By Asma’u Ahmad
The Nigeria’s Federal Government said it will establish a Presidential Council for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to provide high-level policy guidance, leadership and direction for the realisation of the targets.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on SDGs, Mrs Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, made this known at the ongoing United Nations High-Level Political Forum in New York, United States.
A statement by her Media Assistant, Mr Desmond Utomwen, in Abuja said that the presidential aide presented Nigeria’s Voluntary National Review on the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda and SDGs at the forum.
Mrs Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire
Mrs Orelope-Adefulire said that the process for the establishment of the president council had been put in place. She added that two standing committees on SDGs had been established in the Senate and the House of Representatives to enhance the legislative and oversight roles of the parliament in the scheme.
The president’s aide told the forum that Nigeria remained undeterred in making the required progress in achieving the laudable goals of SDGs.
She that the country would attain the height in spite of the challenges of an already ebbing recession, largely degraded crisis in the North-East, and resolution of militancy in the Niger Delta.
She revealed that some of Federal Government’s ongoing pro-poor and pro-development interventions had made impacts in the fight against poverty, citing Social Investment Scheme targeted at the extremely poor and vulnerable among the interventions.
Others are; Home Grown School Feeding Programme for public school children, Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme for unemployed youths and Women Economic Empowerment programme.
She also listed the N-Power programme for job creation for the youths and the Conditional Grant Transfer Scheme as part of the Federal Government’s efforts to ameliorate the condition of its citizenry.
Mrs Orelope-Adefulire said Nigeria had increased awareness on global goals and put in place mechanisms for identifying and targeting the poor through a “National Social Register’’ to ensure that “no one is left behind.”
She called on Global North to fulfill its commitment on Official Development Assistance in line with Addis-Ababa Action Agenda to complement Nigeria’s effort at expanding its revenue base.
The UN High-Level Political Forum offers an opportunity for knowledge exchange and sharing of best practices in the implementation of the new global development agenda among countries.
