Former Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has lauded President Bola Tinubu, on the appointment of Senator Olubunmi Adetunmbi as Chairman of the South West Development Commission (SWDC) and Dr Charles Akinola as Managing Director of the same Commission, saying that the president’s decision on both appointments was synonymous with putting a round peg in a round hole.
Fayemi, who is also the immediate past Minister of Mines and Steel, said this while speaking with newsmen, noting that both appointees were intellectually prepared for the job and, therefore, primed for success.
According to him, both appointees have been involved in the development trajectory that started at the Afenifere Renewal Group through the Yoruba Academy to the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) which commenced activities in 2013 with and fully backed up by the governments of the region.
“The appointment of Senator Olubunmi Adetunmbi and Dr Charles Akinola as Chairman and Managing Director respectively was an inspired decision worthy of commendation. It’s clearly a round peg-in-a-round-hole decision.
“They are intellectually prepared both as Development Economists, Policy advocates and operations experts. Both had been involved in the development trajectory that we started at the Afenifere Renewal Group through the Yoruba Academy to the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) which commenced activities in 2013 with all the governments of the SW fully subscribed to it.
“When we included the establishment of Regional Development Commissions in the APC manifesto in 2015 as APC Director of Policy and Strategy, the vision was to provide alternative but complementary vehicles for accelerating sustainable development without undermining sub-national and national vehicles.
“Unfortunately, President Buhari’s government was only able to achieve the North East Development Commission and the North West Development Commission signed into law before his exit. President Tinubu has accelerated that vision by signing into law and establishing the remaining four commissions,” Fayemi stated.
Speaking further, Fayemi, who is also the former Chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum, expressed optimism that the SWDC wouldn’t be another layer of bureaucracy without tangible developmental outcomes, saying the South West Governors Forum had set up a technical committee in 2020 to focus on initiatives that would deepen regional integration.
“It is hoped, though, that the commissions, particularly in the South West, will resist the temptation of being yet another layer of bureaucracy without tangible developmental outcomes.
“To ensure that, the South West Governors Forum in setting up the technical committee chaired by Dr Akinola in 2020, directed that the Commission should only focus on initiatives that will deepen regional integration such as regional energy and transportation infrastructure projects, as well as regional digital economy initiatives and not cosmetic initiatives called empowerments or constituency projects that will not produce tangible benefits to the population.
“So, with the right enabling environment and his institutional memory on where this laudable initiative came from, I have no doubt that Senator Adetunmbi, Dr Akinola and the team are primed for success and I wish them well,” he stated.
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