CWG Founder Proffers Solution for Accelerated Attainment of SDGs

Dike Onwuamaeze
The Founder and Executive Vice Chairman of the Computer Warehouse Group Plc, Mr. Austin Okere has identified five elements that would accelerate the attainment of the Social Development Goals (SDG) in Nigeria.

Okere, who is also a consultant at the Sustainable Development Goals Africa Centre (SDGCA) that is based in Rwanda and a member of the Global Agenda Council of the World Economic Forum stated that these elements are business organisations, population, enablers, infrastructure and the socio-political environment, adding that the SDGs are all about people, planet, prosperity and peace.

He called on the government to create efficient regulations that would encourage optimal interplay of these forces to ensure sustained prosperity in Nigeria in an inclusive way that would leave no one behind, arguing that regulation should not constrict the pursuit of opportunity nor act in a manner to entrench protectionism because “until more people could successfully start businesses and prosper, the country would never have enough jobs in the economy.”

He said: “I see five forces driving sustainable growth as follows: organisations, population, enablers, infrastructure, and the socio-political environment. I have codified below, the relation between these forces in a model which I call the Austin’s Five Forces Model for Analysing Sustainable Development.”

Okere described the role of the organisations as providing jobs for the population for shared prosperity while the population in turn “is the source of skilled labour to the organisation and who in turn contribute to the welfare of society
The enablers, according to him, were institutions and mechanisms necessary for supporting efficient and equitable pursuit of opportunities in the society, which include regulation, education, healthcare, and technology among others.

He added, “Enablers are institutions and mechanisms which remove economic blockages and open economic arteries. Anything that enhances economic activity to a community will culminate in an economic driver for the society. Regulators are one of the most critical enablers of a society. But regulators, however, tend to be either a source of support or a headwind against progress.”

Okere singled out telecoms and electricity as the most critical enabler and infrastructure respectively that would enable Nigeria to achieve the SDGs.
He said: “The most significant enabler in modern times is the technology platform that provides a means of significantly extending services at low-cost efficiencies, and as a result draw many people into the consumption pool, while also creating many jobs along the value chain which would otherwise simply not exist. Technology Platforms have heralded an era of unprecedented inclusiveness.

“The biggest infrastructure drawback, however, has been electricity. Almost half of the people living in Sub-Saharan Africa do not have access to electricity. The attendant impact on entrepreneurship can only be imagined. If Africa were able to achieve in power what she has achieved in telecoms the impact on sustainable development would be immense.”

He added that nothing impacted sustainable growth better than a stable socio-political environment, which attracts capital investments for rapid economic development.
“The rule of law is paramount for a stable polity. Any society that does not abide by some code of conduct whether in public or private matters tends to become chaotic and virtually ungovernable, ”he said.