The South West Development Commission has declared that its main focus is to carry out projects that would integrate the entire region.
The commission also stated that it was intensifying efforts towards achieving greater regional connectivity and integrated development across the six states of the region.
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the commission, Dr Charles Akinola, stated this on Thursday at a two-day at the South-West stakeholders’ dialogue held in Akure, the Ondo State capital.
The summit was themed, ‘Strengthening democracy through dialogue: assessing progress, charting the future.’
According to the MD, the commission had a broader agenda to promote inclusive growth and shared prosperity across the region and aimed to strengthen infrastructure linkages, boost trade, and enhance economic cooperation within the region to accelerate sustainable growth.
He said, “The development commissions, like the South West Development Commission, seek to see how those projects that are regional in nature, that are often left unattended, are given focus, pride of place. So we’re looking at projects that are integrative in nature.
“We’re looking at, for example, regional connectivity by rail. How do we get the region connected through highways, superhighways? We came in today from Ibadan. It took us pretty much like four hours to get here. Now, how do we get the state governments and the federal and private sectors to come together to work on those kinds of infrastructure?
“We’re looking at a very, very best-in-class fund, SouthWest Investment Fund, which will be pretty much private sector-driven and will be able to help catalyse private sector investment from all over. So that some of those kinds of projects that really are outstanding, those kinds of projects that the region is so much in need of, get funded.”
He also disclosed that the commission had begun consultations with development partners and private investors to design a framework for issues such as intra-regional transportation corridors, agricultural value chain enhancement, and technology-driven industrial clusters that would connect major cities and rural communities.
Akinola also stressed that the commission’s strategy aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s economic transformation agenda and the renewed commitment of South-West governors to a unified regional development blueprint.
The MD noted that, by improving infrastructure and connectivity, the South-West can leverage its human capital and economic potential to drive national growth, attract investment, and create job opportunities for millions of young people.
“We will be engaging in the next several weeks with a broad range of stakeholders, communities, communities, governors, trade groups, and defining the vision of the commission so it becomes a shared vision, and that’s really where we’ll be able to have the most inclusive set of drivers and people who will be driving the mission of it.
“As the chairman of an expert group that was set up by the governors in 2020, 2021. We set up to develop a technical report on Southwest development. And we came up with a framework for the Southwest Development Commission at that time. And so we had the opportunity to interact with governors across the state, also getting to find out from them what their priorities are and their own thinking about what regional development should be.
“So it’s an ongoing process. There’s no way we’ll succeed if we don’t engage the governors. The message for the people of the Southwest is that we will need, collectively, a well-connected thinking. We will want to see Southwest people being involved in what we’re doing. As I said, we’re going to move around and together we’re going to come with a shared understanding. And we believe that the South-West has been waiting. We believe the opportunities here have been granted through the creation of the Southwest Development Commission.
Akinola pledged that the SWDC would do its best to be partners in progress with all stakeholders, including the governors, the traditional rulers, trade groups, youth market and women, among others.
“So collectively, we will share this vision and collectively drive prosperity through the work of the Southwest Development Commission”, the MD declared.
At the summit, which started on Wednesday, the National Leader of pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation Afenifere, Chief Reuben Fasoranti, called on the governors in the South West to work together for the development of the region regardless of their party affiliation.
The elder statesman also warned them against division along party lines at the expense of the welfare and development of the people of the region.
