Lagos State Government has expressed its determination to support the regional integration and development agenda in the South-west region.
The integration is to broaden governance reforms in all the States in the region, enhance service delivery, economic and social development, as well as leverage on issues common to the States within the region.
Speaking at a two-day reform mapping exercise organized by Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) and Department for International Development (DFID)/ Partnership to Engage, Reward and Learn (PERL) Consultants, aimed at identifying innovations in Lagos that can be shared with other States within the region, the Director General, Office of Transformation, Creativity and Innovation, Mr. Toba Otusanya said the State Government is committed to reforms, offer support, share best practices and partner with other States in the region for its development.
According to him, the need for States in the South-West region to collaborate and come up with ideas that will develop the region in terms of efficient service delivery to the people cannot be over emphasized, thus, the introduction of this initiative by DAWN-DFID/PERL which, hopefully, would garner all the support it deserves.
He added that the choice of Lagos at this inception stage of the exercise was obviously informed by the fact that most of the reforms in Lagos are indeed notable and worthy of emulation, stressing that the potential benefits of these reforms if properly harnessed by other States, would bring about the much desired even development in the region.
While assuring the consultants of OTCI’s support and active involvement in the data gathering exercise, the DG wished them a successful implementation of the governance process.
The Consultants reviewed and documented all the reforms in the State, with the assistance of representatives of MDAs who took turns to provide adequate information needed to assess these reforms experiences, as well as potential linkages to State reform coordinating structures.
The essence is to come up with a document that would be distributed to other States in the South-West so they can learn from the Lagos experience, understand and help others within the region to grow.
Recall that the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) Commission was officially inaugurated by the Governments of the South-West States in July 2013, to manage the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria.
The Consultants also revealed that the DFID/PERL (Partnership to Engage, Reward and Learn) programme is a five-year programme aimed at supporting Nigerian Government, and States in particular, to become better at prioritizing, planning, resourcing, delivering, tracking and accounting for the delivery of public goods and services that respond to the needs of the people.
At the end of the workshop, the consultants commended Lagos State Government for the landmark achievements recorded in the area of reforms, stating that Lagos is indeed a State of many reforms, which they look forward to learning from.
