On the side-line of the on-going 54th Regular Section of Human Right Council General Assembly in United Nations House, Geneva, Switzerland, the United Towns Agency for North-South Cooperation (UTA), a United Nations accredited Non-Governmental Organisation centred their discussion on the topic, “SDGs Challenges in Africa”.
The event which took place on the 6th of October with participants across the globe was moderated by the Secretary General of the UTA, Ambassador Eya Essif. During the forum, the significant challenges Africa is facing, especially due to worsening climate conditions, were discussed. These challenges, according to the moderator, requires a stronger and more coordinated international commitment to rethink an intelligent strategy for economic and environmental integration among African countries. She stated that it is essential to achieve economic balance in line with the Sustainable Development Goals.
Libyan Minister in charge of African Affairs Issa Abdul Majeed Monsour while delivering his speech at the event underlined the importance of current challenges, with “climate change” at the centre of concerns. He highlighted the importance of countries’ responses to reconciling the economic equation with environmental challenges.
He further stated that the international community is committed to addressing the environmental challenges envisaged by the Paris Agreement. The Minister also praised the decisions taken by the Libyan government to address the catastrophic situation in the Derna region, hit by a hurricane which caused serious human and material losses.
The issue of immigration, underlining the Sustainable Development Goals of ensuring social and economic stability for all countries, regardless of their culture and religion was raised by Rossana Roda, President, UTA-Italy. According to her, there is the need to address the problem of immigration, and also highlight the role of European companies in Africa that benefit from the continent’s natural resources without contributing to the training and education of the local population. “There should be a clear directive for European nations that benefit from the financial resources of African nations to plough back some of those resources for the education of the local populace”, Roda stated.
While delivering her speech on the strategy Nigeria can adopt to reach the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Country-President of UTA-Nigeria, Princess Abigail Amalaha, reiterated the importance of the SDGs globally, including Nigeria. She stressed the need for Nigeria to adopt what she termed ‘home-grown’ strategies in line with local culture and tradition of the country. She highlighted the importance of reducing poverty through employment, training of young people and the empowerment of women and young entrepreneurs. According to her, education which is the bedrock of any nation aspiring for development remains the key to advancing the country’s SDGs, advising that the government should take the education of the country’s teeming youths seriously in other to reduce the issue of out-of-school children.
Amalaha further stated that the people should always be carried along by the government while designing programmes meant for them; while proper legislation by the law makers both in state and federal level is very important especially those laws that will have direct positive impact in alleviating the plight of the poor and less privileged. The Nigeria Country-President also highlighted the role of civil societies and NGOs as partners in achieving the SDGs, together with technical support and grants from the United Nations.
She summed up her speech on the need for committed leadership from the local government, through to the state and federal level; stating thus: “I strongly believe that committed and sincere leadership gives room to committed and sincere followership”.
In summary, the event highlighted the importance of addressing African challenges in a coordinated way and adapted to the specificities of each country, actively involving the international community, non-governmental organizations and the United Nations. Training, education and control of financial resources are key elements to effectively address these challenges.
