The implementation of Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs, in the country was the focus of a forum in Lagos during the week.
Experts who spoke at the forum charged media professionals to monitor the implementation and sustainability of SDGs in Nigeria.
The round-table entitled, SDG Media Forum which had ‘Becoming Agents of Sustainability,’ as the theme attracted participants from the media and civil society organizations.
In her speech, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on SDG, Mrs. Adejoke Orelope Adefulire, highlighted the importance of the media in enlightening the public on the activities of SDGs especially about the message of 2030 agenda for sustainable development. She described the forum as very strategic.
Represented by Bala Yusuf Yunusa of the Office of the President on SDGs, Adefulire, described the role of the media as very crucial and charged media professionals to hold policy makers to account on the implementation of the 2030 agenda.
“We need the media, we need the civil society, and everyone to understand and help us to pass this message of 2030 agenda for sustainable development which envisioned the present and future, economically sustainable and socially inclusive. This event is strategic because we have media practitioners, journalists that are working in Nigeria that can help hold policy makers to account on the implementation of the 2030 agenda,” she said.
She stressed that Nigeria like many other countries hopes to actually make significant progress and achieve the 17 sustainable goals by 2030.
The 17 sustainable goals, she said are cocktails of goals which countries will have to adopt and prioritize based on their respective national development priorities, noting that Nigeria hopes to make significant progress by the year 2030.
READ ALSO: PDP Drags Justice Inyang to NJC For Halting Bauchi Guber Result Collation
“We started the implementation of the sustainable development goals early. We are working with the federal ministries, departments and agencies to ensure that we integrate the relevant sustainable goals into our annual budgetary system. We are planning and we are implanting them. The SDGs are just development framework meant to hold our leaders responsible to account for their commitment to the global community,” she said.
President of the SDG Media Forum, Ambassador Obuesi Phillips, in his presentation charged the media to go beyond reporting the activities of SDGs and begin to track and monitor its implementations.
He said while the activities of the SDGs were being reported by the media, there hasn’t been any gathering of the media to brainstorm beyond reporting of their activities.
“So we felt that we should gather the media and some civil society organizations together to discuss on how we can open our eyes and look at what is going on and then ensure maximum and full implementation of the SDGs. If we get the media involved in implementation and tracking of SDGs, the government, institutions and agencies will be able to sit-up and implementation will not go off track,” he said.
He said the forum has concluded plans to partner with various media organizations in order to ensure that the activities of SDGs are monitored.
“The next step should be to work with various media organizations to actualize the dream of tracking the activities of SDGs. We will approach media organizations so that we have a more elaborate and better structured and widespread participation in SDG Media Forum 2020. So at the end of the day, we will have more people being brought into the knowledge and active participation in the implementation and monitoring of SDGs,” he said.
In her submission, a former Executive Director, Marketing of Nigerian television Authority, NTA, and now CEO Digimage Consult Ltd. Mrs. Adenike Olufade, said that the media should not only track the SDGs on gender equality but should set the agenda as well.
She lamented that despite their great strides in both public and private sectors, women are not well-portrayed by the media.
“I believe that the media should be part of making sure that the women are well projected because women are really doing a lot of positive things. In many organizations, they are performing very well and most of them are well recognized even globally. So I believe that the media has serious role to play to project them,” she said.
