Gains and Lessons from the South East Economic Summits (2016 - 2018)
Following the successful hosting of the third consecutive South East Economic Summit by SEREDEC and its partners, the stakeholders of South East Nigeria have become optimistic that the once-booming economy of the region will flourish again.
Ify Melody is a media practitioner and a youth from the South Eastern part of Nigeria who believes that inclusiveness of the South East Summit is laudable. According to her, the Summit will make the region the investment destination in Nigeria.
“I can’t even explain well how excited I am to see this come to pass. And I would enjoin everyone who is from the South East and wants to see real development happening in the South East to join hands and collaborate with SEREDEC in whatever capacity you can to ensure that these things happen because it’s going to change the face of everything. It’s going to make the South East an investment destination indeed not only for Nigeria but in West Africa as a whole,” she said.
Francis Uka, a Human Resource Consultant, is also from the South Eastern part of the country. Francis who grew up in the South West and later settled in the South East was considering relocating from the region because of his perception of the South East as not being business friendly. He has been inspired by the awareness and information from the 3rd Summit and will not be relocating any more.
“That Summit changed my mind. It makes me see reasons to try and stay back, and perhaps be a part of this great move to ensure that we leave a far better South East than we met for our children.”
He said, “Apart from the fact that they are thinking it, they are also already doing it. The fact that there is a coming together of the South East Governors to endorse what SEREDEC is doing and adopt SEREDEC as the main vehicle for driving infrastructural development in the South East. That’s something I have never seen or heard of in the South East all of my days, ever since I grew up, until now.”
The question is: “What makes the South East Economic Summit unique or different from other Summits happening across Nigeria?”
This edition of the Development Watch takes a look at the Summit from 2016 (the first edition) to date, to explore the objective of the Summit, its gains, progress and drivers, as well as the lessons learned from the Summit and possible or emerging challenges that would need to be overcome.
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Disclaimer:
The opinions expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Department for International Development.
