According to the United Nations, Nigeria now needs to raise $10 billion annually to fulfill the Sustainable Development Goals. Global goals known as SDGs seek to change the world. They serve as a call to action to eradicate poverty and injustice, safeguard the environment, and guarantee that everyone can live in peace, justice, and prosperity.
Mohamed Yahya, the United Nations Development Programme’s resident representative in Nigeria, said that around 410 billion dollars will be needed yearly to close the SDG gap in Nigeria.
He disclosed this at the high-level steering committee meeting of the Integrated National Financing Framework for the SDGs, according to a statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday by the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals.
He said, “The financing constraint amid development challenges call for a coordinated approach to financing for SDGs and national development priorities.
“Nigeria has a funding gap of $10bn per year to meet the SDGs. Hence, more integrated financing policy solutions and reforms are thus needed to ensure resilient, inclusive, and sustainable growth in Nigeria.”
The statement stated that the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, and the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals, was being joined by the European Union and the United Nations Office in Nigeria to advocate for a specialised fund to accelerate the SDGs implementation in the country.
It said the fund would be operated as part of the Integrated National Financing Framework, adding that the Nigeria Integrated National Financing Framework was officially inaugurated by former President Muhammadu Buhari on the side-lines of the 77th Session of the UN General Assembly held in New York, in September 2022.
According to the SDGs office, the inauguration saw Nigeria becoming a pioneer country to launch an INFF, a planning and delivery tool for financing sustainable development.
It stated that the INFF fund proposal, aimed at helping ensure sustainability, was presented to members for buy-in during the high-level meeting recently.
