Okowa tasks authorities on commitment to SDGs

Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa has decried the inability of Nigeria to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) targets, blaming governments’ attitude to the programme.

The governor bared his mind when the Presidential Management Team of SDGs led by its coordinator, Dr. Albashir Ibrahim, visited him in Asaba, yesterday. Governor Okowa, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary (CPS), Mr. Olisa Ifeajika, challenged authorities in charge of the programme to show more commitment, noting that the targets were achievable with dedication and consistency in drive.

“We need to begin to work a lot more than we are doing at the moment, if we are going to actually walk the talk, because many times we start goals that we do not finish.

“As a nation, I believe that all hope is not lost, even if we are still behind. We can still remain consistently constructive and committed to whatever we do, so that we are able to actually change the narrative.”

According to Okowa, it is not going to take one year or one tenure to achieve change, but the important thing is to develop love and passion for the country, so that everybody that comes will continue to build on the laid foundation.“Yes, some mistakes might have been made along the line, but we need to continually build and remain focused on the goals. I think that that is very important for us.

“There is still a lot to be done in this nation and we need to find ways of eradicating hunger, to educate our people because they are interwoven in one way or another. We need to look at problems critically and that is going to involve getting people to be interested in development and the government has to support them,” he added.

Earlier, the Presidential Management Team coordinator had in his speech rated the government of Delta high in achieving results with the development goals, noting that the achievements could be traced to the track records of the governor in achieving desired results in his activities.He also added that the governor had earned an award from the national office of SDGs for his developmental efforts, and announced that the award would be given to the governor in a ceremony soon.