Echoes From South-South Economic Confab

Asaba, the capital of Delta State of Nigeria, last week played host to over 7,000 people who converged under the auspices of the BRACE Commission to propel a regional agenda for the socio-economic development of the South-South geo-political zone comprising Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa-Ibom, Cross River, Edo and Delta States.

The commission, a product of the April, 2009, South-South Governors Forum which expressed concern over the region’s dwindling economy despite enormous endowment for global economic competitiveness, is entrusted with the task to develop sectoral road-maps to guide the South-South Governors toward the socio-economic development of the region through integration and synergistic benefit.

It also has the responsibility to advise on a short, medium and long term socio-economic direction for the region, highlight and advise on priority areas and projects, suggesting and advising on implementation of strategies to execute priority projects as well as advise and suggest the form of institutional arrangements required to support the overall objective.

It is based on this premise that the BRACED commission organised its first South-South Economic Summit in same Asaba in November last year. “The Summit with the theme, Integrating the South South for Sustainable Development,” focused on infrastructural development, agriculture, environment, oil and gas, education, manpower, human capacity development and tourism.

Welcoming participants, the Director-General of BRACED Commission, Ambassador Joe Keshi stated that, that summit was expected, among other things, to determine a proper governance structure for the area.

He said the Summit is being organised by the BRACED Commission following the decision of the Governors to forge a common economic destiny through economic cooperation and integration.

“One of the recommendations of the 2011 Summit was the creation of the BRACED Commission to drive the economic cooperation and integration process of the BRACED states.   BRACED is an acronym for Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Edo and Delta States.

As a follow-up to the first South South Economic Summit, the second summit aimed at bringing together top policy makers and private sector operatives to discuss how best to accelerate south south development, economic cooperation and integration using the region’s rich resources in oil and gas as well as in agriculture.  This had the o bjective of building a regional sustainable economy that would lead to job creation and reducation in poverty”, Keshi said.

However, this year’s Summit with the theme “Development, Investment, Security”, focused more on identifying, evaluating and determining to what extent, local, national and global security challenges affect the relisation of the overall development and investment opportunities abound in the region, and how best such challenges could be managed to achieve maximum result.

Host governor of the summit, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan told participants and guests that governors of the region were driven by the compelling need to create a platform that is mutually representative of the six South-South states for the integration and exploitation of the great potential of the BRACED states   in particular, and Nigeria in general.

He explained “the BRACED commission offers an opportunity not only for the economic development of South-South states but also for peer review mechanism.  We recognize that all our states are not endowed in equal proportion.  Some states have comparative advantage in their resource endowment.

In his assertion, Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa-Ibom State emphasised the need to introduce State Police as the only solution to the high incidence of crime in the society.  He stressed that state security should be in the hands of those in charge of leadership in their various states.

Akpabio who is also the Chairman of the South-South Governors Forum flayed the argument in certain quarters that state police will be used to victimize perceived political opponents, explaining that owing to the fact that men of the Police Force are not answerable to their state Governors, their level of commitment to fighting crime is at its lowest ebb.

“I begin to wonder why a man called the Chief Security Officer of a state will have no control over state security apparatus.  For instance, when something happens and you send for the Police Commissioner, you will be shocked to discover that he is in  a meeting in Abuja.  When you send for the area Commander, they tell you he is in a meeting with the AIG. You are therefore left with no choice but to remain silent.

“If truly am the Chief Security Officer of my state, then give me the power to hire and fire. I want a situation whereby I can campaign to my people and tell them that I will stamp out crime in six months, that is how its supposed to be.  The Federal Government should allow states have full control of the Police Force in their respective states.

Akpabio blamed the security problem of the nation on what he termed structural defect of the Nigeria project and called for the adjustment of the revenue allocation formular to allow more funds go to states and local governments, “we must begin to have confidence in ourselves if we really want to develop”, he said.

Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi agreed with his Akwa Ibom counterpart but shifted emphasis to the urgent need to create wealth through the provision of the enabling environment for rapid industrialization. “Power must be made available.  Until we produce regular power supply, there will be no development”, he said.

“Nigeria has money to buy megawatts of power. Put the 400 megawats in Niger Delta, there will be power and with power there will be industrilisation, with industrilisation there will be jobs everywhere and crime will reduce”,  Amaechi submitted.

He reeled out the programme of his administration on the provision of power but regretted that the speed has been slowed by the Federal Government’s delay in granting   licence to the Rivers State government to distribute power generated by the state. “We increased our capacity to 300 from 50 megawats we met at hand, still Port Harcourt is in darkness because the Federal Government does not allow us to distribute”, he lamented.

Amaechi  lent his voice to the call for the unbundling of the Federal Government’s existing revenue sharing formula to give the states and local governments more responsibility to deliver democratic dividends to Nigerians.

Before the Governors’ outburst on the structural defect of Nigeria, Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, who presented a keynote address at the summit, fired the first shot by condemning the concentration of power at the centre and urged the regions to brace up for autonomy.

Soyinka, aroused participants’ anxiety of seeing a nation that is actually operating true federalism, when he flayed the non-development autonomy of the Federal Government and urged the regions to call the shots to relegate the centre.

“Let each regional groupings collaborate to create a community of interest to manage the natural and human resources, and become creative and more  productive.  Let each state call its conference and begin to relegate the centre.  Begin to engage in policies that reduce the ability of the central government to impede the development of the constituent parts”, he charged.

Also speaking, the Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, challenged South-South Governors and the people to come up with realistic actions.

According to him, despite the fact that the nation was centralized, there was increasing poverty and joblessness, adding that government must encourage job creation and growth, so as to keep the youth busy and improve security.

To be Contd.

Amieyeofori Ibim