The Buhari administration will work towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in Nigeria because it will help reduce poverty and unemployment in the country, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, has said.
Prof. Osinbajo was speaking on Friday during the inauguration of the Presidential Council on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The Vice President said the council will provide policy direction for the implementation of the SDGs in Nigeria. He further said the council’s work will be crucial for resource mobilization, prioritization of interventions, periodic assessment, as well as the overall oversight of SDGs implementation.
Osinbajo noted that the implementation of the SDGs was crucial to Nigeria’s development and it was an integral part of this administration’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, which President Muhammadu Buhari launched in April to guide Nigeria along the path of inclusive and sustainable economic growth.
“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 childbirth and our children who are unable to mark their fifth birthday, and, of course, the figures also on out-of-school children,” he said.
The Vice President further said this will also empower Nigeria’s girls and women, and bridge the gender inequality gap.
“Success with the implementation of the SDGs will have an impact on our cities, and on the quality of the lives of those who live within them,” Osinbajo said.
While noting that achieving the SDGs would mark a quantum socio-economic leap for Nigeria, Osinbajo urged all stakeholders to stay committed and work together to achieve the SDGs, as failure to achieve them will have grave implications for many generations.
“We are, therefore, in a real sense, a 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 our people and planet,” the Vice President added.
The inauguration was attended by cabinet ministers, international development partners and private sector chieftains, including the Deputy Governor of Kaduna State, Yusuf Barnabas Bala Bantex; Chairman, Senate Committee on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Senator Atai Aidoko Ali, who represented the Senate President; and the Acting Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Dr. Habiba Lawal.
Also in attendance were by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige; Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole; Minister of State for Power, Works and Housing, Hon. Mustapha Baba Shehuri; the Senior Special Assistant to the President on SDGs, Mrs. Adejoke Orelope Adefulire; the representative of the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Nigeria, Mr. Samuel Sawyer; and the Chairman of the Private Sector Advisory Group on SDGs, Mr. Tonye Cole.