Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja
The federal government disclosed wednesday that it has concluded plans to ensure that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are mainstreamed into the annual budgets at the federal and state levels to avoid failure as was the case with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The is coming on the heels of reports that African countries, including Nigeria may fail to achieve the SDGs, unless concrete steps are taken towards holistic policy implementation.
The Minister of Budget and National Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, said Nigeria, like many other African countries, failed to reach the targets of the United Nations (UN) Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) due to the region’s over-reliance on foreign aids.
Udoma spoke in Abuja at a high- level policy dialogue on development planning in Africa, organised by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).
Represented by the Permanent Secretary in his ministry, Mrs. Fatima Nana, the minister noted that although Nigeria made progress in achieving some of the MDGs, it could not meet the expectations, because of lack of political would to implement policies.
“We have not made as much progress as we had hoped for partly because of poor implementation mechanisms and excessive reliance on development aid,†he said.
He blamed the major issue stalling sectoral development in Nigeria on data management.
According to him, lack of proper data collation and management has impeded economic planning not only in Nigeria, but as well as in other African countries.
“Another factor is the failure of many African countries in main-streaming the MDGs into their national economic plans, policies and budgets. Added to these is the fact that many African countries lacked relevant data and mechanisms to monitor progress,†he said.
To avoid failures on the implementation of the SDGs, the minister said that Nigeria government has concluded plans to ensure that the SDGs are main -streamed into the annual budgets at the federal and state levels.
“Let me also inform you that concerted efforts are being made to ensure that SDGs are main -streamed into the annual budgets at the federal and state levels.
“Other actions we have taken in ensuring effective main -streaming the SDGs in our national plans include: raising public awareness and applying multi-stakeholders approaches,†he added.
