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Tag: Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

  • Kaduna launches SDGs progress report at UN

    Kaduna launches SDGs progress report at UN

    The Kaduna State Government has presented its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Report 2017 at the UN, becoming the first state in Nigeria to launch local SDGs data and strategy development for implementation.

    Deputy Governor Barnabas Bala, said on the sidelines of the ongoing UN General Assembly, that the report highlighted key policy actions and progress being made so far towardbachieving some of the SDGs.

    He added that it identified the baseline status of the SDGs in the State, highlighted key policy actions, progress being made and concluded with actions for the state to consider going forward.

    “The Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) are an integral part of Kaduna State’s efforts to improve the livelihoods of the State’s residents.

    “By providing comprehensive targets for all aspects of development and coordinating the efforts of all actors. Kaduna will only achieve its potentials if it achieves the SDGs by the target date of 2030.

    “To this end, the Kaduna State Development Plan 2016 to 2020 has fully integrated the SDGs and specifies concerted policy actions to help achieve each goal,” he said.

    Bala said the goal of the State Development Plan was to achieve inclusive economic growth and socio-economic transformation that translates into substantial improvements in the quality of lives of citizens, through higher productivity and competitiveness.

    He said: “The very first step on the journey to sustainable development has therefore been to generate sufficient data – a baseline to understand where Kaduna State stands in relations to the goals.

    “This is to help guide policy interventions to target the deepest and most persistent pockets of poverty.

    “The Kaduna State Bureau of Statistics was given the mandate to generate the State’s statistics with the passage of the Kaduna Bureau of Statistics and Statistical System Law of 2013.

    “In 2015, the State Executive Council declared a data revolution and since then has invested heavily in establishing the State statistical system and is climbing a steep learning-curve.

    “To fill the gaping hole in the State’s data, the Bureau has conducted a range of innovative new surveys and institutionalised the role of data in planning and monitoring across government.”

    The event was attended by the Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed; Wife of Kaduna State Governor, Aisha El-RufaiEl-Rufai; and the state’s Commissioner for Budget and Planning, Muhammad Abdullahi.

  • Delta approves N600m fund for SDGs

    Delta approves N600m fund for SDGs

    Delta Government has approved the release of N600 million counterpart fund for the implementation of the 2017 Sustainable Development Goals ( SDGs ) cycle in the state.

    The State Commissioner for Information, Mr Patrick Ukah, who disclosed this to newsmen in Asaba, said it was part of the resolutions reached at the State Executive Council meeting held on Tuesday in Asaba.

    Ukah said that the council also approved the construction and rehabilitation of more roads across the state to open up linkages between rural communities and urban centers.

    He also said that at the completion of the roads, agrarian communities would be encouraged to evacuate their produce to various markets in line with the Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa agenda of prosperity for all Deltans.

    Also the State Commissioner for Transport, Mr Vincent Uduaghan, who responded to questions on the state divestment of its 60 per cent share in Delta Line Transport Company, said the move was apt.

    Uduaghan said that the state transport company had degenerated to the extent that it could not pay salaries of its workers among other bills despite many years of government investments and support.

    According to the commissioner, Delta Line debt now stands at over N500 million.

    “Year in, year out, the record is there that government has invested in Delta Line but the expectation is not what happened.

    “So, in looking for a way forward, the state divesting 60 per cent of its share in Delta Line is the right way to ensure an effective, efficient and result oriented transport company for all Deltans and Nigerians to enjoy,” he said.

    Also, the Commissioner for Finance, David Edevwie, said that the 60 per cent share in the company amounted to about N160 million, adding that negotiation was on to ensure that most of the over 800 staff of Delta Line were retained.

    He said that though the government had signed a Memorandum of Understanding ( MoU ) with the preferred bidder, God is Good Motors; discussion was on to ensure that the right staff were recruited.

    According to Edevwie, the preferred bidder has the expertise and would introduce new technologies to make the transport company safer, accountable and viable.

    “To the best of my knowledge, I can count three times that government had pumped in millions into Delta Line and at the end there is no result to show for it.

    “The company cannot pay its workers salary, creditors, so the issue has been debated in the Council before we arrived at where we are today, which is the signing of MoU.

    “We have not completed the process, there is still going to be lots of discussion with union of Delta Line Company and I am sure at the end we will fare better than we have had over the past 17 years that the company had existed,” the commissioner said.

    Edevwie said that the new management would also shoulder the company’s liabilities of well over N500 million.

    The commissioner also spoke on the delay in completing the Multi-billion Naira Independent Power Plant (IPP) at Oghara, Ethiope East Local Government Area, saying it was due to paucity of fund.

    He said that government was considering to divest part of its share in the project, or sell it off, after a complete review of the project.

    Edevwie disclosed that the government had engaged an adviser on the way forward on the IPP project, adding that a definite decision would be taken before December.

