The UN Resident Coordinator in Nigeria, Mohammed Fall, has restated the body’s commitment to support the country in achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Fall gave the assurance on Thursday in Abuja at a news conference to commemorate the 79th anniversary of the UN Day.
He described Nigeria as a very important country, adding that the organisation would not achieve SDGs if Nigeria did not achieve it.
Fall said, “In less than five years, we have to achieve Agenda 2030, the Summit of the Future and its landmark outcome.
“The ‘Pact for the Future’ has highlighted enough of these goals.
“The pact highlights five strategic priorities: SDG financing for development; international peace and security; science, technology and innovation; youth and future generation; and global governance.
“’The Nigeria we want’ is also reflected in the pact. At the UN, our focus is to ensure Nigeria achieves the SDG.
“This is why we work closely with the government at all levels. We work with all the development partners and the civil society to put the SDGs on track in Nigeria.”
He noted that humanitarian assistance alone could not substitute a solution to people’s problems, adding that there should be collective efforts to tackle such problems.
Also speaking, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Country Resident Representative in Nigeria, Elsie Attafuah, said that the future of development would focus on science, technology, innovation and digitalisation.
According to her, the programme will support the ecosystem of Nigeria, in a special way.
“We have, for the very first time, established what we call university ports, ten of them by the end of this year and where when you go into a university, you will have a space to create such prototype.
“This development means we will have space where young people in universities and communities can test the ideas and hopefully, we create some unicorns.
“We believe that in the next 36 months, we will also establish 36 of them,” she said.
She added that the programme would support Nigeria in mitigating the impact of climate change by reducing emissions and linking it to the country’s development.
On her part, Vaneessa Phala-Moyo, the Country Director of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Office for Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone, pledged to promote social justice in the country.
Phala-Moyo said: “ILO, as an organisation, is charged basically with promoting social justice.
“We have been doing a lot of work, since 1960 when Nigeria joined the ILO, and we are working within the country’s decent work programme.
“This articulated priorities that Nigeria, including our social partners like Nigeria Labour Congress, TUC, NECA and Nigeria Employers Consultative Association, as tripartite partners, work on developing the country’s programme that gives attention to key priorities to partners.”
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