Ahead of the February 25 and March 11 general elections, the United Nations, UN has tasked political parties seeking for power to focus their discussion on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs “Agenda 2030” for the benefit of the people.
This was at a roundtable organised by the UN in Abuja, with representatives of 10 registered political parties in the race for the elections.
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The dialogue interrogated the factors militating against the achievement of the SDGs in Nigeria and how parties can employ public policy and finance to mitigate these factors.
UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Matthias Schmale, lamented that Nigeria was lagging in the attainment of the SDGs and charged the party leaders in the country to brace up irrespective of the challenges.
Nigeria, despite its endowments in human and material resources, has 133.3 million which is about 63% of its people suffering from multi-dimensional poverty, and Schmale believes that more work needs to be done.
Representatives of the political parties at the meeting demonstrated awareness of the SDGs and provided the linkages between their parties’ programmes and the SDGs.
They advocated for renewable energy, social justice, eradication of poverty, social protection including good health, quality education, and gender equality.
The roundtable was attended by Action Alliance, AA; Africa Action Congress, AAC; Action Democratic Party, ADC; Boot Party; Labour Party, LP; National Rescue Movement, NRM. Others are the Peoples Redemption Party, PRP; Peoples Democratic Party, PDP; Social Democratic Party, SDP; and Young Progressive Party, YPP.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
