Odimmegwa Johnpeter/Abuja
The Ministry of Regional Development has inaugurated the Core Working Group (CWG) on Regional Development as part of a high-level stakeholders’ engagement aimed at strengthening policy coordination, institutional effectiveness, and inclusive regional growth across Nigeria.This was contained in a statement signed by Sani Datti, Head, Information and Public Relations.
Declaring the event open, today, 15th December 2025, in Abuja, the Honourable Minister of State, H.E. Uba Maigari Ahmadu acknowledged the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, noting that the creation of the Ministry and the Regional Development Commissions reflects a deliberate national strategy to address long-standing regional imbalances.
“The Development Commissions represent strategic instruments for addressing long-standing regional development gaps while responding to evolving socio-economic and security concerns across the country,” he stated.
The Minister highlighted that the key expectations of regional development must be locally grounded, secure, accountable, and sustainable. “A region-by-region approach must reflect local realities, priorities, and comparative advantages,” he noted, that “the integration of security considerations must reinforce peace-building, community resilience, and long-term stability.”
He stressed that “strong governance and accountability mechanisms must provide clear indicators, monitoring systems, and transparent processes,” while “policy thrusts must align with national development plans and global best practices, ensuring continuity beyond political cycles.”
In her welcome remarks, the Permanent Secretary, Dr Mary A. Ogbe described the inauguration as a major step toward institutional strengthening and improved service delivery. “This gathering marks a concrete step in our collective effort to strengthen the institutional capacity of the Ministry to deliver on its mandate of promoting balanced, inclusive, and sustainable regional development across Nigeria,” she said.
Dr Ogbe explained that the CWG will function as the Ministry’s technical backbone, serving as a technical engine room that provides evidence-based inputs and ensures coherence across departments. She further noted that the inauguration coincides with the commencement of a Rights and Results-Based Management (RRBM) Training aimed at transforming how regional development policies are planned, implemented, and measured.
In his keynote speech, delivered on behalf of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Chief Social Policy, Mr Hamidu Poufon, underscored the central role of the Ministry of Regional Development as the institutional anchor for achieving equitable and inclusive development across Nigeria’s regions. He noted that this role is critical to the successful implementation of the Renewed Hope Agenda.
He stated that the UNDP will serve as a technical partner to the Ministry, as a leading global development agency, and emphasized that the overarching goal of regional development efforts must be to drive balanced national progress by channelling inclusive growth across all regions, ensuring that development interventions are equitably distributed to address disparities and unlock regional potential.
The two-day event is taking place in Abuja from 15th to 16th December 2025, in collaboration with the Office of the National Security Adviser and the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, with support from the European Union (EU), UNDP, and UNICEF.
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