• Participation in a 4-day Southwest Governance Innovations Conference on “Innovative Governance and Effective Service Delivery” held at Park Inn by Radisson, Abeokuta, We shared experience from other States on ease of doing business, learnt about Social and Human Development  Reforms such as “Kaadi Igbe Ayo” (KIA) in Ondo State which was introduced to address the paucity of data for planning purposes and policy development.
• Participation in DAWN/DFID Southwest Cocoa Stakeholders’ Dialogue held at Carlton Gate Exclusive Hotel, Ibadan. Agreement was reached on how to resuscitate the Cocoa Industry in the Southwest with the ultimate goal of improving the Cocoa value chain, employment generation and increased Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).
• Participation in Southwest Consultative Forum on Open Data held at Carlton Gate Exclusive Hotel, Ibadan. One of the benefits at the meeting was on the necessity to have scientifically proved and statistically reliable data for planning and development purpose
• Visit to Ogun State and having discussions with top Government officials on possible areas of collaboration and partnership for mutual benefits. The State shared on the experience of Ogun State on the successful conduct of Local Government Election.
• The Ministry collaborated with the DAWN Commission to organise the Southwest Governors’ Forum meeting held in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State on Monday, 13th February 2017

 The Ministry is currently in the process of organising a Corporate Social Responsibility Forum.

 Theme:  “PUBLIC – PRIVATE SYNERGY:FORGING  INCLUSIVE GROWTH FOR SOCIO- ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN OYO STATE”

The Forum aims at achieving the following objectives:

• A medium of interaction between Government and the business community in the state to know about their needs and expectation of Government from them.
• To X-ray and map out a level-playing field for all the stakeholders in the State’s business community.
• To serve as a platform to develop a standard template that will be applicable to all and at the same time mutually beneficial towards discharge of Corporate Social Responsibility by companies operating in the state.
• As a medium to commend and appreciate the companies that have been doing CSR and appeal to those that are yet to do so to embrace it.
• The State Government will continue to achieve further development by presenting developmental aspirations and proposals to corporate bodies and development partners and at the plenary session to seek support in terms of technical assistance, partnership and provision of intervention facilities.

EXPECTED BENEFITS OF THE FORUM

There are a lot of benefits the State Government is expected to derive from the Forum.  They include:

• Medium of facilitating greater understanding of government policies e.g. Tax, Land Reform Programme, Ease of Doing Business, Industrial development policy etc.
• Medium of feedback gathering from the business community.
• Forum for sampling opinions on government policies.
• A medium for generating support for government policies and programmes.
• More data for planning purposes
• Increased Internally Generated Revenue
• More employment opportunity
• Better environment
• Product safety and quality for the benefits of the citizens.
• Increased sales and customer loyalty on the part of the business community.
• Improved finance performance by the companies.