Odu’a Investment

Editorial

THE #EndSARS protest continues to throw up new ideas about the way forward for various parts of the country. Apart from mind-rubbing at the level of governors, ministers, and traditional rulers from the Southwest region, suggestions are also coming from heads of districts and wards.

One of such suggestions is the call by Mogajis (a group of extended-family leaders in Ibadan, Oyo State) on governors to enable Odu’a Investment Group to meet the goals for which the development company was established by the founding fathers of Western Nigeria—using resources from the region to transform it for improvement of life of citizens, particularly the youths. The spokesperson for the Mogajis, Wale Oladoja, a three-time director of O’dua Investment, pleaded with the Chairman of the Southwest Governors Forum, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu, who is also Ondo State governor, to swiftly revive moribund companies in the investment group, stressing that the “dreams of our forefathers must not be deliberately killed.”

The request from a group close to the region’s grassroots should not be taken lightly. Mogajis, like ward chiefs in other Yoruba states, are close enough to the grassroots to understand the needs of young people. The call from the Mogajis to the governors is commendable and should be useful to all shareholders and stakeholders in the Odu’a Investment project: the governors, board of directors, and the staff, including the current general managing director and directors of individual companies in the Group, the youths of the region and their parents.

As the buck stops at the feet of governors in a presidential system, and as the custodians of the resources of the state, the governors ought to give substantial attention to the suggestion of groups of parents of young people in the region. It is, therefore, salutary that even before the suggestion from the Mogajis, the governors had recognised the failure of those in charge of the patrimony of the region for many years in the past and had acted in April to arrest hemorrhaging of the Group’s fortunes. They dissolved  and replaced the board of directors due to inefficiency, under-performance and substandard management to give way for the development of a new strategic development plan for the companies. To make the new vision realisable, the governors ought to ensure that those appointed to steer the 2021-2025 Strategic Development Plan remain committed to the pledge to create and sustain “innovative and virile workforce to take the company to the enviable position of the economic engine of the Southwest.” This commitment fits into the vision of the Mogajis about using Odu’a companies as mechanisms to create jobs for the region’s youths, among other initiatives.

Correspondingly, the old business culture that had produced moribund companies ought to be prevented from resurfacing. And the six state governments should ensure that those responsible for the failure of the Group in the past are properly sanctioned, to create and sustain trust between citizens and the governors about re-positioning the Group to multiply the region’s patrimony to provide opportunities for the youths to realise their potential through employment.

The youths, whose #EndSARS protest has stimulated a new thinking about good governance across the country, should also remain alert to respond to policy initiatives in respect of Odu’a Investment and other aspects of governance of the states, before such policies become problems too complex to manage, without resorting to protests.

As the investment and business environment world-wide continues to change radically and rapidly, the governors are urged to encourage a virile culture of research and development that can bring and sustain innovation in all subsidiaries of Odu’a Investment Company. This is also a right time for the governors to take full advantage of the formation of Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) as a regional commissio, to assist governors on region-wide development initiatives.