The Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) Commission has urged the people of Yewaland to harness the economic potential of their land as well as invest more in education and infrastructure to enable the region realize its quest for self-actualisation.
This came just as DAWN asserted that the people of the land, which has since the colonial era been serving as the gateway between Nigeria and the rest of West Africa must create an environment that nurtures and supports the aspirations of her people for a quick realization of their dreams.
DAWN’s director-general, Dr. Seye Oyeleye made the assertion while delivering his lecture at the Yewaland Economic Summit, put together as part of activities lined up for the year 2023 edition of Yewa Festival held in Ilaro, headquarters of the Yewa South local government area of the state.
At the event with the theme, “Yewaland and the Quest for Development: Graduating From Sel-f determination To Self-actualisation”, Oluseye said the DAWN Commission arrived at these conclusions after a well -researched field work that examined the challenges of development in the region which he said bothered on border governance; management of the available mineral resources, as well as the dearth of an all embracing political agenda for the zone among others.
While emphasizing that his commission (DAWN) maintained a stronger position that Yewaland ought to be treated as “an important economic frontier of the South Western Nigeria and a cultural frontier of the Yoruba ethnic nation”, Oyeleye said Yewaland would fare better by replacing the Nigerian mentality of their land as a border outpost.
He lamented that the federal government has turned the region to an exploitation field because of the available mineral resources found in the Yewaland.
In his goodwill message, the traditional ruler of the land and permanent chairman of the Yewa Traditional Council (YTC), the Olu of Ilaro and Paramount Ruler of Yewaland, Oba Kehinde Olugbenle lamented that all the manufacturing companies operating across Yewaland have become curses rather than being sources of blessings to their land.
