United Nation initiative to partner Nigeria on SDGs

Prof. Labode Popoola, Director, Sustainable Development Solutions Network, Nigeria (SDSN), a UN initiative, says it will partner with the Federal Government to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the country.

Popoola made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja.

He recalled that SDGs, which implementation began on Jan. 1, built on the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that ended on Dec. 31, 2015.

The SDGs 17 goals and 169 targets are expected to wipe out poverty, fight inequality and tackle climate change over the next 15 years.

SDGs address the three dimensions of sustainable development: social, economic and environmental, as well as important aspects related to peace, justice and effective institutions.

Popoola said that the network had been sensitising people and trying to work out ways to work with the government to implement the goals effectively in the country.

We are also trying to work with the private sector to implement the goals,’’ he said.

Popoola, however, said the pace of implementing the goals has been slow at the national level due to economic situation.

He said that Non-Governmental Organisations had been sensitising people at the state level, adding however that much has not been achieved at the national level.

Nigeria is committed; there is no doubt about it because the President was in New York in September 2015 at the launch of the goals.

We also know that we now have Senior Special Assistant to the President on SDGs but funds are not flowing from the North as it was with the MDGs.

In the case of MDGs, we have funds from international organisations, the UN, bilateral sources but in the case of SDGs, it is a different ball game entirely.’’

He said that the drop in crude oil price and also the sabotage going on in the Niger Delta region had affected the earnings of the country.

The government means well, I personally believe so but funds are not available,’’ he said.