The United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres recently launched the 2024 SDGs Report. What does the report say about the SDGs and Nigeria’s Performance?
The report you are referring to was launched on Friday, June 28 by the Secretary General. It gives a global overview that we are off track in many indicators of the SGDs. I think globally speaking; we have like 17% of the targets that are on track among those that are really at a minimum level. But we do have a number of areas where we see that they are not only off track but we see that they are even below the level that they were in 2015 even though the SDGs are a global agenda and social contracts between the member states and their people for 2030.
To talk about the global level there are some drivers also that have really impacted negatively on the SGDs and I want to highlight a few of them. One of course is the COVID -19 which was the biggest pandemic that we have experienced in a century and which had come at a time we are talking about entering the Decade of Action. The Decade of Action was supposed to be in 2020 but we got caught up by the COVID -19 pandemic and given the limited level of preparedness for such a pandemic, it pulled back a number of countries and reversed even some of the progress that we have made.
I know many areas where not only that we did not progress but we were taken back to a level that was lower than where we were in 2015 because of the lockdown, because of the difficulties of accessing services, because of all the disturbances that we have witnessed in the global supply chain. It has also negatively impacted on the economy. Globally speaking, there is no country that has not suffered from COVID -19 and within countries it also impacted on the distribution of wealth.
A number of businesses have collapsed, the level of income of people has gone down, inequality has deepened and those are the consequences that COVID-19 had, and to recover from it has taken longer time for some countries, namely those in the global south and maybe even some advanced or developed countries .
Unfortunately, it is not only the COVID-19, we also had the climate related shocks. We have seen that the world now is experiencing natural hazards almost unknown and unparalleled in history. I know that there are some regions that have faced consecutive failed rainy seasons bringing drought to a level that has never been experienced and this has been the case in some countries in the Sahel. It has been the case in the Horn of Africa and in different parts of the world and unfortunately those shocks come in a way that is very difficult to understand. You start talking about drought, before you finish it there is a massive flood that comes and affects people in terms of displacements, affecting arable land, affecting crops, affecting harvests.
And of course we have also seen the resurgence of conflicts. It has been said that since World War 2, I think 2023/4 probably could be some of the worst years in terms of intensity of conflicts. For instance we have seen how the war between Ukraine and Russia led to crippling effects on food prices because both countries are known for food productivity.
What about Nigeria’s performance on the SDGs?
Now, each one of those factors that I have mentioned affects Nigeria, we have seen in it the COVID-19 we have seen it in the climate-related shocks, we have seen it in terms of food production, we have seen it when it comes to conflicts, which unfortunately is having impacts in most parts of the country as far as the SGDs are concerned.
But I cannot paint a gloomy picture because there are areas where we are seeing progress. I think in Nigeria you have made progress in some goals, the goal relating to health has seen some progress mainly in terms of reduction of under-five mortality. There are areas where you gained few points globally speaking but there are states that are doing better than other states.
By the way it is not only on the under- Five mortality where you can see a drop from forty to maybe thirty for 1000 births which is very close to what the SDGS target is. We have seen it in infant mortality, which measures the mortality below one, where we have seen also some states getting close to what the global target is even if it is not the case everywhere.
What about areas that Nigeria has not done very well?
I think it is in the areas of the SGDs Goal One, which is dealing with poverty and the SDGs Goal 2 which looks at hunger and food security, nutrition, access to food nutrition that we are having some challenges in Nigeria.
As we speak now we are in the lean season. A recent survey conducted in 26 states of Nigeria has shown that unfortunately the number of people who faced food insecurity has moved from 25 million to close to 32 million, which is an increase of over 6 million people. I am not sure that this is an area where we are doing well.
I am seeing also that when it comes to SDGs 4 relating to access to education the number of out- of- school children is still becoming a challenge when you have over 10 million children age of primary school that are out of school and close to 8 million at the age of post -primary school that are out of school. It makes the number of primary and post primary school out- of –school children 18 million which is quite significant. In some cases it represents 10% of the world’s number of out- of -school children, which is quite disturbing.
I think that the challenge we have in Nigeria is that because of the size of the country, when you have one deprivation regarding the SDGs that are spread whether it is access to health, access to nutrition, poverty, it easily reaches big numbers and I think that is why for us in the UN, Nigeria is of great importance. If we start seeing some positive impacts in Nigeria, we will drive the change in the rest of the West Africa region and will also drive change in the continent of Africa and in the global stage because of Nigeria’s demography.
And I think this is why it is our responsibility also in the time that is left to the 2030 to double down and that is why these priorities become very important for us in Nigeria because this is the last window we have to accelerate and make a difference and by doing so we need to look at where the problems are. Sometimes the problems are access to services, sometimes the problems are quality of services, sometimes they problems are insufficient funding for some of the services that are needed.
Sometimes it is the policy environment that we need to work on and sometimes its factors like enablers for example mobilizing the entire society such as the state and non-state entities, the private sector, civic society, youth organizations, women organizations, traditional leadership and faith -based organizations. I think in this process of acceleration, it should be an endeavor of everyone and of all segments in Nigeria.
What do you think Nigeria should do to accelerate the achievement of the SDGs to meet the 2030 target?
Some of the figures appear very gloomy, but it should not lead us to forget the potential that Nigeria has. Nigeria’s demography is basically a human capital resource. If you do the appropriate investment in human capital, it could be a lever for positive change.
Besides, Nigeria has huge potential in natural resources but sometimes when I talk about natural resources people look at oil, which is the main thing that attention is focused on rather than other resources. If the agricultural potential of Nigeria is exploited in an optimal way, some regions of Nigeria could be the bread basket of the country and the entire sub-region. So, there is a need for further investment in this area.
If you also look at the most defining resources for the future, which is probably renewable energy, call it green, hydrogen, call it wind or water, all these resources are abundant in Nigeria. But two other factors which are important are the human resources not only in terms of demography but in terms of quality of human resources. Nigeria is a very vibrant country when it comes to innovation; someone was telling me that if you look at all the startups that exist in Africa, close to 20% of them are here in Lagos, Nigeria.
Nigeria can harness the innovation platform and use them as an accelerator for achieving positive change for the people. Nigerian private and business sectors are extremely vibrant, we see them in the areas of services whether it is the banks, insurance and in any other services that can really drive change today. You can see it in Nigeria at a scale that is very important.
Politically speaking, I think we have a new administration which has come with a ‘Renewed Hope’ agenda to tackle insecurity, promote rule of law and agriculture. The government has an Eight-Point agenda that can really help drive the change we want. And I think for the first time we are seeing efforts at changing the economy.
Fixing the macro economic situation for me is a bold step, and looking at how to make the economy become more competitive is also another bold step but at the same time it is important to pay attention to the possible consequences these economic reforms are generating in the near future or immediately and addressing them through a safety net programme.
