…Says Billionaire Remains SDGs Advocate
The Civil Society Organizations on Community Advancement and Humanitarian Empowerment Initiative in Nigeria, CSCHEI, has commended the philanthropic gesture of Femi Otedola, for donating the sum of N1bn Naira to Lagos State Trust Funds to enhance the security architecture in the state.
The Director-General of the CSCHEI, Kunle Yusuff MON, gave the commendation on Thursday, while speaking to journalists in Abuja, urging other philanthropic organizations in the country to ensure they play an increasingly prominent role in supporting the Global Agenda 2030 of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Yusuff, speaking further, explained that there is the need to further scale up philanthropic engagement in SDGs implementation in the country, adding that the Goals (17) of the Sustainable Development Agenda as a framework, can be worked upon for philanthropic activities by partnering with states to provide an enabling environment for all.
In his words: “Many are early embracers who have been aligning their planning and grant strategies to the SDGs. Philanthropic organizations can contribute to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in many ways.
“As advocates, they can support awareness raising through the integration of SDGs into their programming efforts and through thought leadership of collective platforms; as impact drivers, they can catalyze change and generate impact through big bets, collective action, cross-SDG partnerships; and as innovators, they exhibit a great willingness to test new ideas, adopt innovative approaches, forge new coalitions and help de-risk investments.
“Yet, there is significant potential to further scale up philanthropic engagement in SDGs implementation.
“The philanthropy organizations can utilize the Goals (17) of the Sustainable Development Agenda as a framework for their philanthropic activities and partnering with States to provide an enabling environment for all.”
He equally commended the committment and donation made by the Executive, Chairman Geregu Power PLC which, according to him, is synonymous to what Rockefeller Foundation and the World Billionaires are doing globally to support safety, climate action financing, Cybersecurity Crime, Food Security, Education, Health, and Clean City.
CSCHEI, therefore, called on High-level networking Nigerians, corporate entities, and successful businessmen in a good spirit to also emulate Femi Otedola’s ideology by giving back to the Society, particularly on donations that align with (17) SDGs Global Agenda.
“The purpose of 17 Goal of SDGs is to strengthen the means of implementation and revitalising the Global partnership for Sustainable. Partnership is the glue of SDGs implementation and will be essential to making the Global Agenda a reality.
“Momentarily, everyone should come together to support or be projecting development, considering the fact that government alone can’t fix it all,” Yusuff stated.