Garnishing Our Civil Service Garment: The Hub Strategy (ONDO 2025 – 2029)

My fellow men and women of Ondo State, aren’t you tired of being labelled a civil service-only State? Bureaucracy does not necessarily brew creativity – a desired element for economic expansion. Should we tell ourselves the bitter truth; despite being an oil-producing State with an extra income from 13% oil derivation fund to her monthly allocations from the Federation’s coffers, do you know that Ondo State is not ‘considered’ a ‘major’ player in Nigeria’s economy? If you excuse the common discourse of increment in salary & pension packages of civil servants, perpetual scout for political offices by politicians, and construction of some rural & urban roads as governance dividends, how many local & foreign business conglomerates or die-hard investment optimists think of Ondo State in Nigeria’s post-colonial years, when considering geolocation for investments? Such deep-seated conversations of economic development are uncommon around us.

That we are called the “Sunshine State” does not infer we have more sunlight energy than several Northern States parading hotter climates year-round. Of course, if the quantum of sunshine from Supare-Akoko to Ido-Ani, Iju-Itaogbolu to Bolorunduro, and Ore to Igbokoda has at least been strategically explored to stimulate a solar-power production hub, the sobriquet would have been economically worth it. Had the Sunshine State become a hub of green energy products luring thousands of buyers to Ondo State, the focus of this article would have been different.  In contrast, it appears we are just a cluster of bureaucrats-only Nigerians revelling in such terminology as “civil servants” that is generic to the administrative systems of all States and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and making us an economically indistinct and insignificant entity. What remarkable outcome(s) has our sentimental civil service toga brought out for others to see and applaud for being so attached to that label that we have refused to infuse massive private sector drive into our state’s economy?

I particularly love the definition of an “economic hub” adopted by Arise Integrated Industrial Platform (AIIP), a high-flying Project developer in Africa - when it noted that it is a “business cluster formed around a particular region due to certain economical, technological and social factors”. Countries and subnational authorities often strategically position and market their regions as the centerpiece of ‘value-addition’ for a particular idea, product, service, sector and so forth to attract people, organizations, governments etc. for potential trade & investments. Think of an agglomeration of Information & Communication Technology (ICT) and India, Malaysia, China, Israel, United States readily come to mind. Imagine a manufacturing hub and China just pops up on google. If you need the sugar processing hub of the world, look nowhere else but Brazil. However, within each of these countries, it shouldn’t amaze you that a particular region, state or county is usually the host of these hubs, giving these nations that endearing global image. Bangalore is the technology software hub of India. Silicon Valley in the State of California, United States is the hub of technological innovation. Tel Aviv is the high-tech hub of Israel. Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing are the industrial/manufacturing hubs of China. Texas holds the ace as the oil refining hub of United States (not just as oil producer). Sao Paulo is the hub of sugarcane processing mills (not just as sugarcane producer) in Brazil. Which hub is Ondo State in the scheme of Nigeria’s economy? I dare say none!

As economically challenged as Nigeria is today, some States are yet distinguished as market hubs for distinct value-added items. One may argue that Federal policies and interventions in various sectors over the years have not been in favour of making Ondo State a hub, but a Yoruba adage reminds us that “it’s a child who raises his/her arms that the mother carries”. I recall a time in the not-too-distant past when Ondo gravitated towards becoming a hub for healthcare tourism and how that attracted Federal government and development partners such that UNICEF - a reputable international development partner in health & education, chose Akure for her Southwest Office and has remained so till date.

Therefore, beginning from 24th February 2025, can our to-be-elected and to-be-sworn-in Governor assemble a multi-sectoral team to develop an implementable blueprint with requisite policy & legislative impetus as well as Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) to make Ondo a hub of “value-addition” out of the following six recommendations in the medium- and long-term?

1. An Agro-processing hub - Across the 18 Local Government Areas (LGAs), cocoa, wood, cassava, palm kernel and so forth are grown in huge quantities. Can our dear State, led by the Governor, be more strategic towards establishing Ondo State as an agro-processing hub within Southwestern Nigeria? Processing factories with mills, crushers, extractors etc. for all these agro-produce can be set up in large in quantities through PPP.

2. A blue economy hub – We need traction on talks with the Federal government for the proposed Ilaje Deep-Sea Port to birth a blue economy hub with ships berthing and blaring. In addition, large-scale industrial packaging and preservation of fish and other sea edibles in cans and cold chain systems for massive export can be jump-started with PPP in Ilaje and Ese-Odo LGAs - the sea-side zone of Ondo State.

3. A tourism hub – The proposed Idanre Tourism Zone conceptualized by Sartorius Resources to fuse man-made tourism items with the naturally occurring Idanre Hills in Idanre LGA can combine forces with beach fronts in Ilaje and Ese-Odo LGAs to stimulate a tourism hub within Ondo State

4. A mining hub – Wielding a profile as a State having the second largest deposit of bitumen in the world (seen around Irele and Odigbo LGAs) is not enough; we need to begin its mining as soon as possible.  Although we currently produce crude oil in Ilaje and Ese-Odo LGAs, methinks here is a need to play the politics with the central government to attract more oil and gas exploration giants to the larger untapped deposits & fields of crude oil and gas who will more importantly establish refineries to add value to these extracts. When the millions of stone deposits prevalent within the four Akoko LGAs also turn to not just mining fields but locations for marble and granite processing factories, Ondo State will be reckoned with as a mining hub.

5. A technology hub – Unlike the natural resource-centred and non-renewable sources hubs proposed above, a knowledge-based economy is a renewable source that allows knowledge & skills’ transfer from person to person. The State government, riding on this understanding, can create a technology hub across major cities such as Akure, Ondo, Ore, Okitipupa, Ikare-Akoko and Owo with the vibrant and extensive population of young people in Ondo State driving this initiative through strategic PPPs.

6. A healthcare hub – In spite of Japa, can we attract the best of highly skilled hands across Specialist disciplines, set up world class medical equipment & facilities across some healthcare specializations - genetic medicine; laser procedures; laparoscopy; organ transplants; contemporary geriatrics, physiotherapy & psychiatry and so forth)? Without building new hospital complexes but with deliberate policy & business initiatives such as PPP, the Ondo State University of Medical sciences Teaching Hospital in Ondo, the Specialist Hospitals located in Akure, Ore, Okitipupa, and the State Psychiatry Hospital in Akure can be re-positioned as healthcare hubs of global reckoning.

Let’s remember - a hub status helps the wooing entity distil herself from the crowd within a country or region by being strategically positioned as a cluster of “something” to which value has been added (not in its raw form). Forget not, also, that there is nothing to gain from being a ‘civil service hub’. May the best candidate win the coming Governorship election slated for Saturday, 16th November 2024 and assume office on 24th February 2025 to lead the Sunshine State to take giant leaps towards garnishing our civil service garment, using the hub strategy.

 Dr. Adetolu Ademujimi is a Medical Doctor, Health Finance Specialist, Author, Reformer, Coach, Public Policy expert and Social entrepreneur who can be reached in Abuja via adetoluademujimi@gmail.com