As Nigeria continues regional consultations on the 2025 Voluntary National Review (VNR), the Senior Special Assistant to the President on SDGs (SSAP-SDGs), Princess Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, OFR, has emphasized the need for stakeholders to intensify efforts towards the achievement of the SDGs by 2030.
SSAP-SDGs at the North-Central Consultation with the Theme: “Advancing sustainable, inclusive, science- and evidence-based solutions for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals for leaving no one behind”, in Abuja on Thursday 20th March, 2025, stated that the Voluntary National Reviews are the cornerstone of the follow –up and review mechanism of SDGs. Going down memory lane, the SSAP-SDGs who was represented by the Senior Technical Adviser to OSSAP-SDGs, Dr. Bala Yunusa mni, told participants that “the World leaders adopted the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development in September 2015 during the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). With its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the 2030 Agenda he said “provides a holistic development framework for addressing economic, social and environmental challenges of our time. By way of holding themselves accountable for their commitment to the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development, World leaders, through the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) established the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) on sustainable development”. The HLPF plays a central role in the follow-up and review processes at the global level and is convened annually in July under the auspices of ECOSOC.
The VNRs serve as the cornerstone of this review process. Nigeria is currently undertaking its third VNR, engaging stakeholders across the six geopolitical zones to assess implementation progress, challenges and prospects, Princess Orelope explained,the SSAP-SDGs stressed the need to fast-track progress on all the SDGs. She noted that global progress on the SDGs is mixed, with Nigeria not exempted. Citing the 2024 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Report, she stated that “Lack of progress towards the SDGs is universal, but developing countries and the world’s poorest people bear the brunt. That currently only 17 percent of SDG targets are on track, nearly half show minimal or moderate progress, while over a third have stalled or regressed.” At the national level, dwindling financial resources, the COVID-19 pandemic, and persistent insecurity have combined to slow-down Nigeria’s progress towards achieving the SDGs.
Princess Orelope-Adefulire emphasized that the SDGs cannot be achieved through isolated programmes but must be carefully integrated into national and sub-national policies and development plans. Robust Monitoring, Evaluation, and Reporting (MER), such as the SDGs Progress reporting and the VNR, are essential. She underscored the need for collaboration across the public and private sectors, the UN Development System, the donor community, academia, and civil society to ensure that no one is left behind.
While referencing the “Pact for the Future,”adopted during the 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in September, she noted that through “Pact”, world leaders have reaffirmed their commitment to take “bold, ambitious, accelerated, just, and transformative actions to fast-track the achievement of the SDGs.” Quoting the UN Secretary-General António Guterres as calling for “Massive investment and more effective partnerships are needed to drive critical transitions across food, energy, digital connectivity, and more, unlocking progress across the Goals. The 2024 Summit of the Future provides a vital opportunity, paving the way for further breakthroughs at the Financing for Development Conference and World Social Summit in 2025.”
Earlier, the Senior Economic Adviser, UNDP, Dr. Tony Muhumuza in his welcome address stated that the Regional consultations were to brainstorm on what worked well and what did not work in the effort to achieve SDGs. He noted that globally SDGs is lacking behind in attaining the Agenda 2030 despite the fact that the prgramme 2030 timeline is around the corner. Muhumuza believes that the final report of the Consultations will be a pointer on how to accelerate the achievement of SDGs in Nigeria.
Signed
Jimoh O, Abdulsalam
Head, Information and PR
