By Perpetua Onuegbu
Stakeholders from the public and private sectors have come together in Abuja to validate Nigeria’s 10 years Sustainable Development Goal’s (SDG’s) plan to achieve the global goals of action in the country.
The Head of Communications, Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goal’s (OSSAP-SDGs), Mrs Janet McDickson, made this known to newsmen on Thursday in Abuja.
McDickson said this came about as the global community accelerates efforts to achieve the global goals in the decade of action for the SDGs.
She said stakeholders have validated a strategic implementation plan for the attainment of the development agenda in Nigeria.
According to her, the document: ‘Nigeria Sustainable Development Goals Implementation Plan (2020-2030) was unanimously endorsed by over 300 participants drawn from the civil society, public and private sectors.
The document was endorsed at the physical/virtual validation workshop hosted by the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on SDGs in Abuja on Tuesday.
The Head communications said document laid out elaborate plans for Monitoring, Evaluation, Reporting, Financing, Advocacy, and Sensitisation for the SDGs in the next 10 years.
In the statement, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on SDGs, Mrs Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, said it was important to develop a strategic implementation Plan for the SDGs as Nigeria joined in the decade of action.
“Particularly as the country is developing a successor plan to the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP).
“As Nigeria developed a successor development plan to the ERGP in 2020, the mainstreaming of the SDGs into the medium and long-term development plans is imperative.
“The SDGs are being mainstreamed and integrated into the various thematic areas of the Plan. Consequently, SDGs’ implementation and its monitoring shall hinge on the Plan processes.
“In this ‘Decade of Action’ for the Global Goals, Nigeria will adopt ‘holistic cum heuristic’ approaches and will continue to utilise national development planning as the primary instrument to drive SDGs implementation,” she stated.
The presidential aide added that the Nigerian government had demonstrated strong commitment in the overall implementation of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development.
She added that institutional frameworks have been established at the national and sub-national levels to support effective implementation of the global goals.
Adefulire reiterated that the SDGs could not be achieved with stand-alone policies and programmes/projects and therefore, the goals must be deliberately integrated into national and subnational policies and development plans.
“While modest progress has been achieved during the first phase (2016-2020), dwindling financial resources; lack of capacity at the subnational level; persistent insecurity across the country; and COVID-19 pandemic have all combined to slowdown progress towards the achievement of the SDGs in Nigeria.”
The presidential aide further noted that during the ‘Decade of Action’, there was urgent need to build back better from COVID-19 setbacks and fast-track the achievement of the SDGs and the implementation plan would help to achieve this.
“This National SDGs Implementation Plan offers a coherent roadmap for Mainstreaming, Acceleration and Policy Support (MAPS) for the SDGs.
“Mainstreaming the SDGs into the national and subnational development plans is a necessary pre-requisite for effective implementation.
“Effective Integration of the SDGs into sectoral policies and plans requires smart and innovative approaches of identifying ‘influencers’ and ‘accelerators’ among the SDGs.
“The interconnectedness and inter-linkages of the SDGs provide opportunities for synergies and trade-offs to achieve better outcomes,” she added.
Adefulire emphasised the need to continually seek creative and innovative financing mechanisms through which public and private resources could be mobilised to support accelerated implementation of SDGs in Nigeria.
“Indeed, to achieve the transformative promise of the 2030 Agenda – ‘Leave no one behind’, we need the expertise and financial resources of all – public and private sector; scientific community; donor community and the wider civil society,” Adefulire stated.
