South-West Govs meet in Lagos, map strategy for food security, others

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The South-West Governors’ Forum met Lagos, asking their respective states’ commissioners for agriculture to jointly develop a comprehensive agricultural template that would leverage each state’s comparative advantage to expand food production and development in the region.

The governors stated, “To expand food production and agricultural development, the Forum also directed their respective States’ Commissioners for Agriculture to immediately come together and develop a comprehensive agricultural template that would leverage on each State’s comparative advantage.”

Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, in their 11-point resolution adopted at the end of the meeting, stated that they renewed the call for the creation of state police to assist in curbing insecurity which has driven the food crisis in the country.

They also readopted the Yoruba national anthem: ‘ Ise wa fun ile wa.’

They hailed the Federal Government’s developmental projects under President Bola Tinubu, highlighting the importance of the Lagos-Calabar coastal road project and the proposed Badagry-Sokoto Highway project.

The governors at the four-hour meeting include Governors Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Dapo Abiodun (Ogun), Lucky Aiyedatiwa (Ondo), Ademola Adeleke (Osun), Biodun Oyebanji (Ekiti) and the host, Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos).

Sanwo-Olu, the host, was unanimously elected to lead the Forum as chairman, following the death of the former Governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu, who was the regional caucus chairman, the governors dwelt on regional economic integration, food production and regional security.

The decision of the governors to have an agriculture template for the region may have been informed by the warning from the United Nations that acute food insecurity is set to increase in magnitude and severity in 18 hunger “Hotspots”, among them Nigeria.