by Akin Awofolaju, PhD, CLE, CSP, CFP, CFE( Neuroeconomist)
A 21st-Century Throwback to Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s Economic Vision for the Western Region.
There comes a time when political leadership must move beyond rhetoric and confront the economic realities that will determine the future of its people.
For the Southwest, that time is now.
Our governors must urgently rethink the role of Oodua Investment Company Limited and transform it from an underutilized regional asset into a powerful, professionally managed investment institution capable of driving industrialization, infrastructure development, youth employment, food security, technology, logistics, manufacturing and international trade across the Southwest.
This is not a call for exclusion. It is a call for economic ownership, competitiveness and strategic investment.
The Southwest cannot afford to remain predominantly a consumer of economic opportunities created by others while possessing the human capital, universities, financial institutions, ports, airports, agricultural resources, technology ecosystem, coastline and entrepreneurial culture necessary to build one of Africa’s most powerful regional economies.
THE AWOLOWO MODEL: GOVERNMENT AS CATALYST, NOT SPECTATOR
The late Chief Obafemi Awolowo understood something that remains profoundly relevant today: government must create the institutional and economic foundations upon which citizens can prosper.
The old Western Region’s development philosophy invested heavily in education, agriculture, industrialization, infrastructure and institutions capable of transforming human potential into economic productivity.
The lesson for today’s Southwest is not to reproduce the past mechanically.
It is to modernize its underlying philosophy.
The question should therefore be:
What would an Awolowo-inspired economic development strategy look like in the 21st century?
The answer must include a revitalized Oodua investment platform capable of mobilizing public and private capital into commercially viable enterprises across the six Southwest states.
OODUA SHOULD BECOME THE REGION’S STRATEGIC INVESTMENT ENGINE
Oodua Investment Company should be repositioned as a regional development investment corporation, operating according to international standards of corporate governance, transparency, professional management and commercial discipline.
The Southwest governors Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti should collectively examine how their governments can strengthen Oodua’s capital base and investment capacity without turning it into another politically controlled bureaucracy.
The objective should be simple:
Use public capital to crowd in private capital.
Rather than government attempting to own and operate everything, Oodua can become the investment vehicle through which governments create platforms that attract pension funds, institutional investors, diaspora capital, development finance institutions and private-sector partners.
Imagine an Oodua capable of investing strategically in:
• Manufacturing and industrial parks
• Agriculture and agro-processing
• Technology and digital infrastructure
• Renewable energy
• Transportation and logistics
• Real estate and affordable housing
• Tourism and hospitality
• Mining and mineral processing
• Healthcare and pharmaceutical manufacturing
• Education and vocational skills
• Export-oriented businesses
• Maritime and blue economy industries
• Venture capital for young entrepreneurs
That would be a very different Oodua from the institution many Nigerians know today.
It would be an economic engine.
THE BLUE ECONOMY: AN ENORMOUSLY UNDERUTILIZED OPPORTUNITY
One of the most compelling opportunities is the Southwest’s maritime economy.
From the Lagos coastline through Ogun and Ondo and into the wider coastal economic corridor, the region possesses enormous potential in shipping, ports, fisheries, aquaculture, marine logistics, ship-related services, tourism, offshore services and coastal industrial development.
The question is not whether these opportunities exist.
The question is:
Who owns, finances, manages and captures the value generated by them?
The Southwest must become much more deliberate about ensuring that indigenous entrepreneurs and companies have the capital, skills, technology and institutional support required to participate competitively in these sectors.
The presence of investors and entrepreneurs from other parts of Nigeria or from other countries is not inherently the problem. A healthy economy should welcome investment.
The problem arises when local entrepreneurs lack the capital, institutional support and strategic economic platforms to compete effectively in their own environment.
That is where Oodua can make a transformative difference.
FROM FAJUYI-BANK ROAD TO IWO ROAD AND IBEJU-LEKKI: ECONOMIC OWNERSHIP MATTERS
Across Southwest cities, commercial corridors are undergoing rapid transformation.
From Fajuyi-Bank Road in Ado-Ekiti to Arakale-Adesida in Akure, Iwo Road in Ibadan and the rapidly developing banking hub in Lagere Rd in Ile-Ife to Ibeju-Lekki corridor in Lagos, Ibadan Rd off Adeola Odutola haven in Ijebu-ode, the commercial real estate, logistics, retail, construction and other economic activities are expanding in all major metropolitan cities in SouthWest.
These developments should not be viewed through the narrow lens of ethnicity.
They should be viewed through the lens of economic participation and ownership.
If young people from the Southwest are increasingly unable to acquire commercial property, establish businesses, access affordable capital or participate in emerging industries, the long-term consequence will be economic displacement not because other Nigerians are succeeding, but because our own institutional structures failed to prepare our people to compete.
The answer is therefore not to push anyone away.
The answer is to build stronger competitors at home.
OUR YOUTH MUST INHERIT ASSETS NOT JUST POLITICAL SLOGANS
The greatest test of leadership is not how many roads are commissioned or how many political appointments are made.
It is whether today’s policies create economic opportunities that will still benefit tomorrow’s generation.
Our young people need more than government employment.
They need:
capital + skills + technology + infrastructure + markets + mentorship + ownership.