  • UN calls for more global commitment to SDGs

    UN calls for more global commitment to SDGs

    UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed has called for escalated efforts by Nations for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to ensure that the 2030 deadline is met.

    Mohammad, who made the remarks at an informal UN General Assembly meeting on taking stock of SDG actions, warned that the current pace of progress was insufficient.

    “The SDGs have jumped from the General Assembly Hall to communities across the world and are taking hold among policy-makers and in global public awareness.

    “However, our assessment clearly shows that the pace of progress is insufficient,” she added, noting also that progress has been uneven between the sexes, and among people of different ages and constituencies.

    She particularly said that the persistence of poverty remained the main challenge and that tackling gender equality and the use of new technologies should be leveraged to tackle this issue.

    She also highlighted the importance of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change to the success of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

    Mohammed also underscored the potential of the 2030 Agenda for a more prosperous and peaceful world and said that its success depends on the active engagement of all actors for people, peace, prosperity and a healthy planet.

    “My simple appeal today to all of you is to stay engaged, help us keep the ambition high, and work with us in this collective endeavour for a better future for all,” she said.

    Peter Thomson, the President of the General Assembly, also spoke of the importance of collaboration and the deployment of resources, expertise and technology on a greater scale to realise SDGs.

    Thomson said: “Potentially, we have reserves of them sufficient to well exceed the goals before us.

    “Thus, it is a matter of deployment, of marshalling our forces, both morally and practically, to undertake the tasks at hand in a spirit of inclusivity and universality.”

    He recalled the work done over the last year to advance each of the 17 Goals, in particular, building momentum across the SDGs.

    Thomson called for strengthening the UN capacity to convene, engage and create coalitions for collective action across the means of implementation.

    He sais that this includes partnerships with the private sector, employing technological advances and leveraging the potential of public and private financing to support achieving the goals.

    He urged greater efforts to deliver on the promise of the 2030 Agenda, adding that “we now need a shift in gears.

    “It is time to crank it up a notch, for time is not on our side. We have the resources, the ideas, the technology and the motivation.

    “Add leadership, courage and an unwavering commitment to progress and we will reach our 2030 destination with goals fulfilled,” he added.

  • SDG: 222 girls get scholarship

    SDG: 222 girls get scholarship

    A total of 222 girls have been offered a scholarship to study in Nigeria’s tertiary institutions under Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Female Special Scholarship Awards, Federal Ministry of Education has said.

    The Acting Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Dr Adamu Hussaini, stated this in a statement in Abuja on Monday, by the ministry’s Press Officer, Mr Agidike Onu.

    Hussaini said that 338 candidates participated in the selection process.

    He said that the award was the effort by the Federal Government towards achieving Goals 4 of the SDGs tagged ” Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women” by the year 2030 and beyond.

    According to him, the Federal Ministry of Education will continue to build on the achievements of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 2000-2015 which made gender equality a top priority.

    Hussaini also assured that the ministry would not relent in its efforts to end the discrimination against women and girls.

    He urged states and local governments in the country to key into the programme to afford Nigerian girls the opportunity of quality education.

    Earlier, the Deputy Director, Nigerian Award, Federal Scholarship Board, Mr Prinzo Nwanyadimo, said that the awardees were nominated by an Inter-Ministerial Committee in February 2017.

    He said the nominations were based on the performances of the candidates in the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

    Nwanyadimo explained that awardees must be in public tertiary institutions, with emphasis on nursing, medicine, laboratory science, law, technical and vocational education courses.

    “Each state was awarded two slots for the university while GEP states got four slots each in Polytechnic and Colleges of Education,” he said.

  • SDGs: FG inaugurated 34 member taskforce on maternal mortality

    SDGs: FG inaugurated 34 member taskforce on maternal mortality

    Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole Tuesday inaugurated a 34 member National Task Force on accelerated reduction of maternal Mortality in Nigeria.

    The Task force has about three months to turn in its interim report in three months.

    The minister also hinted that the taskforce will be converted into the n group of the government.

    The task force is therefore seen as a response to achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to reduce maternal mortality to 70 deaths per 100,000 live births by 2030.

    Currently, Nigeria has the one of the highest maternal mortality rate in the world, with 576 deaths per 100,000 live births.

    The task force which work include recommending road map for immediate, mid-term and long term reduction of maternal mortality in the country is headed by Prof. Adeniran Fawole.

    Among the other terms of refrence is to conduct a rapid situation analysis and landscaping of maternal mortality in the country. The task force is also saddled with the responsibility to document any other reccommendations that may strengthen the Nigerian Health system with a view to improving maternal health nationwide.

