Idowu Sowunmi
With reference to their shared values, the much-touted Lagos-Ogun Joint Development Commission would soon become operational with the aim to manage the overflow of development from Lagos State to Ogun State.
Barring any last minute hitch, the governor of the two states would soon put pen to paper as arrangements have been concluded to make the Commission operational before the end of the year.
Disclosing this thursday at a breakfast meeting of Nigeria-South Africa Chamber of Commerce in Lagos, Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, said the two states also planned to set up an education unit to monitor standards of education in the two states on a daily basis.
Abiodun and his Lagos State counterpart, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, have been communicating with agencies of government, development partners and private sector operators on areas of infrastructural development, climate change and food security.
Both have also taken steps to closely monitor activities in the public schools through the introduction of Education Delivery Unit.
According to him, “We have introduced Education Delivery Unit to closely monitor deliverables in our schools. We want to ensure that what needed to be done is done including keeping the school environment, toilets and others clean at all times.
“We have seen that Edo State is making progress in primary education. We may adopt the state model. We are giving identity numbers to our students and their teachers, so that we would be able to know their whereabouts at any point in time. We have also introduced e-learning by giving instructional tablets to our students to ensure that uniformed curriculum is taught in our schools.”
On the Ogun-Lagos Joint Commission, Abiodun said officials of the two states have met and worked out modalities on areas of cooperation, which include agriculture, particularly on rice production; waste management and development of infrastructure at the border towns.
He said the South-west states have also adopted a security outfit ‘Amotekun’ to tackle insecurity in the region, adding that his administration was working towards providing adequate security, infrastructure, good health and education to the people and investors.
Also speaking, Sanwo-Olu said the defunct Lagos-Ogun Mega City project conceived in 2005 could not take off due to lack of political will, but assured the states that the project would be revived through the Lagos-Ogun Joint Commission.
Sanwo-Olu noted that it was imperative for the two states to work on their comparative advantage and cooperate in the area of agriculture, water supply and sharing of information on security issues.
Speaking earlier, the Life Patron of Nigeria-South Africa Chamber of Commerce, Oba Otudeko, called on the two governors to complete all uncompleted projects left behind by their predecessors and involve the private sector to bringing about rapid development in their states.
