The Executive Director of DEAN Initiative, Semiye Michael has expressed displeasure over Nigeria’s level of achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), seven years down the line, especially in the areas of education[Goal 4] and climate action [Goal 13].
Michael, who made the indication on Saturday at the FollowTheMoney SDG hangout in Abuja,
also noted that the country is struggling in the area of data gathering and management of her achievements in the SDGs, adding that Nigeria does not have a National Data Board, except that of the National Bureau of Statistics which only speaks to economic indices.
“Somehow we feel disappointed with the achievements in Nigeria because recently, there have been new data released. Taking education for instance, from 10 million out-of-school children in Nigeria it moved to 13 million and now they are even talking of a whopping number that is almost 20 million, it is terrible. We are not doing well in climate action any longer. Basically, we are struggling and who to blame is difficult to find”, he said.
“In terms of development, no one is tracking the country’s performance. Who is telling our story? Who gathers these data that are published globally as the standard? There are so many questions but again, the NGOs can only be field interventionists, the government has the power in terms of regulating, monitoring and even looking out to ensure the data is authentic. Unfortunately, the government doesn’t have that”.
On the way forward for the Nigeria, Michael suggested that “the government should be deliberate; Nigerian leaders are not deliberate. I am not even sure they care because as long as nobody is holding them tight to their seats, they don’t care. Nobody goes to bed having sleepless nights because of our perceived failure.
“Also, there is no penalty for not doing well. There must be intentional actions, people must be penalized for not meeting up with a target. People in government just go to work and get paid even when the targets have not been met, such should change if we want to achieve the agenda 2030”, he remarked.
According to him, a week of action is declared by the United Nations globally to intensify effort on the accelerated action needed for the achievement of the SDGs, adding that Coronavirus ravaged the world and stalled the action of the SDGs, so they are working to galvanize action, mobilize more support, make statements to leaders and hold them accountable to their promises.
The Executive Director of DEAN Initiative, Semiye Michael, who is also the Curator for the Global Goals Community Centre, Abuja, has
While calling the Nigerian government to be deliberate in achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, he noted that the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. At its heart are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are an urgent call for action by all countries – developed and developing – in a global partnership.
