Communique: 2nd FPs and Consultants Meeting

COMMUNIQUE ISSUED AT THE END OF 2^ND REVIEW MEETING OF THE OFFICE OF THE SENIOR SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT ON SDGs, STATE FOCAL PERSONS AND CGS MONITORING, SUPERVISION AND DATA COLLECTION (MSD) CONSULTANTS HELD IN CHIDA HOTEL, ABUJA ON 7^TH MARCH, 2017

1.0 Preamble:
The Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals (OSSAP-SDGs) held the 2^nd Joint Review meeting with the State Focal Persons and Monitoring, Supervision and Data Collection (MSD) Consultants on 7^th March, 2017 at Chida Hotel, Abuja.  

The meeting was organized among other things to assess progress of 2014/2015 CGS implementation, share experiences and best practices amongst states, and improve partnership between the states and the OSSAP-SDGs. The meeting also provided an opportunity for the OSSAP-SDGs to brief States on the Google Digital Training for 125,000 Youths across the country which is scheduled to hold simultaneously from 13^th to 24^th march, 2017. A total of 45 States participants and 21 MSD Consultants attended the meeting.

2.0:   Key Issues
Participants at the meeting deliberated on the following key emerging issues:

1. Status of 2014/2015 CGS projects implementation in the States
2. The OSSAP-SDGs is working closely with the National Assembly to ensure effective and successful implementation of the SDGs in 2017;
3. Mainstreaming the SDGs in the national and state development plans;
4. The inauguration of the SDGs/Private Sector Advisory Group by the Vice President which took place recently and globally applauded especially by the UN;
5. Review of CGS Implementation Manual by the OSSAP-SDGs and other stakeholders including States Focal Persons, development partners and relevant MDAs;
6. Proposed Launching of the UN Support Group on the Implementation of SDGs in Nigeria;
7. Commissioning of 400 Youth Corp Members as SDGs Ambassadors in the States/LGAs and their relevance to the implementation of SDGs programmes at local level;
8. Goggle Digital Training in the States and FCT

3.0 Key Decisions:
At the end of the meeting, participants resolved as follows:

1. States Focal Persons would be invited to attend the next meeting of UN Support Group;
2. States should improve their performance in the implementation of CGS projects while the MSD Consultants assigned to the States should adequately represent the OSSAP-SDGs and report back the actual status of projects;
3. National Retreat on mainstreaming the SDGs in National and State Development Plans to be organized by the OSSAP-SDGs which should include State Focal Persons, MSD Consultants, IDPs, Civil Society and Government Technocrats;
4. States should liaise with the OSSAP-SDGs and propose a date for the commissioning of 2014/2015 completed projects and album of completed projects should be presented before commissioning;
5. States Focal Persons should comply with the adopted reporting calibration template while submitting their Status report;
6. Henceforth, state PSUs should not create room for contract variation in CGS projects because of their short lifespan;
7. Henceforth, all SDGs-CGS projects shall be branded with the new approved SDGs Nigeria logo
8. The followings should be taken into consideration in the subsequent CGS projects application by the States:
   1. All PHCs must have prototype toilets and water facility taking into cognizance population, weather conditions and other considerations;
   2. Renovation of PHCs with only 2 or 3 rooms would not be approved by the OSSAP-SDGs
   3. Shades with fans, toilets and should be provided in PHCs for women attending ante-natal and immunization;
9. State PSU should propose projects/programmes that will improve primary schools enrollment;
10. State PSUs to submit to OSSAP-SDGs details of all MDGs uncompleted/abandoned/unutilized projects within 2 weeks;
11. State PSUs to submit to OSSAP-SDGs list of all Skills Acquisition Centers provided under the MDGs intervention;  
12. The OSSAP-SDGs to make available to States the contact details of Youth Corps SDGs Ambassadors and ensure strong synergy in the implementation of the SDGs particularly in the area of obtaining feedback from communities;
13. For the Google Digital Training, States are expected to provide venues and logistics for the training, while OSSAP-SDGs will provide transport and feeding allowance of N2,000.00 for each participant; OSSAP-SDGs is set to train 125,000 Youth across the country;
14. The meeting adapted the regular quarterly meeting of Focal State persons and MSD Consultants which would also involve the Sector Desk officers of the MDAs;
15. States that are yet to conclude arrangement for the Google training should notify OSSAP-SDGs within three days to schedule theirs within the approved period of the training;
16. In view of the global trends in Digital marketing States were advised to support the Google Digital training for the empowerment of their youth.