THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS (SDGs)
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which started a
global partnership effort was adopted in year 2000 to tackle the indignity of
poverty. Fifteen years later, in September 2015, the world converged in the
form of assembly to adopt the 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development (17
Goals) which were developed to build upon the MDGs to establish the United
Nation high-level political forum on sustainable development building on the
principle of “leaving no one behind.
These goals are urgent call for action by all member Nations
both developed and the developing, by global partnership. They recognized that
ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand in hand with strategies that
improve health and education, reduce in equality and spur economic growth (all,
while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests).
source:SIELED © 2016
All 17 goals of the SDG interconnect in such a way that
success in one affects success for the others e.g., achieving better health or
gender equality helps to eradicate poverty while fostering peace and inclusive
societies will reduce inequalities and help economies prosper and dealing with
the threat of climate change impacts how we manage our fragile natural resources.
These 17 goals are intended to be achieved by the year 2030 with some targets
measurable with indicators.
According to Rockefeller Foundation, to achieve the SDGs,
close to $200 trillion will be needed in annual private capital investments
flows toward development efforts as well as philanthropy. In the same light,
the economist maintained that alleviating poverty and achieving the other SDGs
will require about $2.3 trillion per year for a period of 15 years while World
Health Organization (WHO) estimates for providing clean water and sanitation
for the whole population of all continents is put at $200 billion which is
subjected to frequent reevaluation per country, and, The United Nation Trade
and Development Agency (UNCTAD) says $2.5 trillion per year is needed in
achieving the UN Goals.
However, as good as the SDGs seems, its delivery is /can be
hampered by some challenges which include contradictory or competing goals
(increasing employment and wages can work against reducing the cost of living),
trying to achieve all the goals at the same time and pace rather than focusing
on the more urgent and fundamental priorities (which differ from nation to
nation) since all the goals are interconnected. A typical case is that the
environmental sustainability side of the SDGs is underrepresented such that the
resources security for all particularly for lower income populations is put at
risk which can be seen in the boom in economic activity and the ceaseless
exploitation of natural resources which are most often, damaging to the
environment.
Another challenge to the actualization of the SDGs is the
level of actualization of the MDGs particularly in a country like Nigeria.
Although, globally, all countries made progress on improving health and
educational outcomes since 2000, however, there is disparities in sub-national
educational and health outcomes in Nigeria. Under-five child mortality is lower
and educational attainment is higher in most regions across the country but no
region in Nigeria is on track to meet both the under-five child mortality goal
and the education target. Nigeria lagged behind in the actualization of the
MDGs due to a variety of reasons ranging from bureaucracy, poor resource
control/management in the healthcare system, sequential healthcare worker
industrial action, to insurgency/kidnappings. However, to take the leap towards
the actualization of the SDGs by the 2030 target date, the country needs to
tackle all the aforementioned problems, hence it is imperative to implement
fully funded primary health care systems to improve health outcomes and improve
the quality of education to make progress on basic skills.
Similarly, a new
challenge to the actualization of the SDGs that is tied to SDG 3 is the current
Covid-19 pandemic that has ravaged the world. The 2030 agenda is just ten years
away and the year 2020 which is termed the decade of action is in the last
stage of the first quarter, achieving the SDGs is now a mirage we look forward
to with the emergence of the Novel Corona Virus (Covid-19).
Coronavirus disease is an infectious disease caused by
coronavirus (a crown or torn like virus) that affects the respiratory tracts of
its victim which can be spread through saliva droplets or nose discharges of an
infected person through cough, sneezes or exhales. The droplets of the virus
are too heavy to hang in the air which it quickly fall on floors or surfaces.
One can be infected by breathing in the virus if in close proximity of someone
who has covid-19 or by touching a contaminated surface and then touches his or
her eyes, nose or mouth.
Covid-19 is caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
(SARS) SARS-COV-2 Virus which originated from Wuhan in China. It is believed to
have first jumped from an animal host to humans in Wuhan China.
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