Mrs Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, Senior Special Assistant to the President on SDGs, says Nigeria is steadfastly committed to the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Orelope-Adefulire stated this at Nigeria’s side event at the 72nd Session of the UN General Assembly tagged: “Localising SDGs Through Partnership Innovation and Resource Mobilisation”.
The presidential aide detailed the progress made by the various arms and tiers of the Nigerian Government to the attainment of the global goals by 2030.
“In order to strengthen the institutional mechanism for SDGs implementation, the Presidential Council on SDGs was recently inaugurated with President Muhammadu Buhari as the Chairman. This signifies unwavering commitment at the highest level of Government to the Global Goals. The Presidential Council will provide direction and support the overall implementation of the SDGs Agenda.” said Orelope-Adefulire.
According to her, Nigeria has already established standing committees at both the upper and lower chambers of the National Assembly to provide the oversight function for SDGs implementation. In addition to that, the Private Sector Advisory Group on SDGs, as well as the Donors’ Partnership Forum on SDGs, has since commenced work after their inauguration. Synergies are also being built with sub-national Governments to ensure that global policy translates to action at the grassroots. Moreover, similar partnerships are being envisaged for other groups within the Nigerian development space in order to leverage resources and mobilise the critical mass needed for the successful implementation of the SDGs.
The presidential aide emphasized that SDGs align with Nigeria’s development priorities, having been integrated into its planning and budgeting frameworks through its “robust mainstreaming” into Nigeria’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan. She also added that the country has made significant strides in meeting data requirements needed to benchmark progress by mapping existing SDGs data and by establishing baseline statistics for more than 126 SDGs Indicators.
Orelope-Adefulire said as the world marked the second anniversary of the SDGs, it has now become urgent to scale up implementation efforts for success. “We are thus the generation at the threshold of history saddled with the responsibility of bringing about the change that will alter our development trajectory for the benefit of people and planet.”
Original source: PM News Nigeria
Published on 26 September 2017
