UN urges innovative financing, private capital to fast-track Nigeria's SDGs

The Federal Government and the United Nations have called for stronger collaboration, innovative financing and greater private sector investment to accelerate Nigeria’s progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), warning that time is running out to meet the 2030 targets.

The call was made on Monday at the Joint United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) 2023–2027 Steering Committee meeting in Abuja, where senior government officials and UN representatives reviewed progress on the implementation of the framework and discussed strategies for scaling up development interventions.

Atiku Bagudu, Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, said the remaining years before the 2030 deadline require urgent action, stressing that implementation, rather than planning, should now be the focus.

Bagudu, who co-chaired the meeting alongside Mohammed Fall, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, described the cooperation framework as a shared instrument that aligns UN support with Nigeria’s national development priorities.

“The framework reflects Nigeria’s vision for its development as much as it reflects the collective efforts of our United Nations partners,” he said.

According to him, the ministry’s role as co-chair underscores the importance of planning, budgeting and results-based coordination in ensuring that development programmes translate into measurable improvements in the lives of Nigerians.

He said the steering committee was responsible for providing strategic direction, monitoring implementation and ensuring accountability for jointly agreed development outcomes.

With less than four years remaining to achieve the SDGs, Bagudu said the global development landscape had changed significantly, citing geopolitical tensions, declining multilateral cooperation and shrinking development assistance.

“The development landscape is changing. Multilateralism is under pressure globally and regionally, and these challenges are affecting how development commitments are delivered,” he said.

The minister, however, said Nigeria’s recent macroeconomic reforms had begun creating fiscal space by redirecting resources previously spent on inefficient subsidies towards development priorities.

According to him, achieving the SDGs will require financing beyond traditional donor support.

“The resources required are far beyond what governments and development partners alone can provide. Private capital must play a much greater role,” he said.

Bagudu noted that the Federal Government was intensifying economic diplomacy and policy reforms to attract domestic and foreign private investment that would complement public spending.

He argued that many development challenges were no longer about identifying solutions but about mobilising adequate resources at scale.

“We know what needs to be done. The challenge is the scale of financing required,” he said.

The minister said President Bola Tinubu’s administration was working to transform all of Nigeria’s 8,809 political wards into centres of economic prosperity by identifying and developing their unique comparative advantages.

He added that government programmes worth about $2.4 billion were already underway but acknowledged that public funding alone would not be sufficient.

Bagudu described Nigeria as central to the global SDG agenda because of its large population and high poverty burden.

“There is no country where achieving the Sustainable Development Goals will have greater global impact than Nigeria. If Nigeria succeeds in significantly reducing poverty, it will positively alter global development statistics,” he said.

He reaffirmed the government’s ambition of building a $1 trillion economy capable of lifting millions out of poverty by 2030, saying innovative financing instruments such as guarantees, insurance mechanisms and impact investments would be critical to achieving that goal.

He also urged the UN system to support Nigeria in lowering the cost of development financing by facilitating more guarantees and supporting the development of an African credit rating system.

According to him, reducing borrowing costs would enable the country to mobilise more resources for infrastructure, education, healthcare and other SDG-related investments.

“We have done many of the difficult reforms. What remains is to put financing behind the talk. It is time to walk the talk,” Bagudu said.

He stressed the need for better project preparation, stronger implementation frameworks and innovative financing models to accelerate implementation of Nigeria’s National Development Plan 2026–2030.

Also speaking, Bernard Doro, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, reaffirmed the ministry’s commitment to ensuring that no Nigerian is left behind.

He said the ministry remained focused on reducing poverty, expanding social protection and strengthening resilience among vulnerable communities under the Renewed Hope Agenda.

Doro identified the One Humanitarian One Poverty Response System (OHOPRS) as the government’s flagship coordination framework for integrating humanitarian response, social protection and poverty reduction.

According to him, the initiative harmonises interventions by the Federal Government, state governments, development partners, UN agencies, civil society organisations and the private sector under a single coordination architecture.

He said a major component of the initiative is the National Poverty Intelligence Lab, which provides real-time multidimensional poverty data to improve programme targeting, accountability and evidence-based policymaking.

“The National Poverty Intelligence Lab strengthens Nigeria’s capacity to generate and analyse multidimensional poverty data in real time, thereby advancing data-driven development,” Doro said.

He noted that the ministry’s efforts complement the work of the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals, which coordinates SDG implementation across all levels of government.

Doro called for stronger institutional collaboration, innovative financing, improved knowledge sharing and wider use of technology to accelerate implementation of the SDGs.

He expressed appreciation to the UN system, bilateral and multilateral partners, civil society organisations and the private sector for their continued technical and financial support.

“We are confident that today’s deliberations will produce practical recommendations that strengthen policy coherence and deepen our collective impact,” he said.

Doris Uzoka-Anite, Minister of State for Budget and Economic Planning, also urged stakeholders to move beyond policy discussions to practical implementation.

She said the National Development Plan 2026–2030 had been finalised and would provide the roadmap for achieving Nigeria’s development priorities over the next five years.

Uzoka-Anite said financing remained the biggest challenge and called on the UN to help mobilise guarantees, concessional funding and other innovative financial instruments capable of lowering Nigeria’s cost of capital.

“We have the policies, we have the reforms and we have the expertise. What remains is financing. This is the time to stop talking and start implementing,” she said.

On his part, Mohammed Fall, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, said the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework remained the principal document guiding collaboration between the UN and the Nigerian government.

He explained that all UN country programmes are designed to align with Nigeria’s national development priorities as outlined in the cooperation framework.

Fall noted that global assessments indicate that most countries, including Nigeria, are not on track to achieve the SDGs by 2030.

According to him, progress on many indicators has been too slow, while some development gains have been reversed by conflicts, climate change, poverty and economic shocks.

He urged the steering committee to examine Nigeria’s development data critically and identify practical measures to accelerate implementation.

“We need speed and scale. In a country with Nigeria’s population, success is not only about implementing programmes quickly but implementing them at a scale that matches the country’s demographic realities,” he said.

Fall also highlighted the sharp decline in global development assistance, saying international solidarity had weakened considerably.

Recalling his time as UNICEF Representative in Nigeria, he noted that annual humanitarian funding for the North-East had dropped significantly.

“We used to have humanitarian response plans of over one billion dollars annually for the three North-East states. Today, we hardly reach 240 million dollars,” he said.

He described the funding decline as a wake-up call for Nigeria to strengthen domestic resource mobilisation, expand innovative financing mechanisms and attract more private sector investment to sustain development efforts.

Rather than viewing shrinking donor support solely as a challenge, Fall said it should serve as an opportunity for governments to build more resilient financing models capable of delivering sustainable development outcomes.