South East zone having been endowed with both human and natural resources has not fully harnessed those potentials for the visible and practical infrastructural development needed.
A conscious effort must be made to bring the needed development to the south east zone.
There should be sustained commitment and zeal on a large spectrum to bringing the desired social amenities that will stir up the arrival of serious investors to the zone.
The state governors must ensure that there’s a realistic budget that’s anchored on the tripod of good governance which are accountability, transparency and citizens’ participation. No serious international donor will have anything doing with any State government that does not enshrine this governance module in its policy.
The policies of some of the state governments are so weak, not citizens friendly and not attractive to the arrival of international agencies. For instance, the Open Government Partnership (OGP) which ensures that States are compliant to the components of good governance has continued to support states to streamline their budget to align with the OGP standard.
Any State that has not signed into OGP is indeed denying the citizens the benefits of social development. The OGP removes the human hand in the budget process and the multiplier effects of a sincere budget announcement opens the rush door of investors, hence the distribution of even development across the local communities.
The budget is one major decision that can attract investors to the zone and if these investors come, the issue of how much will the zone develop becomes settled. Some states have paid their salaries with the fund arising from the arrival of international agencies for just being compliant to the new budget process.
The State governments must put social amenities in the hands of citizens by signing into the citizens’ budget platform where the budget captures the actual needs of the community members. That way, the citizens owe up the projects.
The state governments should begin the revamp of the moribund industries by partnering the private sectors. The private sectors are the machinery that drives development.
We urge the State governments to consciously take decisions across board to put in place the machinery of development and the zone will develop. A simple, sincere policy backed by action can do the magic.
