By Cecilia Ologunagba
Abuja – Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals Nigeria (OSSAP-SDGs) says it is working with the Ministry of Budget and National Planning to integrate the SDGs .
The SDG was recently released into the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP).
Head of Sectors, OSSAP-SDGs, Mr Jenefaa Gillis-Harry told the New Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abuja at two-day Validation Workshop on SDGs Baseline Report.
Gillis-Harry said that the office would continue to collaborate with the ministry to mainstream and domesticate the SDGs into the national and sub-national development plans.
He said that the office had recently reviewed Condition Grant to States (CGS) guideline.
“SDGs is not just for the Federal, it is for states, you know they have Ministries Departments Agencies (MDAs) at the state and local levels.
“MDAs that deal with Education, Environment, Agriculture, Water and Sanitation and all the aspect of the 17 goals of the SDGs at the all the three tiers of government.
“ So, we are working assiduously to make sure, the SDGS are domesticated both at local and state and levels.
“We know that the local people are closest to the grassroots; we want to make sure the SDGs start from the grassroots level to the state and the Federal.
“We want to make sure no one is left behind in the implementation of SDGs,’’ he said.
In addition, he said the office had lunched the Private Advisory Group, which was recently inaugurated by the Vice President.
The official said that the group would partner with the Federal Government in determining the activities, programmes and projects to be carried out in the implementation of the SDGs.
He said they would also bring additional funds to complement government efforts at the implementation of the SDGs.
“This group comprises of Chief Executive Officers of frontline business in Nigeria led by the Sahara Group to mobilise additional resources and expertise to complement government’s effort.’’
Gillis-Harry, however, said one of the key challenges envisaged in the implementation of the SDGs was the issue of date, adding that the office would partner with the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) to address it.
“The NBS is responsible for setting standards and methodology for statistical production so the validation workshop is going to bring out 120 indicators.
“They are other aspect of surveys that NBS is doing; we are going to conclude it to make sure that before the end of the year, we are going to have all the 230 indicators completed.
“This is a good starting in the implementation of the SDGs unlike the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) where we started late.’’
The official said another challenge would be funding the activities of the SDGs.
“During the MDGs, there was enough money, the government had money to fund the activities; the debt relief gains of 1 billion dollars per annual was monetised, that was what was use to implement the MDGs.
“ The government revenue has gone down because of the price of oil and it is also affecting us in the SDGs Office.
“Nevertheless, we are going to corroborate with the private sector, development partners; everybody is in the car with us as we go ahead in the implementation of the SDGs.
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