Akwa Ibom pledges commitment to provide counterpart funds for SDG projects, others

Akwa Ibom State government has expressed its readiness to “cash-match” any funding requirements from international organisations and the Federal Government for the delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the state.

The SDGs are a comprehensive, far-reaching and people-centred set of universal and transformative goals and targets to be achieved in three dimensions – social, economic and environmental – to address the unfinished business of the Millennium Development Goals. The new target for the achievement of SDGs is 2030.

Accordingly, the Akwa Ibom government has integrated the SDGs into the strategic economic plan of the state and the annual budget to deliver on the goals of the programme as it affects the state.

Emmanuel Onwioduokit, commissioner for economic development, who stated this in Uyo, the state capital, said the state government would also “leverage on the success recorded on the MDGs to ensure the achievement of the SDGs.”

He said it was pertinent for all stakeholders in the state to “create a functional platform for the implementation o this idea for it to be workable and beneficial to all,’’ adding that it would be a good idea to create advocacy, research and capacity on the SDGs as a special purpose vehicle to drive the programme.

He lauded the publication of a policy handbook on the SDGs saying it would further sensitise the public on the SDGs describing the handbook as a package that would assist the state government on delivering the SDGs to the people.

In his remarks, Tijah-Bolton Akpan, head, policy alert commended the state government for the provision of physical infrastructure which he said are directly linked to poor people’s capacity to earn higher incomes by adding value to and finding markets for their primary products.

He however lamented the state’s poverty level of 23.8 percent compared with the national average of 46 percent was still high adding that the average growth rate for the period between 2005 and 2012 stood at 8.82 percent, two percent higher than the national average.

“As we speak, the state still ranks among the top percentile in HIV prevalence in the country while adolescent pregnancy stands at an alarming rate of 17 percent, a blight on future socio-economic prospects,’’ he said.

He called for the prioritisation of the goals of the SDGs saying the state government should invest wisely by “putting our resources were our most clearly identified needs are adding that grassroots action, innovation and pilot projects with potential for scaling up should be in place to tackle the menace of poverty, disease and inequality.