The Southeast has concluded plans to replicate the idea of the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) Commission, it was learnt yesterday.
The Director General of the Southeast Governors’ Forum, Prof. Simon Ortuanya, addressed reporters yesterday after a two-day visit to the Cocoa House, Ibadan headquarters of the commission.
He said the region wanted to take a step forward by replicating what the DAWN Commission was doing for Southwest.
The director general said the visit helped his team to tap the experience for stepping up the region’s economic integration and development efforts.
Ortuanya added that the visit also helped his team to envision a strategic plan and identify the professionals needed to manage the proposed agency successfully.
According to him, the forum’s secretariat and DAWN Commission share some things in common, given their mandate for regional cohesion and integration. The director general said DAWN Commission was a success, having established its footprints in several areas of cooperation among the six states in the Southwest.
He said: “We are barely one month old, whereas DAWN Commission is four years old. We felt we should have this interaction with DAWN with a view to leveraging on its experience. Going forward, this will help us. What drives the society now is economic empowerment. If we have empowerment in Southeast, it will also help Nigeria’s development.
“DAWN developed a strategic master plan for the development of the Southwest. We also need to go this way in sustaining our values of hard work, innovation, honesty, respect and cooperation, among others. If the regions are able to sustain themselves, then they will rely less on the centre.
“We have seen the DAWN’s strategic document, tagged: One Bloc. This will form the policy guidelines for the Southeast Governors’ Forum. We have also seen the type of young professionals driving this vision. We have learnt from all these and more through this visit.
“We thank the DAWN Commission for opening its doors to us. We strongly believe that the future of Nigeria depends on cooperation.”
DAWN Commission’s Acting Director General, Mr Seye Oyeleye, described the visit as a good step in the right direction.
He said: “It is good that other regions are coming to embrace this approach to development. We need to de-emphasise ‘statism’ and encourage regionalisation for the obvious advantages therein. The visit was refreshing. They have discovered that there is no magic to what we are doing to fast-track growth and development. I am glad they have a lot of opportunities in the Southeast. The moment they make their own commission work, development will move fast.”
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