The Federal Government, through the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals has mobilized 400 Corps Members to champion the implementation of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda in Nigeria.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals, Princess Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire stated this during the Flagg-off ceremony of the NYSC/SDGs Champions at the NYSC Permanent Orientation Camp, Keffi, Nassarawa state.
The SSAP-SDGs said the initiative is a way of preventing some of the drawbacks found with the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Nigeria, adding that one major drawback was the inability of the communities where projects were sited to take ownership of the projects.
Princess Adefulire said the Corps Members would help in Sensitization and Advocacy of Sustainable Development Goals in the 36 States and 774 local government areas of the federation. She urged the Corps Members to be the mouthpiece of the Office and be the voice for the weak and report any case of abuse in their respective areas of primary assignments.
“One of the aims of the NYSC/SDGs Champions will be to develop in the Nigerian citizenry a commitment to development through awareness creation” and “galvanize Nigerians for active participation in the achievement of the SDGs”.
She charged the Corps Members to enrich SDGs activities in their various places of primary assignment by collaborating with community members, private organizations to improve the lives of the youth in their various communities in line with the vision of the SDGs in Nigeria.
She said that in an effort to domesticate , integrate and mainstream the new agenda, the office was working assiduously to establish the Policy, Financial and Institutional frameworks needed for the successful implementation of the SDGs in Nigeria.
Speaking earlier, the Director General of the NYSC, Brigadier General Suleiman Kazaure told the selected Corps members for the scheme to view their selection as a call to mobilize their host communities for the success of the SDGs.
The representative of the UN Millennium Campaign (UNMC), Mr. Hillary Ogbonna, described the initiatiative as an “example in global best practice worthy of emulation by other nations”.