A revitalized Oodua Investment Corporation could create a regional ecosystem where young entrepreneurs can move from ideas to enterprises, from enterprises to industries, and from industries to globally competitive companies.
Imagine an Oodua backed Southwest Venture Fund investing in promising young entrepreneurs.
Imagine regional industrial parks where manufacturers receive reliable power, logistics, financing and market access.
Imagine an Oodua Maritime Fund supporting shipping, fisheries, aquaculture and marine technology.
Imagine an Oodua Agricultural Investment Fund connecting farmers to processing facilities and export markets.
Imagine an Oodua Technology Fund investing in Nigerian software, artificial intelligence, fintech, cybersecurity and digital infrastructure.
That is how economic empowerment becomes measurable.
A SOUTHWEST ECONOMIC COMPACT
The six governors should consider establishing a Southwest Economic Compact built around Oodua Investment Company.
Each state could identify strategic sectors in which it possesses competitive advantages while Oodua provides the investment architecture to connect them into a regional economic network.
For example:
Lagos: finance, technology, maritime trade, logistics and global commerce.
Ogun: manufacturing, industrialization, logistics and agriculture.
Oyo: agriculture, education, technology and agro-processing.
Osun: tourism, agriculture, solid minerals, manufacturing and cultural industries.
Ondo: blue economy, agriculture, oil and gas services, forestry and mineral resources.
Ekiti: education, technology, agriculture, knowledge industries and tourism.
The objective would not be competition among the states.
It would be economic specialization and regional integration.
CAPITAL MUST FOLLOW STRATEGY
But there is an important warning.
The Southwest must not simply inject public money into Oodua and expect miracles.
That would repeat the mistakes that have damaged many government-owned enterprises.
Any recapitalization should come with strict conditions:
1. Independent professional management
2. International standard corporate governance
3. Transparent financial reporting
4. Independent audits
5. Performance-based leadership
6. No political interference in commercial decisions
7. Competitive procurement
8. Clear return on investment targets
9. Public disclosure of major investments
10. Private sector participation
11. Strong anti-corruption controls
12. Annual economic impact reporting
Oodua must become an institution where competence outranks political connection.
THE GOAL IS NOT ETHNIC ECONOMIC EXCLUSION
This distinction is crucial.
The Southwest should remain open to Nigerians from every part of the country and to international investors.
Economic development becomes stronger not weaker when Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti attract capital from everywhere.
But openness must not mean helplessness.
Every successful region in the world deliberately develops its own companies, financial institutions, entrepreneurs, industries and investment champions.
The Southwest must do the same.
The objective should be inclusive prosperity with strong local participation.
A Yoruba entrepreneur should have the same opportunity to access capital, land, infrastructure, government procurement and commercial networks as any other entrepreneur.
That is not discrimination.
That is economic empowerment.
THE GOVERNORS HAVE A HISTORIC OPPORTUNITY
The six Southwest governors have an opportunity to leave behind something more consequential than individual political projects.
They can create an institution that outlives their administrations.
They can recapitalize Oodua.
They can professionalize it.
They can integrate it with the region’s development strategy.
They can mobilize billions of naira and potentially billions of dollars in private and diaspora investment into productive enterprises.
They can build a regional investment architecture capable of financing the next generation of Nigerian companies.
Most importantly, they can give young people something more valuable than political promises:
a stake in the economic future of their homeland.
A NEW OODUA FOR A NEW GENERATION
Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s generation built institutions based on the belief that development required deliberate investment in people, infrastructure and productive capacity.
Our generation must take that philosophy into the digital, globalized and highly competitive 21st century.
The challenge before the Southwest is therefore not nostalgia.
It is reinvention
We need an Oodua that can think globally, invest intelligently, compete commercially and create opportunities locally.
An Oodua that can mobilize capital.
An Oodua that can build industries.
An Oodua that can finance innovation.
An Oodua that can support farmers.
An Oodua that can participate in the blue economy.
An Oodua that can develop logistics corridors.
An Oodua that can invest in young entrepreneurs.
An Oodua that can partner with global companies without surrendering strategic local participation.
And above all, an Oodua that can become a symbol of economic confidence, institutional excellence and shared prosperity.
THE CLARION CALL
To the governors of Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti:
This is the time to think beyond the next election cycle.
Create a Southwest economic strategy that can survive political transitions.
Recapitalize Oodua.
Professionalize Oodua.
Modernize Oodua.
Integrate Oodua.
And make Oodua a genuine investment engine for the Southwest.
Let us revive the economic spirit of the Western Region not by attempting to recreate the past, but by adapting its strongest principles to the realities of today.
The greatest tribute we can pay to the economic vision of Chief Obafemi Awolowo is not to continually celebrate what his generation achieved.
It is to build institutions worthy of the next generation.
The Southwest has the talent.
It has the markets.
It has the universities.
It has the entrepreneurs.
It has the coastline.
It has the agricultural base.
It has the financial ecosystem.
It has the diaspora.
It has the human capital.
What it needs now is strategic coordination, patient capital, institutional discipline and courageous leadership.
Let Oodua rise again not as a relic of the past, but as the investment engine of a prosperous Southwest.
This is not merely an economic proposition. It is a generational responsibility.
Oodua A gbe Wa o
