Southern Governors’ Forum To Foster Trade, Investment

Southern States Governors’ Forum has disclosed plans to establish the Southern States Development Agenda (SSDA) to foster trade and investment, sustainable economic prosperity, and regional food security.

The SSDA will work closely with individual states’ Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agencies, the Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), and other multilateral agencies to achieve its objectives.

This was contained in a communiqué issued at the end of its meeting on Monday in Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun State.

With specific reference to be more aggressive on food security for the region, the forum enjoined all the states to intensify their agricultural revolution on cash and food crops where each of them has best comparative advantage so as to achieve food sufficiency, self-reliance, and employment generation.

It also encouraged states to set up special agro-processing zones to extract the most value from the agro-value chain.

The communiqué reads: “The Forum commended the laudable economic recovery reforms and policies of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the implementation of the Renewed Hope Agenda (RHA).

“The forum unanimously reaffirmed their support for him in his unwavering resolve to reposition the country and build a great future for all of us.

The southern governors applauded the President Tinubu for conceptualising and commencing the construction of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road project, which cuts across eight states, noting that the project will create employment in the construction industry ecosystem, boost productivity by drastically reducing travel time, promote tourism, and open up and integrate all the Southern States to more investment opportunities.

“The southern governors advocated that the Federal government should rehabilitate, repair, and reconstruct Trunk A roads and transfer roads to states that have expressed interest in taking them over.

“The forum will commission a regional multimodal transport master plan that prioritises connectivity by rail, road, air, and water to enhance regional connectivity and facilitate the interstate and intra-region ease of doing business”.