The South West Agenda

The most significant consequence of the 2011 elections was the national power shift in favour of President Jonathan’s new coalition with its centre of gravity in the South-South, South-East and North-Central, “strong” support in the South-West and “sufficient” support in the North-West and North-East. The other critical outcome is the return of the South-West to opposition, “progressive” politics in the tradition of the Action Group (AG), Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Alliance for Democracy (AD), this time under the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). The South-West electorate decisively rejected “mainstream” politics as advocated by ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) South-West faction as their forbears had rejected “Demo” politics in the first republic and National Party of Nigeria (NPN), National Republican Convention (NRC) and PDP until the 2003 hijacking of the West by Obasanjo and Bode George.

Apart from disillusionment with the PDP and Obasanjo, South-West voters were voting, in my view, for a federal framework that allows the region develop at its own (implicitly faster) pace and the type of social democratic policies and social investment that represents the political and governance heritage in the region. It will be misleading however to assume that the 2011 elections represents a permanent and irreversible rejection of PDP and other political alternatives. Having recovered their sovereignty, our people will in future exercise it against any incumbents that fail to meet the (high) expectations of voters. Given the fact that all the states in the South-West are under the ACN, with the exception of Ondo State which is under a Labour Party government that may also be considered “progressive” (and which actually took power from the PDP with some support from the ACN leadership), there is also a widespread expectation within the region that the party and its governors will cooperate to spread the type of development witnessed in Lagos State across the entire South-West.

How can the high expectations of South-West voters be met? What policies should be implemented across the region? What should be the South-West agenda? The philosophical and constitutional anchor will obviously have to be true federalism! South-West citizens and voters will expect their leaders, governors and legislators to lead the campaign for a return to real federalism in Nigeria. This includes fiscal federalism that will encompass a review of the revenue allocation system in favour of states and local governments; and retention of value-added and other tax revenues in states of collection. It should also include substantial devolution of powers to subsidiary levels of government. We also need to carefully re-consider the matter of state police. As this will require constitutional amendment, an interim measure stipulating re-deployment of all police men and officers below the level of Commissioner of Police to their states of origin should be advocated. State governors should also request full operational control of state police commands except in electoral, constitutional and political matters and matters involving threats to the territorial integrity of the federation.

Beyond federalism, I would advocate a developmental strategy for the South-West based on five pillars-power and infrastructure; education, science and technology; agriculture and industrialisation; services; and security and law and order. Regarding power and infrastructure, the governors should seek self-sufficiency in power generation through private power providers and a role in power distribution, as well as dedicated Independent Power Plants (IPPs) in all industrial clusters and tertiary educational institutions. The most important infrastructural requirement is for a modern, integrated, multi-modal transport network throughout the region, including development of rural roads; leveraging water and rail transport opportunities; modernising the regional road network; and collaborating with the private sector and the federal government in pursuance of these objectives.

For fifty years, the focus of South-West educational philosophy has been access, through the mantra of free education. While this should be retained, increased emphasis must be placed on quality considering the state of our educational system. I suggest focus on upgrading infrastructure; science and technical education; economics, management and entrepreneurship; ethics and standards; and teacher re-training and welfare. The states may also consider jointly establishing a world-class multi-campus university as recently suggested by one of the governors; and ensuring broadband coverage of all universities and schools. A policy framework that links agriculture to manufacturing through extending the agriculture value chain to storage, processing and manufacturing; providing farming and industrial estates; power and infrastructure support; and loan and incentives schemes may also be worthwhile. Land reforms to deal with the consent requirements of the Land Use Act may help both agricultural and commercial development, as well as development of a mortgage sub-sector.

The regional strategy for services should be focused on areas of clear comparative advantage-financial services (ensuring Lagos becomes an international financial centre in line with FSS 2020); tourism (establishing an integrated regional tourism strategy and calendar) leveraging the many festivals and ceremonies; mountains and hills; rivers and waterways; cultural endowments; palaces and historical landmarks in the region; global outsourcing (focused on professional services and call centres); music and film; as well as sports development and export. Success in all the identified priority areas rests on one final pillar-security and law and order. As Lagos State has done in the last few years, all the states in the South-West must endeavour to make the region a (relatively) crime-free zone so that economic and social activities may thrive and in order that the region can fulfil its potential as the fastest developing economic region in Africa!