Today, Wednesday, April 25, 2012 will witness the opening of an august assembly of some eminent leaders and strategists from within and outside Nigeria at the Delta Convention Centre in Asaba, the Delta State capital.

The four-day gathering will mark the 2nd economic convention of states in the South South geopolitical zone. But, this time, it will be under the auspices of the BRACED Commission whose acronym derives from its member-states of Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Edo and Delta.

The first economic summit of the zone was held at the Tinapa Business Resort in Calabar between April 22 and 25, 2009. And this was followed by the decision of the South South Governors Council to establish the BRACED Commission on October 31, 2010 with headquarters in Port Harcourt.

Part of the Commission’s mandate is to promote and foster closer economic ties and integration of states within the South South zone. And of particular interest are areas like Education, Human Capacity Development, Information and Communications Technology, Infrastructure Development, Agriculture and Investment.

Going by information available on its website, BRACED Commission’s education mandate as approved by the governors’ council was for it to partner with State Education Ministries in carrying out a comprehensive survey of education in its member-states, and advise on how best to sustain the various educational initiatives of the governors.

The Commission is also to identify the educational needs of some member-states with a view to preparing them for global competitiveness.

Also, BRACED was at its inauguration given two years within which to establish an effective mechanism for the re-certification of teachers in the region as part of efforts to encourage continuous teachers training and ensure improvement in the quality of education in the zone.

On human capacity development, it is said that the Commission has authorisation to organize retreats for the governors, state commissioners and permanent secretaries in order to acquaint them with its activities.

The governors’ council also reasoned that, as much as possible, similar training programmes should be organized for other senior civil servants and top members of the business community as part of the Commission’s contribution toward strengthening the capacities of these groups in order for them to be better equipped to achieve the mandates of their elected leaders.

In addition to all these, the state chief executives also think that the BRACED Commission should work with affiliate states to develop an ICT infrastructure that will not only benefit the citizens but also have the capacity to attract investments from major ICT firms into the region.

Going by its road map and the enthusiasm shown so far, there is no doubt that the six governors of the South South are hungry for a speedy and even development of the area.

What appears to be in doubt, however, is the determination of the BRACED Commission to live up to public expectation.

Coming from a region that is already ahead of its peers in terms of oil and gas endowments, agriculture, manufacturing and infrastructure, mere co-ordination of activities in these vital areas should have made BRACED a household name by now.

In fact, apart from wearing a very fitting acronym and perhaps pushing one or two recommendations through the council of governors, whatever else the Commission may claim to have accomplished since inception will hardly be up to scratch.

This is exactly why the Asaba summit holds the prospect of jolting BRACED out of its apparent lethargy, especially as invited speakers are wont to draw examples from the successes achieved by similar bodies elsewhere across the globe.

Already, a delegation of the BRACED states, including the chairman of the governors council, Senator Liyel Imoke of Cross River State, and Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, his Delta State counterpart, , is reported to have met with President Paul Kagame of Rwanda preparatory to working out modalities for a possible cooperation that would enable the states tap from Rwanda’s experiences at tackling its security challenges while also solving the economic problems of the once volatile region.

“We believe we should have someone who has had experience and success in crisis management and post-crisis management in tackling our peculiar situation, hence the need to look in the direction of President Kagame and Rwanda,” Uduaghan told newsmen shortly after his delegation’s meeting with Kagame.

Like the Calabar summit before it, and a few individual state efforts such as Rivinfest 2011, the Asaba forum will serve to highlight the limitless investment opportunities in the South South zone. Moreso, it will afford states the chance of exhibiting products in which they have comparative advantage within the nation and for which they seek to attract investors.

Besides President Kagame, this year’s summit expects to have President Goodluck Jonathan and Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, as keynote speakers. Expected lead speakers include Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria’s finance minister; Prof. John Lipsky, first deputy managing director of IMF; Admiral Mike Mullen, 17th chairman, US Joint Chiefs of Staff; Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York; Rtd. Gen. Andrew Azazi, national security adviser; and Senator David Mark, senate president; among several other renowned speakers.

Their discussions are to centre on Development, Investment and Growth, and Security within the South South geopolitical zone.

Ibelema Jumbo