21st June, 2012
As world leaders and stakeholders gather in Rio de Janeiro to deliberate on ways of ensuring sustainable development across the globe, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Millennium Development Goals, MDGs, Dr Precious Kalamba Gbeneol has emphasised the importance of placing poverty reduction at the heart of efforts to develop a new global development agenda.
Dr Gbeneol made this assertion at the ongoing United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development otherwise known as Rio+20 holding in Brazil.
According to a statement issued by the Deputy Director of Information, Mrs K.N. Offie, Gbeneol argued that the world must integrate the three pillars of development into one new whole.
She opined that a robust post-MDGs development framework that integrates the social, economic and environmental dimensions must be critically considered in order to produce a global development agenda that is equitable, practical, inclusive and universally acceptable.
Gbeneol further stated that for sustainable development to be truly effective, the problem of extreme poverty and hunger must be holistically addressed, adding that this has been the propelling force behind the activities of MDGs office in Nigeria.
In the speech titled ‘Developing a Post-2015 Development Framework Which Puts Poverty Eradication and Sustainability at its Core – What Role for Sustainable Development Goals?’ Gbeneol stated that “a successful Post-MDGs Development Framework must of necessity be borne out of the outcomes of participatory and inclusive consultations organised to deliberately involve the world’s vulnerable.”
She added that “processes leading to the formulation of a credible post-MDGs framework must therefore critically examine the socio-economic dynamics of development in the context of a well-managed environment so as to produce a fiscal compact that is people-focussed and environmentally friendly.”
Stressing further, she stated that “it was generally agreed that a post-2015 development framework which puts poverty eradication and sustainability at its core should generally foster better co-ordination of the development activities across all implementing agencies so as to address the issues of overlaps, duplications, ownership, utilization and sustainability. The global development agenda should tie resources and expenditures to clearly defined deliverables. The framework should contain strict timelines for measuring deliverables, milestones and achievements.
“While recognising that the MDGs have made great social and economic impact in development planning and execution in Nigeria, there is the need to emphasize that the successor framework must be people-centered, inclusive, equitable with gender parity playing a central role.”
At the end of the conference, world leaders are expected to come up with definitive outcomes and commitments that will facilitate the charting of world’s sustainable development agenda.
By Desmond Utomwen/Rio de Janeiro