…as two-day human capital devt conference opens in Benin
The governors of Nigeria’s South-South region are gathering in Benin City, the Edo State capital, for a two-day conference on Human Capital Development (HCD), a move that could further enhance the economic integration efforts in the region that began over a decade ago.
The two-day conference, themed ‘Accelerating Human Capital Development in the South-South Region of Nigeria’, is slated for Tuesday, 17th (today) and Wednesday, 18th January 2023, according to Violet Obiokoro, Managing Director, Edo State Skills Development Agency, who is also the state focal person for HCD.
“His Excellency, the Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, will play host to Governors from the South-South for a two-day Human Capital Development (HCD) Regional Conference (Edo 2023),” Obiokoro said in a statement issued in Benin City of Monday.
“The event which holds at the New Festival Hall, Government House, in Benin City is aimed at increasing human capital investments as a vehicle to poverty reduction and increased life expectancy. The conference will focus on three thematic areas (Health and Nutrition, Education and Labour force participation),” she said.
The conference, she further said, would provide the platform for the Governor Obaseki-led administration to demonstrate the results of its continued investments in human capital development in the past six years.
The Federal Government launched the Nigerian Human Capital Development programme in 2018 in recognition of the role of human capital development in addressing poverty and other socio-economic issues to spur sustainable growth and improve life expectancy in the nation.
The two-day conference in Benin City is raising hopes of spurring the South-South regional economic integration which was started by former governors of the region under the BRACED Commission.
The BRACED Commission, an acronym for the six South-South states of Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Edo and Delta, is a regional institution established to drive the process of cooperation and integration among the South-South states as well as socio-economic and infrastructural development of the oil-rich region.
“The objective of our effort is to build a very strong regional economy that has a potential to create employment and create wealth for the people of the region,” said Joe Keshi, a former Nigerian Ambassador to the United States, who heads the BRACED Commission as Director General.
However, the fire and enthusiasm that greeted the commission at the beginning began to wane as politics reportedly tore the region’s governors apart following the 2015 general elections.
In June 2016, the BRACED Commission planned a two-day retreat in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, to foster synergy among the key state commissioners and officials responsible for economic matters in the South-South states.
The event, themed “Diversifying the Braced States Economy through Sub-national Economic Cooperation and Integration”, was also aimed at ensuring that senior state functionaries and policymakers in the states had full appreciation of the political, economic and social necessity for regional economic cooperation and integration.
It was also planned to provide the executives with good knowledge and understanding of the essence, processes and benefits of sub-national economic cooperation and how regional cooperation could drive accelerated development in the region.
As at the time of filing this report, however, the Nigerian Observer could not verify whether that the event held as planned as there were no reports to that effect.
In January 2017, Keshi expressed renewed optimism that then governors of the region would give the BRACED Commission the needed verve to actualise its mandate.
“So our hope is that these new governors, who are now preparing to meet, will really take up this challenge and allow the commission deal with its mandate,” Keshi said while speaking to NDV in Benin City.
The Director-General also informed that the Commission had as at the time achieved a lot in the areas of agriculture and education, having put together a framework for cooperation in education as well as agricultural development as a way of reducing dependence on oil.
In September of the same year, three governors of the region, Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, and Udom Emmanuel of Akwa-Ibom State, met in Asaba, the Delta State capital, to discuss ways to revive the BRACED Commission.
At the end of the Asaba meeting, the Akwa Ibom State governor told journalists that the BRACED Commission was “a very good economic platform for the entire region to look at those areas of common economic interest so that we can also foster economic growth in the region”.
However, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the early months of 2020 seemed to have hindered the planned resuscitation of the BRACED Commission.
In December 2020, Keshi led the BRACED Commission to consult with the governors of the region as part of efforts to strengthen collaborations among leaders to enhance the development of the region.
Speaking after a visit to the Akwa Ibom State governor in Uyo, Keshi stressed the need for the various units of Nigeria, such as the states and regions, to function optimally in order to enhance the functionality of the larger country.
“That’s why we need to begin to build a very strong economy at the local level, the state level and at the regional level and not depend totally on the federal government. If we want this country to work, we must ensure that states and the regions work,” he said.
