From Kenneth Udeh, Abuja
The newly confirmed Managing Director of the South-south Development Commission (SSDC), Ms. Usoro Akpabio, has vowed to deliver an ambitious development strategy centred on job creation, agricultural value chains, and the transformation of rural infrastructure across the region.
Akpabio outlined this vision following a high-level meeting with executives of the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF), held shortly after the Foundation’s strategic engagement with the Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima. She disclosed that the SSDC’s new roadmap would prioritise youth and women empowerment, the establishment of localised cocoa processing hubs, and aggressive investments in rural development to boost livelihoods and regional economic resilience.
“Our engagement with the World Cocoa Foundation reaffirmed cocoa’s unique potential to drive sustainable, inclusive growth across the South-south.
“We are determined to harness this opportunity by creating jobs, increasing export capacity, and developing climate-smart agriculture systems,” Akpabio said.
Akpabio also stressed the Commission’s commitment to building strong multi-sectoral partnerships along the cocoa value chain aimed at enhancing farmer support, promoting eco-friendly practices, and aligning the region’s cocoa production with global market standards.
She expressed gratitude to the President of the World Cocoa Foundation, Mr. Chris Vincent, along with Ghana’s Country Director, Mr. Mawuli Coffie, and Mr. Ugochukwu Uzoamaka, for what she described as their unwavering commitment to regional transformation.
“Their leadership highlights cocoa’s enormous promise as a vehicle for economic revitalisation in the South-South,” she noted.
With her Senate confirmation secured, Akpabio pledged that the SSDC under her leadership would position agriculture, especially cocoa, not merely as a revenue source but also as a foundation for long-term structural growth, skills development, and national competitiveness.