Abuja – Mr Ezenwa Nwagu, a community development expert, has solicited citizens’ participation in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Saturday, he said citizens’ participation would ensure maximum benefit from the programme.
Speaking on the sideline of a just concluded national dialogue on SDGs, he noted that many citizens could not benefit from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) due to bureaucracy in the implementation of the programme.
“Why Nigerians did not benefit maximally from the MDGs was because of bureaucratisation of the interventions in the implementation of MDGs.
“Due to this development, those who were supposed to benefit from the programme did not benefit.
“Appointments made into the MDGs were based on patronage and not competence and capacity as it should be, because there was a lot of money in the project,’’ he said.
He advised that government should create an environment that would enable effective implementation of SGDs by reducing corruption in its implementation.
In a separate interview, Miss Ama Hembe of Centre for Democracy and Development, Abuja, called on the stakeholders to avoid the pitfalls in MDGs while implementing SDGs.
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“By such step, they will learn one or two lessons that would guide them towards making sure that the success being envisaged in the implementation of SDGs surpasses that of MDGs’’, she said.
Speaking during the dialogue, the Executive Director, Women Optimum’s Development foundation, Mr Bimbo Oloyede, commended the organisers of the event.
Represented by Mr Dada Ahmed, a member of the foundation, Oloyede expressed optimism that event such as the dialogue, would contribute greatly to the successful implementation of the SDGs in the country.
Also, Hajia Limota Goroso-Giwa, Director, International Women Communication Centre, Nigeria, the organiser of the event, said that the centre organised the programme to popularise MDGs and SDGs.
She added that the effort of the centre was to ensure that rural women in the country were involved in the management of SDGs for maximum success and benefit to all.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that SDGs, expected to last for 15 years, are an intergovernmental set of aspiration goals with 169 targets.
SDGs include ending poverty and hunger, improving health and education, making cities more sustainable and combating climate change, among others.
The final document on SDGs was adopted during the UN Sustainable Development Summit between Sept. 25 and Sept. 27 in New York.
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