The Senior Advisor of the United Nations Development Programme in Nigeria, Dr Amarakoon Bandara, has urged state governments that the implementation of their development plans would guarantee the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs.
Speaking with Voice of Nigeria in Gombe during a two-day engagement with stakeholders on the establishment of a North East Acceleration/Innovation Zonal Hub in Gombe, Dr Bandara said the UN supports the processes of development plans or strategies by states, but that the development plans should be backed by deliberate efforts to implement them.
He said the implementation of the development plans, like the Gombe State 10-year Development Plan, launched earlier this year, would contribute to Nigeria’s attainment of the SDGs.
Dr Bandara also said the partnership with the private sectors was equally a strong pillar in meeting the SDGs because it would provide the needed funds to engage the communities for the expansion of their initiative and increase economic activities.
He said this would subsequently contribute to the development process in the country as a whole.
“Through that process, I expect the communities, the people and the young people, in particular, will benefit through employment generation and also increased income. I guess this will also help directly or indirectly to increase the livelihood opportunities,” Dr. Bandara said.
He said the two-day engagement with the stakeholders in Gombe was aimed at establishing enhanced collaboration with partners, including the private sector and how they could contribute to the local development process, as well as strengthen the capacity of the SDG Office in Gombe State.
“We have selected six states to represent their respective zones. We call it Zonal Level Innovation Hub. The basic idea of those innovations Hub are to contribute to the development planning, policy dialogue and implementation of the state development plans and contributes to knowledge sharing within the zone, as well as an experiment some of the innovative ideas on the ground,” said Dr. Bandara.
He said the Innovations Hub was expected to explore innovative ideas, which the UN and the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on SDGs would support, especially how to use the Innovations Hub to explore initiatives and bring best practices to other states.
Dr. Bandara said the SDGs Office was available to assist people with innovative ideas.
The Country Programme Analyst from the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President of SDGs, Mr. Abubakar Metcho, said the Zonal Innovation Hubs were being handled by four UN agencies, UNICEF, ILO, WFP and coordinated by the Office of the United Nations Resident Coordinator, aimed at sensitising the whole of the North Eastern States on what the Acceleration Hub was.
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Mr. Metcho said the choice of Gombe was based on the key achievements recorded in the state, such as the 10-year Development Plan, which was now serving as a blueprint for other states to emulate, like the leadership and commitment of the government of Gombe State.
“Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya has shown a strong commitment to the realisation of the SDGs in Nigeria,” Mr Metcho said.
According to him, the government, the United Nations and international partners alone could not achieve the SDGs, hence the need for collaboration with the private sector, academia and the civil society, because the 17 SDGs are integrated and holistic.
He said achieving one of the goals would ensure achievements in some other goals as well.
Mr. Metcho said strong collaboration with relevant stakeholders would fulfil President Muhammadu Buhari’s vision of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in the next 10 years.
“Nigeria is an oil-dependent country and we know what is happening with the oil. So, we need to diversify the economy. How can we generate more resources, through what ways? Innovative financing, the SDG Bond, the Green Bond and so many other bonds that we can use to support the SDGs,” said Mr. Metcho.
He said the private sector would be expected to show commitment on how they could support the innovation centre in Gombe.
Overall, Mr. Metcho said the remaining states in the North East were expected to come into Gombe and learn from the Innovation Centre.
Bashir Abdulkadir Tukur, the Senior Special Assistant to the Gombe State Governor on SDGs said the Zonal Innovation Hub being established in Gombe would serve as a learning centre for the rest of the states in the North East, because the state already had a policy document, the SDGs office and that the activities of the SDGs Office were all geared towards the attainment of the SDGs and Social Protection.
“If you can look into our Gombe State Development Plan, the DEVAGOM, one of the pillars is the Social Protection Pillar, Social Welfare Pillar, that is Pillar Number Four. It talks about quality education, it talks about gender equality, it talks about good health, it talks about the welfare of the less privileged ans zero hunger,” Mr. Tukur said.
He said volunteers, to be known as SDGs Volunteers, would be assigned to all the 114 wards in the state, assigned with the responsibility of sensitising people at the grassroots on SDGs, which is in all the various sectors of the economy.
Mr. Tukur said the importance of the two-day engagement with the stakeholders was also intended to drive social protection interventions for the realisation of the SDGs in Gombe State and the North East as a whole, upgrade SDGs Offices with modern technological facilities, which will serve as innovation and acceleration point for the North East Zone.
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