22nd March, 2018
The Office of the Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has called for the replication of the Global Festival of Action on Sustainable Development at national and regional levels.
Princess Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on SDGs, made the call in a remark at the Global Festival of Action on Sustainable Development in Germany.
The call was made in a statement by Assistant Director, Communications, Janet McDicson, made available to newsmen on Thursday in Abuja.
Orelope-Adefulire urged the SDGs Action Campaign to work with partners across the world to achieve the replication of the platform at national and regional levels.
According to her, the replication of the festival will open doors to several opportunities to learn from each other towards achieving the SDGs.
She commended the UN SDGs Action Campaign for extending invitation to the government of Nigeria, adding that the event had become an annual platform to inspire, learn and share ideas.
She said the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Sustainable Development Goals in 2015 was a landmark achievement for people living in abject poverty, inequalities and exclusion.
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“The Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is happy to have been one of the major drivers that enabled the UN Millennium Campaign, the predecessor of the SDG Action Campaign.
“The campaign led to the reach out to over 10 million people across the world to voice their priorities and influence the emergence of the SDGs.
“We are still committed to the campaign to ensure that people remain at the heart of the implementation of the SDGs,” the statement quoted the presidential aide as saying.
She said the Federal Government had commenced the process of establishing multi-stakeholders’ interfaces and coordinating platforms.
Orelope-Adefulire said the idea was to bring on board, civil society, private sector, the academia, youths, women, indigenous and marginalised people to the implementation of the SDGs.
According to her, “we have established a Private Sector Advisory Group on the SDGs to mobilise the business community to play a driving role in the implementation of the SDGs”.
She said the Federal Government had inaugurated a Presidential Council on the SDGs to provide political impetus and multi-stakeholders coordination towards achieving SDGs.