide all the resources required to effectively fund education. He called for greater participation by the private sector, particularly because businesses and employers would eventually benefit from a better-trained workforce.
The new law will therefore place skills development alongside conventional education funding, with vocational training and apprenticeship expected to form part of the state’s broader human-capital development strategy.
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