LAGOS LAUNCHES MAIDEN SDGs WEEK

 

By Temitope Musowo

The Lagos State Government has launched the first edition of the Sustainable Development Goals Week as part of efforts to inspire citizens’ commitment, advocacy and action towards promoting and accelerating the realisation of the SDGs.

According to the Special Adviser to the Governor on Sustainable Development Goals and Investment, Mrs. Solape Hammond, the endeavour is a symbol of the State’s strong leadership, vision and commitment towards greater development.

Restating the Governor’s spirited resolve to address the development needs of Lagosians, particularly in the face of the ongoing pandemic, Hammond said, “The outbreak of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) has heightened the call for renewed dedication to sustainable development by governments at various levels, which Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has taken as a great priority and infused in the State’s development agenda codenamed T.H.E.M.E.S”.

“While the pandemic has significantly exacerbated some of the problems Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are set to solve, it has also triggered the necessity for more concerted actions in addressing many developmental issues troubling our world”, she asserted.

Hammond disclosed that the event, in commemoration of the United Nations’ Global Goals Week, will run till the end of September 2020 and will mobilise collaborative efforts to connect SDG actors and cross-sector stakeholders with a view to identifying solutions, reviewing progress, amplifying awareness, collaborating and reaffirming the commitment towards accelerating efforts to achieve the 17 SDGs and the 2030 agenda. 

She explained that the State Government is setting lofty precedence in the country, and perhaps in Africa, by effectively mobilising individual action towards the attainment of the SDGs, adding that the present administration would continue to drive, extract and utilise available platforms towards improving the living standards of the people.

In his remark, the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on SDGs, Mr. Lekan Fatodu, said the focus is to double up efforts and galvanise more actions towards the attainment of the global goals, saying that “The Sustainable Development Goal Week is a proactive and a ground-breaking initiative to implement joint efforts towards meeting the targets and indicators of the SDGs”. 

While applauding the unalloyed contributions of prominent individuals, Corporate Institutions and Non-Governmental Organisations, the Governor’s aide revealed that the initiative will further bring to fore the need for urgent and a collective effort towards finding sustainable solutions to current and impending challenges facing humanity.

The SDGs week will feature sustainable development-related activities that are intrinsically linked in their purpose to fast-track efforts towards progress in realising the SDGs. Some of the planned activities include the Open Goals Adoption by top State functionaries and prominent Lagos residents, the Neighbourhood Outreach Campaign to enlighten citizens on their roles in achieving the Goals and an SDGs discourse with CSOs and related youth groups.  

The highlight of the week will be the distribution of support items and relief materials donated by corporate organisations and well-meaning Lagosians to vulnerable people in some communities and the disbursement of exercise books to primary schools in rural communities.