CHIDI ANSELM ODINKALU urges the SEDC to go for a business model suited to its unique mission
When he presented his budget proposals for 2024 to Nigeria’s National Assembly, the first full year of appropriations under his presidency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu identified as his priorities human asset development, poverty reduction and fighting insecurity. In the first week of February this year, his official spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, appeared to forget that when he acknowledged that 133 million Nigerians were multi-dimensionally poor but claimed that had nothing to do with the Federal Government. According to Mr. Onanuga, the states and local governments were responsible for that.
On the same day, 450 kilometres away, Vice-President, Kashim Shettima, provided a full rebuttal of Mr. Onanuga’s escape into sovereign abdication. The occasion was the launch of the Stakeholder consultation of the South-East Development Commission, (SEDC) for its regional development plan called South-East Vision 2050 (SEV2050). At the event, Vice-President Shettima went beyond merely reaffirming the leadership and responsibility of the Federal Government in eliminating poverty. He also underscored that this had to be “inclusive, sustainable, and anchored on peace and productivity.”
