By Asiwaju Yinka Fasuyi
Immense thanks Dr Adewale Alonge for sharing this informative, motivational, eye-opening, and educa uhtive speech by the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation and a two-term Finance Minister, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to her people of the South East Nigeria.
Even though the address was directed and targeted at her people in the South East but after listening carefully to the message, it reveals a lot that could be learned by our people in the South West too most especially because of the strategic context of the address.
One, it is very obvious that both the South West and South East constitute the larger percentage of the human capital stock of Nigeria both at home and in the diaspora. And to this extent, whatever opportunities that are open to the people of South East are also available to the people of the South West. In essence, the clarion call to her people is also a direct challenge to the people of the South West.
Two, following from the first factor, it could be inferred that the wake-up call by Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to her people in the South East is that, whatever the South West people stand to lose would be a gain to the people of South East. Hence, the need for the wake-up call to the South West.
Three, Dr Okonjo-Iweala took time in her address to elaborate on the economic potentials and strengths of the people in the South East. But she did not enumerate the weaknesses and threats in the South East. The first and the major threat is insecurity. The South East arguably has the highest index in Nigeria. I doubt the attractiveness of an insecured environment to any investor locally and foreign.
Second is the cultural intolerance of the South Eastern people.
The South East has not even been able to manage the worrisome discrimination and intolerance among the people of the five states in the Southeast talkless of accommodating investors from outside the region. These two factors will ultimately undermine the capacity of Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s address to have any desirable and sustainable impact on the people of the South East for now.
Ironically, these two factors that threaten economic advancement of the South East constitute economic opportunities for the South West.
The message therefore is for the people from the South West to leverage on its relatively secured environment; tolerant and hospitable atmosphere; huge & competitive human capital both local and in the diaspora; access to international waterways; operational rule of law; just to mention a few.
It is therefore high time for both political and economic leaders in the South West to listen carefully to the message of Dr Okonjo-Iweala to be able to proactively hearken to the clarion call ahead of our brothers and sisters in the South East so that we can succeed in strategically positioning and maintaining the South West as the economic hub of Nigeria in particular and West Africa in general in defence and protection of the competitive, cutting-edge economic legacy bequeathed to us by Chief Obafemi Awolowo.
This could be addressed at a three-layer level, Regional, States, and Communities.
The South West Governors could constitute a South West Industrial Response with the emanating working committee directly reporting to the forum of South West Governors. The broad objective will be to holistically appraise our current economic situation, potentials, and opportunities and come up with a blueprint to be implemented, monitored, and impact evaluated at each of the South West States.
The six States in the South West could replicate similar structures in their respective states while each state employs her peculiarities and endowments in fashioning her own blueprint.
The communities in each state are further encouraged to come up with micro structures either at the local government level or individual communities within the LGAs after factoring population size, cultural homogeneity, and previous working partnerships.
The take-off is better as a Top-Bottom approach, that is, from the forum of Governors to States, and then to the LGAs/Communities in order to have a harmonised response as a region.
But where the Top-Bottom response is not forthcoming, then we can adopt the Bottom-Up approach where the Communities/LGAs seize the initiative and the States buy into the concept from where it could become a Regional agenda.
Asiwaju Yinka Fasuyi
The Asiwaju Of Ijesaland,
Oke Baba Okuta Villa, Ilesa.
2nd November, 2023.