    Other members of the taskforce are: Mrs. Adejike Orelooe-Adefulire, Special Adviser ti the President on SDGs, Dr. Wapada Balami, Director, Hospital Services, Dr. Akin Oyemankinde, Director Health Planning Research and Statistics

    Inaugurating the team, Prof. Adewole charged the group to give hope to Nigerian women and make them happy.

    He therefore urged the group to see what is happening around the country and scale it up.

    In his response, the chair of the group, Prof. Fawole said the issue of maternal mortality is one that must be seen as a priority in the health sector.

    He also assured the minister that the taskforce will do everything possible to ensure that the assignment is successfully carried out.

    He stressed that it will be a signal that the country give respect to the women folks.

     

  • Migrants remit $429bn to developing countries in 2016

    Migrants remit $429bn to developing countries in 2016

    Migrants from developing countries sent 429 billion dollars to their countries of origin in 2016, Ms Louise Arbour, UN Special Representative for International Migration, has said.

    Arbour said this in her remarks to the session on the latest round of consultations on a two-day Global Compact for Migration at UN Headquarters in New York.

    She said the 429 billion dollars remittances were some f the migrants’ most tangible contributions to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in developing countries.

    She said the remittances were more than three times larger than official development assistance (ODA), and more stable than other forms of private capital flows.

    According to her, such transfers to developing countries have lifted millions of families out of poverty, while stressing the need to lower the associated transaction costs to leverage remittances for development.

    Migration also provides substantial development benefits to places of destination, for both developed and developing countries, particularly through the contribution of labour migrants of all skills levels, she argued.

    The senior UN official regretted that although the net benefits of migration far outweighed its costs, the public perception was often the opposite.

    Arbour said “such public perceptions and attitudes negatively influence sound migration policy choices.

    “This must be reversed so that policy is evidence-based and not perception-driven. Policies responding to false perceptions reinforce the apparent validity of these erroneous stereotypes and make recourse to proper policies that much harder”.

    The consultation is the fourth in a series of six thematic consultations that will take place this year and feed into the drafting of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, expected to be adopted by UN Member States in 2018.

    An outgrowth of the New York Declaration, adopted at a 2016 UN Summit on refugees and migrants, the Compact will be the first intergovernmental negotiated agreement, prepared under the auspices of the UN, to cover all dimensions of international migration in a comprehensive manner.

    The current consultation, conducted by representatives of Member States, UN agencies, civil society, migrants and diaspora, examined the challenges and opportunities in leveraging the economic and social contributions of migrants to countries of origin and destination.

    In his remarks, Director General of International Organization for Migration (IOM), Mr William Swing, emphasized the advantages of making sure migration is considered in development planning.

    Swing cited the need to ensure that migration is seen as an issue affecting all aspects of human development, including human rights, and the importance of mainstreaming migration in the broader development strategy.

  • FG to establish Presidential Council for SDGs

    FG to establish Presidential Council for SDGs

    The Federal Government says it will establish a Presidential Council for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to provide high-level policy guidance, leadership and direction for the realisation of SDG 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, US.

    A statement by her Media Assistant, Mr Desmond Utomwen, in Abuja on Sunday, said that the presidential aide presented Nigeria’s Voluntary National Review on the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals at the forum.

    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.

    Orelope-Adefulire 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, according to the president’s aide, 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.

    “I wish to reaffirm that Nigeria has clearly defined her path to the 2030 Agenda.

    “We count on the strong patriotism and goodwill of the citizenry, the commitment of the stakeholders as well as the support from the global fraternity of nations to ensure that no Nigerian is left behind,’’ she said.

    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.

  • Four Nigerian states domesticate SDG’s – presidential aide

    Four Nigerian states domesticate SDG’s – presidential aide

    The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Mrs Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, says four States have so far domesticated the SDGs in the country.

    Orelope-Adefulire, who disclosed this when she led a delegation to the Permanent Mission of Nigeria to the UN, said Nigeria was doing well in the implementation of the SDGs.

    The SDGs is a successor programme to the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), with a set of 17 global goals and 169 targets aimed at transforming the world by year 2030.

    The SDGs, which implementation started on Jan. 1, 2016 and terminates on Dec. 31, 2030, is a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity.

    The New Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Orelope-Adefulire was in New York to present Nigeria’s SDGs National Voluntary Review to the UN High-level Political Forum.

    The presidential aide said the states are Benue, Edo, Lagos and Nasarawa, adding that Kaduna state is also on course to domesticate it.

    According to her, Nigeria is implementing an all-inclusive SDGs to ensure that no one is left behind.

    Orelope-Adefulire said all Nigerian groups were involved in the implementation of the SDGs, noting that while the MDGs was government-oriented, the successor programme was people-oriented.

    She explained that the Federal Government had integrated the SDGs into Nigeria’s national policy and planning frameworks.

    She said her office has Focal Persons from all the states working with the governors as well as Desk Officers in the Ministries, Departments and Agencies.

