Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has inaugurated the Presidential Council on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which will provide policy direction for the implementation of the goals in Nigeria and ensure coherence at national and sub-national levels.

Osinbajo, who inaugurated the council on Friday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, said that the council’s work will be crucial for resource mobilization, prioritization of interventions, periodic assessment and overall oversight of the SDGs implementation.

He said that the All Progressives Congress (APC)- led administration has taken the firm view that the implementation of the SDGs agenda will have decisive implications for Nigeria’s development. The development, Osinbajo said, explains why the SDGs occupy “a prominent place in our Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) which the President launched in April to guide Nigeria along the path of inclusive and sustainable economic growth.

“We are therefore in the real sense a generation at the threshold of history saddle with the responsibility of bringing about the change that would alter our development trajectory for the benefits of our people and plans.” According to the Vice President, progress on the goals will have a positive effect on poverty and unemployment numbers, reduce the maternal and child mortality and on figures of out of school children.

He said, “It will empower our girls and women and bridge the gender inequality gap. Success with the implementation of the SDGs will have impact on our cities and on the quality of lives of those who live within them.”

The Daily Times recalls that at the UN General Assembly in 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari joined other heads of states and governments to adopt the SDGs- a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that our people enjoy peace and prosperity.

Osinbajo said; “Audaciously ambitious as the goals may appear, they capture the urgency and rage of the major challenges that confronts humanity especially developing nations. They underscore the reality that only global partnership supporting home grown and inclusive solutions stand a chance of achieving the goals.

Building on the MDG, the SDGs open new priorities such as climate change, economic inequality, innovation, sustainable consumption, peace and justice.” He explained that the goals are interconnected and succeeding in one would involve dealing with issues fundamentally associated with another.