South West govs meet, harp on regional integration

Governors of the South West states of Nigeria under the aegis of Southwest Governor’s Forum, met in Abeokuta, Ogun State on Monday.

The programme which was held at MITROS Gateway Annex, Ibara, Abeokuta featured talks on development of the geopolitical zone, through the platform of the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) Commission.

Areas of common interest that the forum deliberated upon, included security, education, Agriculture, infrastructure, rail and road networks

The meeting, hosted by the Ogun state governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, has in attendance all the six governors of the region, namely; Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo), Rotimi Akeredolu (Ondo), Akinwunmi Ambode (Lagos), Ayo Fayose (Ekiti), Raid Aregbesola (Osun) and Amosun.

They met under the aegis of Western Nigeria Governors’ Forum.

The programme was organised by DAWN, a technocratic institution for the sustainable development of the Southwest Region which according to Amosun had been the Vanguard for socio-economic and re-engineering of the South West.

A communiqué read by the host governor, Amosun, indicated among others that “A joint task force and Joint actions will be pursued and sustained on security threats to guarantee the safety of lives, property and prosperity of the people of the region.”

According to the communiqué, the governors agreed that the artificial boundaries of states, religions, political affiliations among others would not be a barrier to regional development and urged all the states to be encouraged to significantly improve bilateral and multilateral cooperation to foster regional development.

Among other issues they agreed on were that: “The competitive advantage of constituent states would be harnessed for sustainable regional development.”

“In order to improve the food security of the region, DAWN should convene a regional agric summit to be held in Ibadan.

“Approval is given for the establishment of a Western Nigeria Export Development Initiative (WENEDI) to drive the export potentials of the region.

“A committee be set up for codification of our values and ethos as an instrument of Yoruba uniqueness to strengthen our identity and unity of purpose.”

Earlier in his welcome address, Amosun charged his colleague governors to, in the interest of the South West, not to allow themselves to be used as “instruments of division.”

He stated that creation of States from the Old Western Region in 1976 which should have been an impetus for development in the South West had been “allowed to create artificial boundaries between the Yoruba nation.”

His words, “And, to further worsen the situation, some of our people are also making themselves available as instruments of division because of their selfish political gains. The consequence is that our people begin to see themselves as a people of one State or the other rather than as a sub-unit of the entity of the Yoruba people.”

“This”, he said “is not without its attendant challenges of intra and inter-state boundary disputes which have worsened security in some States and, hampered socio-economic development instead of building bridges.”

According to Amosun, “some of our people are digging trenches for protection against their own brothers and sisters.”

The governor recalled that all the enviable achievements, in terms of infrastructure and high standard of living in the defunct Western Region under late Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s government became possible because of unity of purpose.

In his view, development of agriculture is one of the areas the Governors could explore towards development in the Region, insisting “Our concerted efforts and our unflinching commitment towards the fulfilment of the DAWN Agenda will continue to be part of a fulfilling memorial for him (Dipo).”

“The onerous task on our hands is to lead our people to further prosperous living. That is why the chosen Agenda for this meeting “Economic Self-Determination for South-West Nigeria” with special focus on “South-Western Nigeria Export Initiative” is very apt. Instead of the bow-in–hand practice that each of the states seeks from the Federal Allocation, the Governor affirmed.

“The time has come for us to map out strategies to harness the natural resources of the entire Region for further socio-economic development of the South-West Region as a whole and for more prosperity for our people.

“One of such approaches is to identify the export potentials of the Region. This will bring not just more revenue but also increase the availability of foreign currencies which will, by extension, make the Region a stronger player on the international market stage. We can do this by exploring and strengthening the different areas of comparative advantage of our States which will then be pooled together for further development of the different States and the entire Region as a whole.”

For him, “The geographical location, climatic condition and the total landmass of our six States pooled together is a catalyst to drive an agricultural programme that will feed us, feed our neighbours and even beyond. I suggest that we encourage more mechanized farming systems to improve on productivity, speed up harvesting, enhance processing and advance storage so that our products will meet world-class standard and be more desirable for export.”

“In addition to Agriculture, the entire South-West Region is also blessed with a high potential in the extracting industry”.

Amosun said the SouthWest Region could boast of rich mineral resources which the Governors could take advantage of for development.