Speaking during a media parley on Saturday at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta, the former senator said there had been “a lot going on, positively” in the last two and a half years.

“I think a lot is going on, positively. One is the stabilisation of the Naira. What that does is that people can predict how much money they will spend on imports and how much income they will get. So stabilisation of the Naira is a big one,” she said.

“I think that the economic stability cannot be overstated, because when people can predict income and exports, things get better, because then you are not buying something at one price due to dollar instability and having to sell it at a higher price when it changes.

“So for economic stability, there has been progress and there has been some security improvement, mainly because now we have a lot of collaboration going on. There is international collaboration, the President’s visits to different countries for trade, and economic development is rising and that is the key to everything we do.”

Senator Obasanjo also defended the proposed Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, describing it as a strategic investment that would unlock growth along the corridor and ease traffic pressure on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

“Although there was a lot of negativity around the Lagos-Calabar Coastal road, it is a developmental move that will help to generate income as it helps to connect the ports within the axis,” she said.

“It will also help to ease transportation on the Lagos-Ibadan corridor. Right now, to go north in Nigeria, to go east, you have to come through Ogun State on that road.

“Yes, it’s good that they go through, but if they’re going through and congesting that road, it’s also a problem, right? So that road will help us decongest Ogun State roads in ways that will actually help us with development, too.”

On her political future, the former Ogun Central senator made it clear she is in the race for the 2027 governorship election to win.

Her ambition, she said, is neither symbolic nor a placeholder for another aspirant. She intends to contest for the All Progressives Congress (APC) ticket and succeed Governor Dapo Abiodun.

Senator Obasanjo pledged to deepen industrialisation in Ogun, citing the growing number of factories in the state.

“The current administration has made impressive moves with industrialisation, the number of factories we have, because with those factories come jobs, opportunity and taxation,” she said.

“But also, those resources can then be turned into products. So we are becoming the industrialisation hub of Nigeria.

“That was how China started. Factories were taken from America to China. So now China is bringing factories here. This is an opportunity for the state to become the Guangdong of Nigeria.”

She identified agriculture as another priority, stressing Ogun’s proximity to Lagos and the ports as a clear advantage.

“Also important is agriculture. We need to do even more in that regard because we do have a lot of land and we are close to Lagos, which is a city where people need a lot of food. Since we all have to eat every day, let us do that,” she said.

“And also, we are close to the port. So if we produce food for export or industry for export, we are in a good position to send products across the world. So focusing on agriculture as we add value to agricultural products will be something for us to do.”

Explaining her decision to join the APC, Senator Obasanjo said political relationships influenced her move.

“One major reason why I settled for the APC is that some of the chieftains whom I knew before from other parties are now with the ruling party. I felt comfortable being among these people,” the former senator noted.

“And one other very important thing that attracted me was that all the people who communicated with me and reached out to me after I left politics are now in the APC.

“So it’s like, if you leave a party and nobody reaches out to you, why would you go back there? Does that make sense? Even in politics, relationships are very, very important.”