The focus of the second South- South Economic summit scheduled to take place in April will be on where and how to invest in the region.

The Summit is scheduled to take place in Asaba in April. Other keys areas that will come into focus are security and development, a statement issued by the BRACED Commission, conveners of the summit said.

The Director-General of BRACED Commission, Ambassador Joe Keshi, had earlier confirmed that the summit will be declared open by President Goodluck Jonathan.   BRACED is the acronym for Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Edo, and Delta States. It functions as the secretariat of the South-South states.

The theme of the three-day summit slated for April 26th-28th is ‘Development, Investment and Security’, which Keshi said is a pointer to the direction and focus of the renewed integration of the zone.

“When put together, we are saying that the South-South is ready for investment. We want to tell the world that the South-South is developing but within the context of that development is also the realisation that the Zone is potentially an investment haven. For those around the world and within the country who are looking for areas of investment, they can do so in oil and gas, agro-business among others. There is virtually nothing you cannot produce in large quantity in the South-south”, Keshi explained.

He said the summit will attract a rich mix of international audience including Presidents, multi-national investors, global business leaders as well as indigenous investors and ministers, especially ministers from the South-South zone.

This year’s summit is the second in the series following the maiden summit held in Calabar, Cross River State in 2009. To demonstrate the seriousness and commitment of the commission towards delivering a world-class summit, the BRACED Commission at the weekend formally launched a new website dedicated to the summit.

South-South is the economic heart of the nation being the sole producer of the country’s crude oil throughput. With the recent passage of a N4.8 trillion 2012 budget at a benchmark of $72 per barrel of oil, the full implementation of this budget will depend largely on the socio-political stability of the South-south which as recent as 2006 was a major flashpoint. The summit in addition to building synergy, would also seek ways of sustaining peace in the region.

According to Keshi: “We are focussing on regional integration and economic development, the type that is capable of producing jobs for the people of the zone and by extension for the larger Nigerian populace. There is something you must understand about labour; if any part of the country is developed, there would be substantial migration of labour towards that area as we have in Lagos today.

Lagos is the commercial nerve centre of Nigeria but we need to create more commercial centres and cities in the country. The South-south has up to two or three areas that you can call commercial cities. Our strategy is to create the conditions that would help these cities realise their full potentials as commercial hubs”.