The Senior Special Assistant to Governor Seyi Makinde on Sustainable Development Goals SDGs, Hon Kunle Yusuff MON, on Monday declared open the 12th annual University of Ibadan Development Summit held at University of Ibadan Nigeria Centre For Sustainable Development (CESDEV), in collaboration with the Sustainable Development Network – Nigeria (NSDSN).
speaking on the theme “Building Resilience for the Attainment of the SDGs in the Face of COVID-19 Pandemic and a Changing World, Yusuff noted that SDGs is a conceptualized development that needs to take care of contemporary situations and take into consideration the future generation awareness on how to take care of their homes. He added that the concept of SDGs is ” leaving no one behind.”
He said, “if you compare what the Seyi Makinde led administration is doing in the state with his Road map to accelerated development 2019 to 2023 with what the University of Ibadan Sustainable Development Centre is doing, you will agree with me that they all revolve round 17 global goals of SDGs.
” About 2.8 trillion dollars has been lost worldwide due to the outbreak of the dreaded global pandemic (COVID-19). A study has just confirmed that in the next eight years, almost one billion people worldwide will be driven to extreme poverty as a result of the effects of COVID-19.
Now, the things we need to do as a people is to invest massively in infrastructure, economy, digitalization, social protection and promote good governance at all levels.”
“You will agree with me that Governor Seyi Makinde is aligning with SDGs global agenda judging by his four cardinal agenda which include, Health, Education, Economy and Security.”
In his remarks, the Director of University of Ibadan Centre for Sustainable Development (CESDEV), Professor Olanrewaju Olaniyan, said the world has seen the challenge in the past one year, as a result of the global pandemic and it subsided, the world had to move on with the scourge.
His words: “Since COVID-19 is still very much with us, that’s why we have chosen the theme of Building Resilience and coping with the shocks that come with COVID-19 pandemic and of course you know that we are already in the decade to achieve the targets of SDGs. Everybody hoped that by last year, we would move into strong action but the pandemic disrupted everything and slowed everybody down.”
Other keynote speakers at the workshop include: Professor Labode Popola, Professor Samuel Jegede, Professor Evans Osabuohien, Professor Omolara Campbell among others.
