Hamzat urges South-West govs to deepen regional integration

Lagos State Deputy Governor, Obafemi Hamzat, has called on South-West governors to deepen regional integration and harmonise development plans, saying the region does not need constitutional amendments to pursue economic growth and reclaim its developmental strides.

Hamzat spoke at the centennial birthday lecture held in honour of Afenifere leader, Chief Reuben Fasoranti.

He said the South-West could achieve greater development through collaboration among its governments, including the development of interconnected infrastructure across the region, Yoruba Times shared video on X on Friday.

“I’m going to talk to you about how we can come together as a Yoruba people, as a Yoruba to develop together. So that we build rail from Lagos to Ekiti.

“So if I want to live in Ekiti, I can want to have a farm in Ekiti and I don’t want to sleep in Ekiti. I can take a train and get back to Lagos,” Hamzat said.

Hamzat said regional development required coordinated planning and budgeting among the South-West states.

“But you cannot plan development without budget. Therefore, any committee of commissioners for budget and planning in Southwest, they must help us to plan these things,” he added.

He added that existing regional institutions could be leveraged to drive integration and development.

“Fortunately, our president has done well. We have the South West Development Commission, we have DAWN. DAWN is doing extremely well,” he stated.

Hamzat cited agriculture as an area where the states could complement one another, noting that Lagos could leverage its processing capacity while other states with more arable land supplied agricultural produce.

“Lagos cannot produce enough rice, for example, that we need. But we have the largest rice mill in the country.

“So Ekiti, Ogun, Ondo can supply the rice because the land is there. So that’s the way to do it,” the Lagos deputy governor said.

The deputy governor said the region should further incorporate DAWN into the development agenda of South-West governors.

“So for us in Southwest, we are lucky. Like I said, I think DAWN is here and they are doing a lot of good work. So we just need to make sure that we incorporate them more into the delivery of governors in Southwest,” he said.

Hamzat argued that such collaboration did not require constitutional amendments.

“That one doesn’t require any constitution, whatever. No, no, no. It’s just governors and their team sitting together with DAWN to say, how do we link Southwest together?

“So that if I want to do anything in Ondo, I don’t even need to know the governor. The system should be there for me to just operate as a Southwestern,” he asked.

He said greater regional integration would help fulfil the aspirations of past leaders in the region.

“And I think that’s the only way I think that we can achieve the aims of our grandfathers, our fathers, what they plan. Because I don’t have any fear if we do that, we will project Southwest higher.

“After all, they’ve done it before. Southwest had television before Belgium,” Hamzat said.

The event itself was the centenary lecture in honour of Fasoranti, held on August 28, with South-West leaders and stakeholders discussing Yoruba unity and regional development.