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Tag: dawn

  • ‘DAWN designed to quicken development’

    ‘DAWN designed to quicken development’

    Mr Dipo Famakinwa is the Director-General of the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) Commission. In this interview with BISI OLADELE and TAYO JOHNSON,  the development expert speaks on the evolution, structure  priorities  and prospects of the commission. 

    WHAT is the objective of the DAWN Commission?

    The DAWN refers to the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria Commission. I had been in the private sector for 20 years before I started getting involved in development issues. And, primarily, I am concerned about the development of Western Nigeria. my development work led me to believe that Western part of Nigeria has very limitless capability for development. I think it is in the process of getting engaged in proving that reality that I got involved with the Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG) which is the Yoruba group that comprises individuals, professionals, politicians, technocrats from all walks of life with the primary concern for the development of the Yoruba race. That concern led us to start looking for a frame work whereby the Yoruba people who are more than 50 million worldwide can develop at their own pace. While more than 40 million are living in Nigeria, the rest in other parts of the world, Cuba, Trinidad and Tobago, United States of America. We feel that we need to start harnessing the limitless capability, talents of these people for development. ARG pushed me forward to begin to work along the line of finding the methodology for integrating the states in region, especially integrating their development plans, development programs and finding the mechanism for them to work together, and it is that activity that led us to the preparation of the document that is now called DAWN which we presented to the people of the region at the City Hall in 2012, and since then it has now become a strategic document that everybody has begun to look forward to for development of western Nigeria. All what we have done as a group or individuals, all the governors in southwest feel that the strategic plan put together in that framework will work for the progress of the region.

    ARG seems to be the brain behind DAWN. ARG on its own looks like a group with political affiliation. Is there a way DAWN intends to create a platform for all Yorubas, irrespective of their political lineage, to participate in this group’s effort to develop the region?

    ARG played a role in putting this document together. It is actually a document that consolidates what we can describe as the aspiration of the whole Yoruba people. It is not colored in any political or ethnic shade. It is just to fix the language of development, it is just talking about the development of the Yoruba people. It will interest you to know that in 2010, the ARG along with some self determination groups in Yoruba land and the Diaspora, organised what we call the Yoruba Development Summit. at that time the current governors of Osun and Ekiti states were not yet in power, and it was from that summit that the idea of regional integration came in. The aspiration was that whoever came into saddle of governance in the region would have a strategy road map that will speak to the integration of the region, especially integration of our economy and development of infrastructures. So, it was not meant for a political party. It is part of the Yoruba desire to develop their region.

    How do you intend to collate ideas across the region to form the basis for accomplishing your agenda?

    Let me start by giving you the trajectory of this project. When the desire became very strong, the realization that we need to begin to do thing differently dawned on everybody. The Afenifere Renewal Group then gave the Yoruba Academy Group a remit to do a study of the feasibility of what we are talking about. Is it possible for us to integrate our economy? Is it possible for us to integrate our development plan and our development programs? Is it possible for us to integrate our aspirations as a region? And the Academy did a study of the feasibility of that process and it was proven the group, but we need to put another a dimension into things that can be done and not things that are hanging in the air. A group of Yoruba technocrats and professionals from all walks of life, most of them not politicians but those who have worked in the development sectors, then had a retreat in University of Ibadan and it was from that retreat we came up with DAWN strategic document, and in putting together that strategic document, all views from everywhere, from the street level, policy level, political level, all views were put together to form the basis for preparing the strategic document.

    What structure are you developing to achieve your aim?