    The presidential aide commended the commitment of President Muhammadu Buhari in the implementation of the SDGs and called for the support of all Nigerians for the administration.

    “We should pray for president Buhari because he is a good man. We should also support the administration because we have no other country.

    “Yes, there are challenges but God has a purpose for us as a country,” she said.

    In his remarks, the Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the UN, Prof. Tijjani Bande, described Nigeria as “a very unique and important country” to the world.

    Bande said that most countries understood the place of Nigeria in the comity of Nations, adding that Nigerians have made their marks across the globe in all human endeavours.

    “People go from other countries to Nigeria but no one goes and return the same; they come back with deepened knowledge.

    “Nigeria has tried in various ways; what we require now is coordination and calmness,” he said.

    The Nigerian envoy commended Nigeria’s SDGs national voluntary review, saying that Nigeria had set a pace for other countries.

    “A lot of countries will learn from our review; a lot of countries require the leadership of Nigeria to follow.

    “God did not make a mistake to make Nigeria a leader; we at the mission here are playing the leadership role required of Nigeria to other missions,” he said.

  • UN urges international community to scale up support for Nigerian women, girls

    UN urges international community to scale up support for Nigerian women, girls

    UN urges international community to scale up support for women and girls for  Nigeria to  realise it’s target on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

    UN Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed made the call on Thursday in Abuja at a briefing on the findings of the UN mission on issues affecting women in Nigeria

    Mohammed urged governments and international agencies to focus energies on supporting women and girls in Nigeria.

    According to her the UN believes that if a nation would make meaningful progress women should not only be given greater responsibility but be a part of the decision-making body of that society.

    She called for investment in areas that would bring greater empowerment for women as well as ensuring education of the girl child

    She noted that there would be a reduction in the number of cases of violence against women and girls when they are empowered.

    She commended Nigeria’s efforts at addressing issues of violence against women and urged the country to do more

    Mohammed said that the UN planned to scale up assistance for women and girls by investing more in the 17 SDGs relating to women and girls.

    “The level of sexual violence we are seeing in the camps and communities is so alarming.

    “That is why we are seeking support from the international community to help integrate the women back to the society so that they can continue their normal life”, she said.

    Mohammed urged Nigeria to have a zero tolerance for violence against women and girls.

    She urged the nation to take the issue of development seriously, claiming that there is a connection between poverty and violence against women and girls.

    UN under Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN women, Phumzile Mlanbo-Ngcuka in her remarks called for stiffer punishment for abusers of women and girls.

    Mlanbo-Ngcuka urged states that are yet to domestic the violence against women and girls act to do so.

    She said that the UN introduced the method of safe spacing in camps and communities, as part of effort to help victims of violence recover and adjust back to society.

    She disclosed that the UN was considering a situation where more female security officers would be in charge of women in most of the IDPs camps.

    According to her UN is also wants women to be in charge of food and welfare.

  • UN drums support for Nigerian women, girls

    UN drums support for Nigerian women, girls

    Nigeria must empower women and girls if the country must attain the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), UN Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed has said.

    UN Deputy Scribe argued that for a nation to make meaningful progress, women women must be part of decision-making body of the society.

    Mohammed spoke in Abuja Thursday on the findings of the UN mission on issues affecting women in Nigeria.

    She called on governments and international agencies to focus energies on supporting women and girls in Nigeria.

    Amina who until her appointment by the world body was the country’s minister of Environment also called for investment in areas that would bring greater empowerment for women as well as ensuring education of the girl child,  noting that there would be a reduction in the number of cases of violence against women and girls when they are empowered.

    She commended Nigeria’s efforts at addressing issues of violence against women and urged the country to do more, adding that the UN plans to scale up assistance for women and girls by investing more in the 17 SDGs relating to women and girls.

    “The level of sexual violence we are seeing in the camps and communities is so alarming and that I why we are seeking support from the international community to help integrate the women back to the society so that they can continue their normal life”, he said.

    Mohammed in urging Nigeria to have a zero tolerance for violence against women and girls however urged the nation to take the issue of development seriously, claiming that there is a nexus between poverty and violence against women and girls.

    Speaking on their meeting with the rescued Chibok Girls, the UN envoy commended the spirit in which the girls are handling the matter, stating that “They have overcome the initial trauma, and are now talking about their dreams”.

    Also speaking, UN under Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN women, Phumzile Mlanbo-Ngcuka, while calling for stiffer punishment for abusers of women and girls urged states that are yet to domestic the violence against women and girls act to do so.

    She as part of effort to help victims of violence recover and adjust back to society, the UN introduced the method of safe spacing in camps and communities.

    She disclosed that the UN is also considering a situation where more female soldiers would be in charge of women in most of the IDPs camps as well as putting women in charge of food and welfare.