Former Vice Chancellor, Tai Solarin University of Education, Kayode Oyesiku said Nigeria’s march into the future was hinged on a holistic implementation of sustainable development strategies.
Delivering a paper, entitled, Sustainable Development and Nigeria’s March to the Future, at the 2nd Babcock University Public Affairs Forum, the Professor of Development Studies said one of the strategies is the wholesome implementation of agricultural policies that would aid mechanised agriculture.
Oyesiku also said government needs to build infrastructures, rehabilitate health institutions and revive vocational and technical education to aid sustainable development in the country.
He said, though the sustainable development goals’ implementation was still sketchy, there was need to entrench some of these goals that would guide Nigeria’s development into the psyche of people.
“If we then understand those goals and what they stand for, we would then also support the policy makers, the government, the people in the state assemblies and so on, to ensure that they ingrate these ideas into various policies,” he noted.
Oyesiku, who said there was a positive attitude of Nigerians towards ensuring that the achievement of the SDGs, noted that President Muhammed Buhari stated at the last UN general meeting that not only had Nigeria endorsed the sustainable development goals but that government had also started its implementation.
Oyesiku noted that, though the economic growth recovery programme that started four years wasn’t much of a success, he was hopeful that much would be achieved now that government has brought up the sustainable development goals as the rolling development strategy for the country.
“They have started doing that and they have brought some egg heads together to give them a road map in achieving this. Let us give them about two years and see how it goes. I am an unrepentant optimist who believes that it would work out fine” he said.
He also disclosed that Nigeria would be among countries that would meet in New York for about two weeks in July this year to bring up the review of the achievement so far, of the SDGs and identify the challenges that they have so that they can get best practices across the world in respect of how to resolve some thorny issues
Oyesiku said the federal government would be presenting some areas of concerns before the UN Review committee for discussion.