    The governors of the region are very committed in the development of this region and they have expressed this commitment in many areas and dimensions. The first meeting they had regarding the regional integration agenda was held in Ekiti State. All the governors were present except Osun State governor who was represented by his deputy and they expressed a very strong desire and intent to work together as a region to achieve their development plans and program. It was at that meeting they made their desire to do that. Also follow-up meeting held at Abeokuta, Ogun State. It was at that meeting they agreed that they would put together a technical committee, that each state would send members into a technical committee that would then midwife the process of ensuring that we have an institutional structure and foundation for advancing the development agenda. In May 2012, the technical committee was inaugurated by the Ekiti State governor in Ado-Ekiti. The technical committee comprise a representative of each state in the region and it was also at that meeting in Abeokuta that they said that there must be a commission to ensure that this is not just an express desire but to move it from the level of desire to actualization. So when the technical committee met, they highlighted the areas that are needed to be focused on to be able to give life to this agenda. They went round all the states of the region, met all the governors and had different technical strategy sessions, and came out with the final implementation document. It is like a light plan for guiding the activities of the commission. All the governors also expressed their desire to have an institutional framework to ensure that this document doesn’t just go off, they decided to put in place a commission which is now called DAWN. If you recall at the presentation of the DAWN strategic documents at the City Hall in Lagos, the governors announced that they have secured a space at 10th floor Cocoa House for the office of the commission and it is very historical for us as a people, that we can even use Cocoa House for our office is very commendable, and we the Yoruba race should be proud that Cocoa House is still standing and it can still continue to function for a dedicated centre for Yoruba development.

    Let’s look at the main focus of DAWN. What areas of development are you focusing on; economic, cultural, political?

    In putting together our framework of action, we anchored them on what we call some strategic pillars, and part of what informed the construction of those pillars was the realization that we needed to be very focused. We, therefore, sensed that if we get things right in some areas, we can move development forward in Yoruba land. We have five critical pillars. One of them is economic competitiveness. We want to compete with the rest of the world. We believe that an economy where you have more than 40 million people , bigger than most countries in Africa and Europe, very vibrant, dedicated people who are forward looking to development, we must build a pillar for economic competitiveness that would enable us to continue to compete with the rest of the world. We must go back to agriculture, which is very crucial, not agriculture in the way that it has been done before. We need to look at the critical value chains in agriculture, look at agriculture as business. How do we find the link to do agriculture business like the rest of the world? How do we find the funding? How do we find the finance? How do we build the institutional and infrastructural support for agriculture? We are looking at Small and Medium Scale Enterprises. The idea is that we must build an economy that employs our people. We must build an economy where our young ones can explore their talents. For instance, youths all over the world are doing fantastic things in ICT, we need to look at ways we can leverage ICT, develop our economy and employ our people. We need to look for means to reform our commerce and trading system and critically attain revenue dignity, because we believe as a people it is an insult for us to continue to go to Abuja every month to go and be asking for allocation. How do we generate our own revenue?

  • New dawn

    New dawn

    February 6, 2013 was a magnificent day for Nigeria.

    As the sun rose over the eventful day, Nigerians all over the world celebrated the thrashing our Super Eagles gave Mali’s Les Aigles to reach the final of the African Cup of Nations in South Africa. But prosperity was not done with us, for as the jubilations rang out, news that several of our most significant opposition political parties, including the All Nigeria Peoples Party, Action Congress of Nigeria, Congress for Progressive Change, and the All Progressive Grand Alliance had merged to form one party gave cause for much more celebration. As the news of the newly formed All Progressive Congress trickled in, the social networks went crazy. Nigerians young and old; far and wide expressed their delight at the possibility of this new coalition party. Opposition victories have been hard to come by in the last decade and this new coalition not only gives the vast majority of worn-out Nigerians a tremendous sense of achievement, it gives millions of people new hope that their cause was right and new determination that change will finally show its face in Nigeria.

    For many of us, this week has been a time to be proud; a time for reflection on the possibility of a new dawn, a time where our country has the chance to sow the seed of success in overcoming the great turmoil that our electoral and political process has thus far represented. Now, as Nigerians look towards 2015, it is beginning to look like we may be standing at the beginning of a new chapter in our history; one that will hopefully be defined by a prosperous democracy incontrovertibly built upon the will of the people.

    Nigerians have really been put through the ringer. Apart from dealing with the dearth of security, employment, health care, education, striving to provide for our families and rising crime to name a few, we have been lumbered with a political leadership that is solely focused on personal interests rather than on solving our widespread problems. And even though there are over one million and ninety nine thousand things that Nigerians would ideally like to see done differently, the one general consensus of what people want right now seems to be a change of government.

