The Federal Government is committed to the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the benefit of all Nigerians.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on SDGs, Princess Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, stated this in a statement released on Friday, September 25, 2020 in commemoration of five years of the adoption of the SDGs, which signals the beginning of the Decade of Action for the Global Goals.
The Presidential Aide said: “As the global community commences the Decade of Action for the SDGs, we all recognise the significance of the year in our genuine desire to fast-track the achievements of the goals. In effect, members of the global community are now counting down the last 10 years to achieve the SDGs in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
“I can assure you that governments at the national and bub-national levels are working very hard in conjunction with our development partners and other critical stakeholders to ensure that Nigeria is not left behind in the race to achieve the SDGs. Individuals and families will also have roles to play in ensuring that no one is left behind.”
The SSA to the President also added that Nigeria has made good strides in SDGs domestication processes and listed some of the concrete steps so far taken to accelerate the implementation of the SDGs to include the commencement of the re-alignment of the National Statistical System (NSS) with the requirements and indicators of the SDGs; as well as development of a novel home-grown Integrated Sustainable Development Goals (iSDG) Model, which is an analytical framework for assessing how policy making can better address the indivisible nature of the SDGs.
Nigeria is also said to have successfully presented its Second Voluntary National Review on the SDGs to the UN High-Level Political Forum in July 2020, following its first submission in 2017.
“At the moment, we are working on the Integrated National Financing Frameworks (INFF) for the SDGs and supporting the domestication of Nigeria iSDG simulation Model as a Planning Model across the 36 states,” Princess Orelope-Adefulire said, even as she called on all stakeholders to continue to take actions for the Goals.
“Your action may just be in encouraging that family in your neighbourhood to keep their environment clean, send their children to school or letting them know the importance of attendance of hospitals for maternity or immunisation services for their children. The task of building the society that we want is one that must be won, and it rests on us all. Keep taking actions and make them count,” she stated.
World leaders at the United Nations General Assembly on September 25, 2015 adopted the SDGs as a blueprint to achieve a better future for all. It is also a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by year 2030.
