The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer (MD/CEO) of South-West Development Commission (SWDC) Dr. Charles ‘Diji Akinola, has assured that the commission’s development model will enhance accountability, scale and impact across Nigeria’s Southwest region.
Akinola gave the assurance while addressing stakeholders at the closing session of the just concluded regional development clinic organised by the Federal Ministry of Regional Development in collaboration with the Office of the Vice President.
He said the commission was repositioning its programmes toward a results-based and rights-informed management approach to strengthen the link between strategy, implementation, and measurable outcomes in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda.
The SWDC boss explained that the commission was working towards a shift from fragmented interventions to a more unified and coordinated regional development model that will enhance impact across the region.
Sponsored by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the three-day clinic, held at Lagos Marriott Hotel, brought together SWDC Board and Management, senior Federal Government officials, development partners, and policy experts to align regional development planning and execution with public service rules, financial regulations, and international best practices.
The engagement forms part of the national regional development clinics initiative aimed at translating federal regional development policy into region-specific operational diagnostics, priority setting, and implementable delivery frameworks.
The commission’s Board Chairman, Senator Olubunmi Adetunmbi, also reaffirmed the board’s commitment to strict adherence to civil service rules, due process, and institutional discipline as the foundation for sustainable regional development.
Key facilitators at the clinic included former Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Mr. Ben Akabueze; renowned industrial policy expert and former Senior Special Adviser on Industrialization to the President of the African Development Bank, Prof. Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka; and retired federal permanent secretary and public sector reform expert, Dr. Goke Adegoroye.
UNICEF’s Chief of Social Policy, Dr. Hamidou Poufon, expressed satisfaction with the depth of technical engagement and stakeholder participation, while Dr. Mariam Temitope Masha, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Regional Development Programmes (Office of the Vice President), underscored the importance of strong coordination between national policy and regional delivery institutions.
Other facilitators included representatives of Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Minister of Justice, Head of Service of the Federation (HoSF), Accountant General of the Federation, and the Director-General, Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP). There were also officials of commercial banks, finance experts and the director general of the DAWN Commission, Dr. Seye Oyeleye.
