Chinwendu Obienyi
The Federal Government has said the process for integration of the national financing framework to support the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) actualisation in Nigeria has commenced in earnest. The government disclosed this during a webinar session organised by the Financial Centre for Sustainability, Lagos (FC4SL), in collaboration with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in Lagos.
The session, through expert discussions and deliberations, sought to promote the consideration, adoption and integration of the United Nations’ 2030 development goals into the formulation of developmental policies and strategies to ensure a more sustainable, safer and increasingly prosperous economy for all Nigerians.
While delivering her opening remarks, Mrs. Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, Senior Special Adviser (SSA) to the President on SDGs, represented by the Senior Technical Advisor, Dr Bala Yusuf Yunusa, said that the Federal Government of Nigeria has since established institutional mechanisms to support effective implementation of the SDGs.
According to her, the Office of the SSA to the President on SDGs was established in January 2016 with the mandate of strategic planning, co-ordination, and guidance; advocacy, representation, and partnership building; monitoring, evaluation, and reporting; as well as resource work implementation.
She said, “Several strategic initiatives have since been implemented; including a database mapping that enables a complete realignment of the national statistical system for the requirement and indicators of the SDGs. It has also attempted to integrate the three (3) dimensions of the SDGs – economic, social and environmental – to Nigeria’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan from 2017 to 2020.