    A very smart man known as Albert Einstein once described insanity as ‘doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.’ It would be difficult not to agree with him. If having the same party in power since 1999 translates into a reality where we still have no stable electricity, no unity, no security, no peace, no job opportunities, no development and hardly anything good, then how on earth can anyone expect a different result in terms of the way the country is governed if the same party keeps hoisting itself into power? It would naturally follow that in order for our life to change from the nightmare we are living, into a more structured dream, we must change; the country must change and government must change. And for the first time in a very long time, a vehicle with the ability to translate that nightmare into a dream and then into reality is being presented to Nigerians. That vehicle is this newly formed united merger.

    However, now that the first leg of the task has been achieved, this marks the point at which the real work needs to be done. To consolidate the exceptional success that the merger represents, the APC must now pass the crucial test without allowing the demons of the past to re-emerge. The demons which defy stepping up to the challenge of putting personal interest aside in order for the party to operate in the interest of all the people of this nation. The party must set the objective of making Nigeria a place liveable for the right of the many. The coalition must work in partnership with each other to create a dynamic, broad and competitive platform for progressives, for minorities, for women, for children, for the poor and for every interest. The party must be fashioned as an entity that seeks to restore trust in Nigerian politics, cleanse Nigerian politics and decentralizes it so that people can once again have hope that politics can be about the service to the public.

    The APC should be a party entrenched with solid ideals; the ideals of integrity, impartiality, unity, honesty and development. And it should also be a party equipped with the valour to welcome new ideas required to make those standards a reality for Nigerians; a party of practical process in pursuit of a gallant cause and the solemn obligation to act accountably, transparently, and impartially. These should be at the core of APC’s intention for Nigeria.

    True democracy has never been a concrete box that isolates the political leadership from the people. And if it’s true democracy we are interested in, then the party leadership must embrace that fact. Leaders of APC have the obligation to use their positions of power to earn the people’s trust because that is what will primarily impact the public’s confidence in the party. As the governors and leaders of the opposition gathered in front of the residence of the Lagos State Governor to announce the merger, they must know all too well the enormous responsibility that they have undertaken and the great trust that the Nigerian people may be willing to place in them. More than anyone, the leaders of the APC know well the change that Nigeria desperately needs. They know that this country is anxious to step away from its past, desperate to get those things done that need doing for the future.

    No less important, the parties that have come together to form the APC must each individually get their acts together. The ongoing internal wrangling and court cases that litter the corridors of most of the opposition parties have to stop with immediate effect. If the APC is to have a chance of success and have a chance of being inclusive and nonpartisan in its internal decision making, then the different entities that form it must find a way of letting bygones be bygones, cooperating and actively seeking consensus through compromise and dialogue. Each of these parties is responsible for cooperating fully with the ideal and unity necessary to establish and promote the APC.

    Let me state a simple truth: public faith in the political process is extremely low. Many people are still pessimistic, especially given the fact that a number of the strong players in the new coalition were once part of past governments. Part of the APC’s challenge is to earn the trust of the people by avoiding political trickery, standing up to the PDP, abstaining from inflammatory behavior, working together and convincing the public that the party really is ready to be the fresh new change Nigeria needs despite some of the personalities that make up the party.

    If managed well, the APC has the ability to bring Nigeria together once again, to unite people as one nation in which our hopes for Nigeria corresponds with a sense of consideration, decorum and responsibility. Let us be hopeful and optimistic about this chance. One can only shape the opposition and make it what they need it to be when they participate in the process.

    As Nigeria prepares to embark on this new chapter in its political life, one element of change seems to rise above all others in terms of importance: specifically the need for our politicians to show love for Nigeria. Love for Nigeria means putting public interests above personal interests. It means doing everything possible to keep partisan politics fair and clean. Love for Nigeria is not about the words that politicians speak but about their actions. It’s about putting nation building above everything else. Leaders of APC must display their love for Nigeria.

    With 2015 approaching, we have a chance to start a new chapter, to put aside individual and party interests, to insist on accountability from the political class. More than anything, we should all accept individual responsibility for making this happen because only individual Nigerians putting Nigeria’s interests first can build the just, democratic society that will make present and future generations of Nigerians justifiably proud. As this new dawn breaks, the APC is giving Nigerians a platform to do just that.

    February 6, 2013 truly was a magnificent day for Nigeria and as we keep our eye on the making sure the APC does right by us, let us also keep our fingers crossed for the success of our Eagles in the African Cup of Nations.