President Muhammadu Buhari has inaugurated the Presidential Council on the Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs, with a mandate to provide strong political leadership and oversight for the implementation of the goals in Nigeria.
The Council, which is chaired by President Buhari, would also “create opportunity for multi-level and multi-stakeholder consensus-building, representation, partnership and feedback” and“lead resource mobilization efforts for the attainment of the SDGs.”
Other mandates given to the council included the periodical assessment, monitoring, and review of the SDGs’ progress against a pre-determined set of indicators and to convene meetings of the council at least once a quarter and to appoint sub-committees from time to time.
Inaugurating the council on Friday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, President Buhari, represented by Vice-President Osinbajo, said the Nigerian government “has taken the firm view that the implementation of the SDGs Agenda has, and will have, decisive implications for Nigeria’s development.”
Economic Plan
The president said that the SDGs occupy a prominent place in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, ERGP, launched in April this year to guide Nigeria on the path of inclusive and sustainable economic growth.
He said: “Progress on the goals will have a positive effect on our poverty and unemployment numbers. It will reduce the number of mothers who die during child birth and our children who are unable to mark their fifth birthdays and of course the figures of out-of-school children. “
According to the president, the implementation of the SDGS would also empower girls and women and bridge the gender –inequality gap.
“Success with the implementation of the SDGs will have an impact on our cities and the quality of life lives of those who live within them,” the president said, pointing out that the “achievement of the goals equal a quantum social and economic leap for Nigeria.”
Historical Threshold
Warning that failure to achieve the SDGs would have existential implication for the present and future generations of Nigerians; President Buhari said “we are therefore a generation at the threshold of history, saddled with the responsibility to bring about the change that will alter our development trajectory for the benefit of our people and planet.”
He extended appreciation to Nigeria’s international development partners, members of the diplomatic corps, the private sector, civil society organizations, and all the stakeholders for the commitment to Nigeria’s development.
Speaking earlier, the Senior Special Assistant on SDGs, Mrs. Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, said the broad scope of the SDGs framework, with the 17 goals, 169 targets and 232 indicators, “requires that multi-level synergies and partnerships be built for the effective implementation of the SDGS.”
Others who spoke at the inauguration were the Chairman, Private Sector Committee on SDGs, Mr. Tonye Cole; the Chairman Senate Committee on SDGs, Atai Aidoko Ali; Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole and the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Nigeria, Edward Kallon, who was represented by Samuel Sawyer.
VON.
