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Open letter to Southwest Governors and Yorubas worldwide-By
Prince Abitunde Taiwo Newsdiaryonline
Mon July 18,2011
Your Excellencies, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko,
Senator Ibikunle Amosun, Engineer Rauf Aregbesola, Mr. Babatunde
Raji Fashola, SAN, and Mr. Abiola Adeyemi Ajimobi, progressive
state governors in the Southwest region of Nigeria, and
responsible Yorubas worldwide, let us seize the moment and work
together to usher in a socioeconomic and environmental
transformation of our region from its current sorry, sour, and
sad state.
In order to accomplish this, I propose a solution to the many
problems that are responsible for the pathetic state of our
region and urge our governors to provide the leadership needed
to implement the solution. I also ask for the support of
responsible members of the Yoruba community worldwide to
implement the solution.
Elements of the solution
1. The empaneling of a non-political seven member regional
development commission by our governors to serve for four years
and to start in October of this year . The commission should
include at least one member from each of the six states in the
region. Members of this commission should be men and women of
good character and integrity, and should include people with
backgrounds in the public and private sectors of the economy. I
recommend Dr. Dele Makanjuola, the Managing Director of Vitafoam
Nigeria Ltd, to be the Chairman of the commission because he has
characteristics that fit the profile required of the position
such as character, capacity, courage, and candour. I also
recommend that each state governor nominates a qualified
non-political member of the commission in consultation with Dr.
Makanjuola. Members of the commission should be sworn into
office by a high court judge of any of the states in the region.
Members of the commission will serve initially as part-timers,
either half-time or quarter-time in the first year depending on
their availability. After the first year, these options will
remain and also include a full-time option for all members. The
chairman, however, must work full-time in the subsequent three
years of the mission. All support staff of the commission will
work full-time throughout the duration of the mission. The pay
structure of all the members of the commission will mirror the
pay structure of state government commissioners and should be
scaled appropriately for half-time and quarter-time work.
2. The funding for the projects to be implemented by the
commission should come from a development levy of all working
Yoruba people worldwide of one half of one per cent of the per
capita income in their country of residence. For residents in
advanced nations such as USA, Great Britain, Canada, France,
Japan, Australia, etc, this approximates to $21 a month or $250
per year. For residents in Nigeria, Ecowas, and some other
African countries, this approximates to $1 to $2 dollars a
month, or $12 to $24 dollars a year. I anticipate that some of
our people will contribute more than the minimum.
A clear and mandatory requirement that every dollar
received be spent on project related work, and not politically
related activities, as this effort is a socioeconomic and
environmental remediation effort, must be adhered to!
3. The annual administrative support for the commission should
come from no more than 1% of the annual levy to help the six
state governments in the region who are currently in a serious
budgetary bind because of the poor economic state in our region.
4. Members of the development commission will conduct this
mission with transparency, accountability, and fidelity with
their fiduciary responsibility. They must also conduct their
operations in office without a conflict of interest.
5. Annual review of the work of the commission over the duration
of 4 years will be done to validate a renewal of their annual
contract.
6. The commission will maintain a database of financial
contributors to this effort and make this available for
reference by companies, states, the central government in Abuja,
corporations, multinationals, and agencies who seek to reward
their employees for supporting positive social ventures.
I predict an annual revenue stream to come from the levy of up
to $5 billion US dollars and a total revenue of up to $20
billion US dollars in four years to the commission for
infrastructural projects that will promote economic
growth in our region, create millions of jobs, and reverse our
region's economic decline. My forecast assumes, with massive
promotion of this venture, the likelihood of persuading a target
population of 30 million sceptical working Yorubas in Nigeria
and in Diaspora to contribute anywhere from $1 or $2 US dollars
per month per person for those living in Nigeria and most of
Africa, to $21 US dollars per month per person for those living
in the developed countries of the world.
Indicators of the economic decline in our region include the
closing of most of our industrial and manufacturing plants, the
weakening of the banking and
finance industry, the severe deterioration of our
infrastructure, and over 70 per cent youth unemployment. All
these have led to widespread poverty and insecurity. So far, the
state and local governments in the region have not been able to
solve these problems.We must no longer continue to stand idly
bye and allow the vast majority of our people to continue to
wallow in abject poverty and suffer its social consequences when
we can help.
