Abimbola Akosile
The Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals (OSSAP-SDGs) and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) are engaging in a strategic partnership for the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the core NEPAD agenda in Nigeria.
According to a statement issued by the Media Assistant to the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals, Desmond Utomwen, the resolve was reached during a recent courtesy visit by the National Coordinator/Chief Executive Officer of NEPAD Nigeria, Hon. Princess Gloria Akobundu to the Senior Special Assistant to the President on SDGs, Princess Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire in Abuja.
In the light of the inter-dependence of the various activities of both institutions, some expected areas of collaboration include the feeding of the implementation of National Programme of Action (NPoA) of NEPAD into the SDGs’ programme /projects in order to create a robust and integrated programme in Nigeria, Monitoring and Evaluation of programmes and projects, as well as data collection that will, to a large extent, assist the government in drawing conclusions on impact assessment of the SDGs and NEPAD initiatives.
According to Hon. Akobundu, who sought the support of OSSAP-SDGs in the quest to realise the mandate of NEPAD, the meeting was aimed at fostering an enlightenment exchange on the new strategies developed towards re-aligning NEPAD Nigeria for optimal performance and to actualise its mandate of improving the quality of life of the people.
Princess Orelope-Adefulire, who welcomed the synergy, maintained that one of the numerous best practices of OSSAP-SDGs is its capacity to facilitate and sustain multi-level partnerships, which has resulted in a strong collaboration with the MDAs across the national and the sub-national level. The office is also in strategic partnership with the Private Sector, Civil Society and Donor Partners for effective and efficient service delivery.
It is expected that the outcomes of this visit will, to a large extent, strengthen the collective aspirations of both institutions towards advancing the NEPAD-SDGs Agenda of integrated socio-economic growth and sustainable development in Nigeria.
Both NEPAD and OSSAP-SDGs have similar mandates of delivering pro-poor programmes and tracking progress in its efforts to ensure sustainable growth and development in the society.
The United Nations Resolution (57/7) recognises the need for African countries to establish NEPAD Country Offices with responsibility for monitoring the implementation of NEPAD Programmes at the country level and serving as a repository of information, among other functions.
NEPAD, which has played a key role in the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), in a bid to ensure best practices in terms of development and good governance among African Union (AU) member-nations.
World leaders at the 70th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September, 2015, adopted the Post-2015 development agenda/Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to address the unfinished business of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which includes eradicating poverty, environmental concerns and social inequalities in all forms and dimensions.
