Report doubts Nigeria’s ability to meet SDG 2030 targets

Nigeria may not meet goals one and five of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, a report by O-Analytics Research and Development Initiative (ORADI), has said.

The report, which was published by a journal tagged, ‘SDGs Monitor’ tracks the implementation in Nigeria.

The current edition of the journal assessed the level of Nigeria’s implementation of goal one, which is on zero poverty, and goal five on gender equality are part of the 17 global goals set by UN for member countries to meet by 2030.

The publisher of the journal, Prof Ebere Onwudiwe, while presenting the report, entitled, “National conversation on poverty and gender equality,” which was moderated by Ayo Obe, said after an in-depth assessment of progress towards goals one and five, the report discovered that poverty is on the rise in Nigeria, while little progress has been recorded in bridging gender inequality.

“We show that despite the measures taken by the Nigerian government to reduce poverty, a large proportion of Nigerians still live below the international poverty line.

“We conclude that SDG one, which seeks to end extreme poverty by 2030, is unlikely to be met by Nigeria, and we use a disaggregated multidimensional poverty analysis method to show that compared to the south, poverty is more concentrated among households in the northern part of Nigeria,” the report said.

Similarly, that on Gender Equality (SDG 5) enjoins Nigeria and other UN-member countries to, “end all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere by 2030, Nigeria fairs no better.”

According to Onwudiwe, Nigeria’s poverty level contradicts its immense wealth adding that Buhari’s primary approach to reducing poverty is the Social Investment Programme (SIPs), which claims to be targeted at lifting many Nigerians from poverty and creating the opportunities for people to fend for themselves.

He added: “In reality, the SIP is heavier in alleviation than eradication of poverty and still, the Federal Government budgeted a whopping N500 billion yearly for the SIP but since its inception, only N79.98 billion was released in 2016, N140 billion in 2017 and N250.4 billion last year/2018.”