Nigeria: Lagos, O'dua Group and Economic Integration Promise

6 February 2016

The good news was received with the deserved enthusiasm. Lagos State will finally be absorbed into the O'dua Group, comprising the five states of Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti, which make up this 40-year old association that seeks political and economic integration in the old Western region of Nigeria. What a great day it was on Tuesday January 19th 2016, which fortuitously happened on the 23rd floor of the historic Cocoa House in Ibadan, one of the prime legacies of this pan-Yoruba Group. It was there that the decision to approve in principle the admission of Lagos State as the sixth member of the Group was taken to the applause of not just Lagosians, but every ' Nigerian Westerner' who could sense the benefits of such association of like minds.

Only the host governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi and his Ekiti State counterpart, Mr. Ayo Fayose, were represented by their deputies. The other three governors - Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State, Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State and Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State, who read out the four-point communiqué were present at that momentous occasion where Lagos State was formally recognized as one of their own, a true Yoruba state, a bona fide member of the O'dua clan, which undoubtedly deserves to be in sync with the other states to which progressive ideology is synonymous. By that collective decision, the Group of Five are asking Lagos to become one of the owner states of O'dua Investment Company Limited, which for almost 40 years has been managing the economic interests of the state governments of the old western region, an investment arm spanning real estate, hospitality, printing and publishing among others.

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