The South West Development Commission (SWDC) has announced a comprehensive regional transformation roadmap built around a One-Economic Bloc strategy, with the goal of repositioning the South-West as Nigeria’s foremost production and investment corridor.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Commission, Dr. Charles Akindiji Akinola, unveiled the plan during the two-day South West Stakeholders Dialogue held on Wednesday in Akure, the Ondo State capital. The dialogue was organised by the DAWN Commission in partnership with Afenifere.
Dr. Akinola commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for establishing the SWDC, describing it as the “statutory expression of a dream long nurtured” — one that transforms regional aspirations into a federal instrument for coordinated development.
He explained that the Commission is designed as the South-West’s operational vehicle for translating President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda into actionable regional outcomes.
“The federal government has made job creation, industrialisation, and access to opportunity the pillars of economic recovery. For the South West, SWDC links federal programmes, state priorities, and private-sector innovation into one coherent delivery framework,” he said.
According to Akinola, the One-Economic Bloc approach treats the six South-West states as a unified economic zone rather than separate entities. The strategy focuses on harmonising industrial policies, developing shared infrastructure and logistics corridors, and establishing co-financing platforms that combine federal, state, and private capital.
“When we plan together, invest together, and trade together, we can once again make the South West the engine room of Nigeria’s prosperity,” he said.
The SWDC’s priority initiatives include regional interconnectivity projects across road, rail, and inland waterways; regional industrial and technology parks—one flagship park per state; and an agro-industrial revolution programme targeting value-chain integration in cassava, cocoa, poultry, and aquaculture.
Other focus areas are the blue economy and marine terminals at Lagos–Badagry and Ondo–Ilaje corridors, the development of a regional superhighway linking logistics hubs from Lagos through Ibadan to Osogbo and Akure, and the creation of talent and innovation hubs to support youth enterprise and digital creativity.
“These are not isolated projects; they are building blocks of a new industrial economy anchored on skills, productivity, and regional connectivity,” Akinola stated.
The Commission will also inaugurate a Private Sector Advisory Council (PSAC) to serve as a think-and-do body of regional business leaders guiding investment and competitiveness. Additionally, the proposed South West Investment Fund will mobilise pension assets, diaspora capital, and state government contributions to finance large-scale projects.
“This is the new model — government provides the platform, but partnership drives the progress,” Akinola explained.
He described the new roadmap as the beginning of “an era of alignment and collective prosperity — driven by partnership, productivity, and shared purpose.”
Paying tribute to Chief Obafemi Awolowo and the founding fathers of Afenifere, Akinola said their vision for regional development “was never about politics, but about people; never about position, but about purpose.”
“This region has never been short of leadership; what we must now cultivate is alignment. The time for competition has passed — the time for collective contribution has come,” he said.