The four cardinal areas the commission will focus on
The development commission will allocate the funds it receives
with transparency, accountability, fiduciary responsibility, and
zero-tolerance to corruption to economic, social, and
environmental projects in four cardinal
areas:
a. A network of roads, railways, waterways, and
telecommunications infrastructure linking our states and linking
our cities with our rural areas facilitating regional
integration.
b. Water and power provisioning and distribution to homes and
industries in our region.
c. Educational support at all levels and capacity building:
adult, primary, secondary, vocational/trade, polytechnic,
university, community police/prison academy with civics, ethics,
economic literacy, and citizen's civic responsibility
emphasised. In addition, mandatory community service will be
required for educational support given, to promote the rule of
law, advance democracy, encourage responsibility, and cultivate
work ethic. The community service will focus on environmental
remediation and beautification work: landscaping/gardening,
sanitation, forest parks, botanical gardens, etc. A significant
support should be given to teacher training, job coaching and
training, and training for local government and state government
administrators.
d. Rehabilitation of urban and rural hospitals, clinics, and
pharmacies.
Through this effort, the team of our governors, members of the
development commission, and responsible members of the Yoruba
community worldwide will lay the foundation of a robust and
diversified private sector driven developed economy with a GDP
of over $500 billion(in US dollars) that will productively
engage all our young people in the Southwest in work, job
training, work-study, research and development, and in the
assistance of other regions of our country when asked to.
For all participating Yorubas worldwide and our governors,
through this effort, we will define ourselves and show that
1. We are civic minded.
3. We are willing to give back.
4. We want to make a difference in the lives of others and
change the negative narrative of our region and nation.
5. We are willing to do our part for progress in our region and
nation without regard to what others have done to cause the
problems.
6. We are unwilling to allow the status quo to remain, as it
diminishes us all. We are determined to change our current
region's state of economic anaemia to that of
a globally competitive and robust state.
7. We recognise that though the current economic situation in
our region is lean, a remedy is possible, but requires financial
sacrifice from those who are able to give to provide the capital
needed to rebuild our infrastructure that will support the
rejuvenation of the private sector of the economy, stimulate
economic and job growth, diversify our economy from oil,
and alleviate poverty in our region.
8. We believe in social justice for the minorities in the oil
producing Southsouth region who currently carry the financial
burden of governance in Nigeria. We want to relieve their burden
through the development of our local economy. Through this
effort, our region will be able to carry its own weight through
taxation of millions of new and old workers in a scenario of
full or near full employment as the principal means of revenue
for the state and local governments in our region as was the
case when our founding fathers administered our region!
9. We believe that the antidote to the pervasive corruption in
our nation due to the selfishness, greed, and callousness of
some, which has crippled our economy, is the sacrificial
generosity inherent in this mission to solve our socioeconomic
and environmental crises.
10. We desire democracy, the rule of law, stability, and the
growth of the private sector in many areas including
agriculture, industries, services, and tourism that will lead to
the creation of millions of new jobs for our people.
11. We recognise that we received a legacy of development from
our founding fathers. We desire to leave a great legacy for our
descendants!
12. We agree that charity begins at home, and even when for some
it begins elsewhere, it should not end elsewhere. Our circle of
charity should include our homeland.
Your Excellencies and fellow Yorubas worldwide, this is a
defining moment for us. Our founding fathers, who were true
progressives, developed our region. However, decades of military
dictatorship, the adoption of a unitary system of governance,
over dependence on oil, and corruption have degraded that
development. With progressive governors in all the states in our
region, it is incumbent on us Yoruba people to support them
through embarking on this initiative to reverse the wrenching
retrogression of our region and restore progress to our land. We
Yorubas, including our governors, will be defined not by who we
say we are, but by what we do and the results we achieve by our
actions! If we do not act in a united and concerted way to solve
our problems, given the enormous resources we are endowed with,
such as human capital and financial wherewithal, and given the
legacy of development of our founding fathers, posterity may
judge us harshly for a colossal abdication of our responsibility
to rectify the regress of our region in the present period that
may persist into posterity.
In anticipation of the
acceptance of this proposal, I have decided to put my money
where my mouth is by sending $21 US dollars in this month of
July, 2011, as my levy payment for the proposed first month of
operation of October 2011, through a relative to be delivered to
His Excellency, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, Governor of Ekiti State, the
insightful convener of the recent summit of progressive
Governors, for transmission to the commission if and when it is
established. I urge our governors and my fellow Yorubas
worldwide to join this effort. I urge our governors to, as soon
as possible, launch the Southwest Development Commission and
introduce its members to our people via a press conference and
thus set in motion the process for the revitalization of our
region which will induce progress in other regions and
consequently in our country.
Prince Abitunde Taiwo
abitundetaiwo3@gmail.com
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