By NDIMUH B. SHANCHO & IKOME CHRISTIE-NOELLA
Repairs and reconstruction of schools and roads, resettlement of displaced persons in their homes, and capacity building for “repentant youths” are some urgent actions the South West Development Authority, SOWEDA, is planning to embark on, for the welfare of the people of South West in the midst of the ongoing Anglophone crisis.
This information was disclosed by the Chairman of the SOWEDA Board of Directors, Ediage Apande Herbert, during the first ordinary session of the Board for the 2019 financial year, July 31, 2019. Aimed at examining and validating the administrative and management accounts, and activities reports for 2018, the meeting, could not respect the June 30 deadline, given that the new management team was only installed last July 4, 2019.
Addressing Board members in his maiden outing, the Board Chair said for any strategy to induce sustainable development in the South West Region, there is need to reinforce the organizational and functional capacity of the organization. This, according to him, will require the putting in place of an internal audit unit and management control services, preparing strategic development and action plans, and performance project and reports.
The new Board Chair also underscored the need for SOWEDA to partner with local and international organizations enaged in ending extreme poverty in rural areas through entrepreneurship and innovation in its mission to uplift the living condition of the people of the South West Region.
To cope with the prevailing insecurity and wanton destruction of property induced by the Anglophone crisis, Mr. Ediage said SOWEDA has reduced its activities to less than 1/5 of what it is supposed to be doing. “SOWEDA doesn’t have a police service to ensure security for its workers. That is why SOWEDA prefers to cut down on its activities while waiting for security to return,” he justified.
Corroborating the Board Chair, the Director General of SOWEDA, Dr. Besong Ntui Ogork indicated that developmental activities will continue going on in parts of the region considered safe for the staff and equipment of the institution. “We have already ear-marked some roads within Fako that by the beginning of dry season, we will start with. We hope that will enable farmers in those areas to have access to market relatively easy than the present situation,” he said.
The maiden Board session for the new management team culminated in the validation of the administrative and management accounts, and activities reports for 2018. The first semester report of the institution was also validated and plans for the last semester of 2019 presented with key activities like the validation of strategic plan for SOWEDA and the production of seed material for maize, plantains and Yam against 2020.
SOWEDA’s Impacts, 32 Years After
Created in 1987 to identify and implement programmes aimed at improving on the socio-economic development of the people of the South West Region, with particular emphasis on rural development, the institution which went operational in 1992, has successfully implemented three developmental projects. These projects include; the Integrated Rural Development Project, Livestock and Fishery Development Project and the Rumpi Area Participatory Development Project. Through these projects SOWEDA has contributed to the dis-enclavement of production basins through the rural and agricultural road construction; increased agricultural production through high quality planting material and provided potable water scheme and other social infrastructure to the population of South West.