NextierPartnership for the Goals
Dr Iro Aghedo
Achieving the SDG goal 17 amidst the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic will require the Nigeria government to synergize with development partners to come up innovative ways to clinch further towards the goal.
The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) is a trove of policy proposals to promote human and environmental well-being. The 17-goal policy thrust by the United Nations is pinpointed at tackling some of the world’s most debilitating conditions such as mass poverty, illiteracy, inequality, disease, and climate change. Thus, the goals are laudable, primarily for providing much of the Low-Income Countries (LIC) opportunities to leapfrog towards people-centred development. Besides, SDG goal number 17 is loaded with finance, technology, capacity building, trade and systemic issues, and binding other goals together. Following the centrality of SDG number 17, this essay examines the challenges of implementing this goal in Africa amidst COVID-19 with Nigeria as the study.
SDG number 17 has several components whose realisation is critical to other goals. The finance component calls on the advanced nations to support developing countries in their quest for financial resource mobilisation, serious commitments in the implementation of Official Developing Assistance, and support for developing nations to achieve debt sustainability and investment promotion. On the technological front, SDG number 17 demands improvement in securing access to scientific and technological innovation plus the enhancement of knowledge, including ICT innovation and utilisation on mutual terms. Also, to ensure effective capacity building, SDG number 17 encourages advanced nations to support LIC in implementing all the SDGs. In terms of multilateral trade, SDG number 17 calls for the promotion of liberalisation and openness under the World Trade Organisation (WTO), enhancing the efforts of LIC to double their exports and encouraging quota-free and duty-free market access for LIC in line with WTO agreements. With systemic issues, SDG number 17 requests effective universal partnership improvement between public and private actors; an improvement in policy coherence; and respect for every nation’s leadership and policy space.
The triple challenges of COVID-19, economic recession, and worsening insurgent violence pose a massive threat to Nigeria’s capacity to realise SDG number 17. After a lull in the last couple of months, cases of COVID-19 have started to spike in the country. As of December 4, 2020, Nigeria has so far recorded 131,242 confirmed cases with 24,667 active.
In September 2020, the federal government claimed that over 4 months it spent over N30 billion on the pandemic and related issues. This situation further worsens Nigeria’s debt profile, which currently stands at over N31 trillion. As if these are not enough, the country’s trade sector performance per GDP declined by 0.4{1c02100822988c48c7b0a484ab61ac3d7f398d67c2f66594d88b2db33072d9d9} from 14.28{1c02100822988c48c7b0a484ab61ac3d7f398d67c2f66594d88b2db33072d9d9} in Q2 to 13.88{1c02100822988c48c7b0a484ab61ac3d7f398d67c2f66594d88b2db33072d9d9} in Q3 of 2020. As the pandemic rages, it is expected that more resources will be channeled towards it. These financial outlays will negatively impact the resources available for actualizing SDG number 17. In addition to this challenge, the country seems to be losing its decade-long war against insurgency and terrorism (Aghedo, 2017; Akinola, 2015). On November 27, 2020, over 70 rice farmers were massacred by Boko Haram insurgents in Borno State, leading to renewed calls for the security chiefs to resign. The growing impunity of the violent non-state actors and the Nigerian state’s inability to protect its citizens undermine the country’s commitment towards the realisation of SDG number 17.
From the above, some policy measures have to be put in place to ensure the effective implementation of SDGs in Nigeria.
- Nigeria’s rising debt profile has to be effectively managed for possible accommodation of the SDG agenda. Indeed, SDG number 17 places a huge premium on local debt stabilisation to avoid distress. To achieve this, the Nigerian government in general and the Office of the Adviser to the President on SDG, in particular, should liaise with development partners, including civil society organisations, for insight. For a start, the Office of the Adviser to the President on SDG can collaborate with credible development firms to organise a workshop on debt reduction strategies.
- A new approach for combating insurgency and terrorism is needed. In the last decade, Nigerian troops and their allies have been mainly reactive to terrorist attacks. Moving forward, more proactive counter-terrorism is required. For example, the Sambisa forest can be invaded to dislodge the violent non-state actors rather than waiting for them to strike in communities. In addition, more intelligence gathering is needed in tracing people who aid and abet terrorists among civilians and security agents, as well as the support system that keeps terrorism afloat.
- The country should not go to sleep yet regarding the COVID-19. A few months ago, with the lull of cases, Nigerians had gone to slumber in keeping social distancing, use of face-masks, regular washing of hands, etc. However, the recent spike is an indication that the war against the pandemic is not yet over.
- Having developed a baseline report on the SDGs, the National Bureau of Statistics and the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on SDGs (OSSAP-SDGs) should regularly update Nigerians and other stakeholders on the achievements made on every goal, every indicator, and every target. This action is to keep track of what is working or not, to avoid the mistakes made with the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals( MDGs).
- Nigeria’s leadership and development partners have to think outside the box to effectively deescalate insurgency and re-position the country on the path of peace. As laudable as the SDG number 17 is, it cannot be achieved in today’s Nigeria, where citizens are at the ‘mercy of terrorists.’ Solving the security crisis in the country will help in positioning the route to achieve this goal.
In conclusion, Africa’s largest economy and oil producer is currently faced with enormous security and economic challenges. The UN Support Plan for the Sahel has estimated that Nigeria needs not less than $337 billion to implement the SDGs from 2019 to 2022. Thus, there is an urgent need for debt stabilisation, proactive counter-terrorism measures, effective management of Coronavirus, and concerted efforts by leadership and development partners to assess and monitor policies aimed at realising the SDG number 17. Except these proactive steps are taken, the all-important SDG number 17 will remain a dream rather than reality in 2030.
