CAN THE 17 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS(SDGs) SAVE THE PLANET EARTH BY 2030?

 THE 17 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS(SDGs)

In September 2015,the sustainable development goals(SDGs) also known as the global goals were adopted by the United nations(UN) and 193 countries at the United nations headquarters in New York,U.S.A.The sustainable development goals(SDGs) is a universal call to action to end global poverty,protect the planet and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity.These 17 goals are all integrated with a strong focus on improving equity to meet the needs of women, children and disadvantaged populations in particular so that "NO ONE IS LEFT BEHIND".

DECADE OF ACTION

In September 2019, four years(4) after the inauguration of the sustainable development goals(SDGs) at the United nations headquarters in New York,U.S.A, world leaders called for a decade of action and delivery for sustainable development, and pledged to mobilize financing,enhance national implementation and strengthen institutions to achieve the goals by the target date of 2030.

LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND AGENDA

The "leave no one behind agenda" of the United nations(UN) was adopted to ensure that all groups of marginalized, underserved ,disadvantaged and under-represented populations(people) and communities are carried along and not left behind in the scheme of things in the economic,social and political governance to ensure an equitable,fair and all inclusive society for all. This agenda ensures that marginalized groups such as people living with disabilities (PLWDs) underserved,disadvantaged and under-represented communities of women,men and children are mainstream and integrated in the policy decisions of government in all countries of the world by 2030. According to Africa SDG index and dashboards report 2020 to achieve the "leave no one behind agenda" of the SDGs in Africa the following challenges should be tackled headlong. These challenges are: (1) Demographic  imbalance (2) governance (3) data gaps (4) inequalities and discrimination (5) shocks and fragility (6) socio-economic status (7) geographical location (8) limited resources.

#SDG 1(NO POVERTY)

Poverty knows no boundaries, it cut across races,ethnicity, religion,countries and the adverse effects of poverty are that it puts people and the entire humanity into perpetual slavery,deprivation of basic necessities of life and in total state of lack and wants. The issue of global poverty calls for serious concern because of the extreme havoc it causes to people and humanity in general. Poverty has reduced people and humanity to nothing with glooming future,and no hope for a better living and prosperous life. In Africa, the rate of extreme poverty is very alarming, statistics shows that 9 out of 10 extremely poor people in the world are found in Africa, and globally 836 million people live in extreme poverty. Poverty still persists in every country. Over 8% of the world population lives in extreme poverty. The coming of covid-19 pandemic globally has exacerbated the rate of global poverty and worsens people economic living standard and condition. Before covid-19, the 2030 poverty forecast was 26%, far from achieving the 2030 objective. The new forecast accounting for covid-19 and a business-as- usual recovery predicts over 480 million extreme poor people in 2030. Estimates by the world bank indicate that covid-19 could push about 60 million people globally to extreme poverty in 2020 year alone of which 23 million is in sub-saharan Africa. The SDG 1 goal is to eradicate global poverty by 2030. The big question is, will SDG goal 1 of the United nations(UN) be achievable by 2030 to save people and humanity from this monster called poverty that has eaten deep into the fabrics of  people's daily lives and livelihoods globally?

#SDG 2(ZERO HUNGER)

Poverty births hunger and the two are like sesame twins, they go along together hand in hand. Hunger arises as a result of extreme poverty, and this goes to show that for zero hunger to be achievable across countries of the world, the issue of poverty should be tackled headlong by global leaders. Job creation and skills acquisition development programs should be enhanced and scale up by countries of the world to generate sustainable jobs for people to have access to income and means of sustainable livelihoods for wealth creation to drive hunger to a zero level globally. In Nigeria, statistics shows that about 57 million Nigerians go to bed hungry. The coming of covid-19 pandemic globally exacerbated the rate of global hunger. The entire agric-food supply chain has been disrupted by the covid-19 crisis, lockdown measures that restrict movement and trade across borders are contributing to food insecurity across the globe. Government restrictions on travel and movement are likely to lead to a shortage of labour and raw materials as well as price fluctuations resulting into food crisis and hunger. Evidence indicates that 135 million people globally are forecast to be resultantly food insecure in 2020 with the majority about 73 million people living in Africa. World food program(WFP) confirms that the pandemic is likely to more than double the number of people facing hunger with urban poor populations at high risk. According to the United nations world food program(UNWFP) 60% of the world's hungry are women and girls. This goes to show that during emergency disaster and crisis situations, women and girls suffers the most and are more hungry prone. The onus lies on global leaders to do the needful by creating an enabling environment for business enterprise to thrive and flourish so that people can engaged in small,medium and large scale businesses so as to be able to generate income for themselves, create wealth and means of sustainable livelihoods to nip hunger in the bud across all countries of the world. SDG 2 goal of the United nations(UN) mandate is to eradicate global hunger by 2030. Will this goal be achievable by the target year of 2030 to save people and the planet earth from hunger? Only time will tell.

 BRIEF PERSONAL PROFILE OF ENOBONG EKWERE - SOCIAL ACTIVIST/ DEVELOPMENT EXPERT IN NIGERIA.

Comrade Enobong Ekwere is a social influencer, blogger, vlogger, human rights activist, peace practitioner, grassroot social mobilizer, SDGs advocate and a global citizen. Enobong Ekwere also have vast knowledge and professional expertise in copy writing, content creation, online and offline media campaigning. He is the program manager of children and young people living for peace (CYPLP), an organic, volunteer of experts, youth focused and a think-tank non-governmental organization based in Kaduna state, Nigeria. A Higher National Diploma (HND) graduate of Public Administration (Upper Credit) from the Federal Polytechnic, Bida, Niger State, Nigeria. Enobong Ekwere holds a proficiency certificate in management from the Nigerian Institute of Management, Chartered (NIM) Lagos, Nigeria. He is also a graduate member of the institute (Associate member in view). He works with young people in local communities across Nigeria localizing the sustainable development goals (SDGs)  (SDG16+ SDG4 and SDG5 in particular) and positive peace frameworks in Nigeria, accelerating action online and offline, engaging duty bearers and policy makers to be accountable for it's implementation by 2030. He is a strong advocate of peace, good governance and democracy, accountability in government, freedom of information, freedom of expression, access to information, free press, social justice and social inclusion. As a youth advocate and a global leader who loves to see social reforms in the society, he uses his personalized blog to write compelling stories on developmental and topical issues on national and global concern that shapes and transform people's lives and impact the larger society for knowledge transfer and lifelong learning. He engages in community service and volunteerism, community outreach, social mobilization and advocacy tours to hard to reach local communities in Nigeria advocating and advancing the cause of the SDGs (SDG16+ SDG4 and SDG5 in particular) so that no community and youth in Kaduna state and Nigeria at large would be left behind. CYPLP as an organization works primarily in serving vulnerable population of children, youth, elderly persons, people living with disabilities (PLWD's) and women in unserved, underserved, underrepresented and marginalized local communities in Nigeria.

My areas of competence in peace education and peace building process includes;

1. Conflict mapping, sensitivity and analysis

2. Negotiation, mediation and reconciliation

3. Interreligious and intercultural dialogue

4. Protection of civilians

5. Disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR)

6. Security sector reforms (SSR)

7. Mainstreaming gender in peace keeping

8. Mainstreaming gender in peace and state building

9. Crisis management/resolution

10. Media and conflict

11. Conflict and natural resources

12. Conflict prevention

13. Peace support operations (PSOs)

14. Post- conflict reconstruction and development

15. Humanitarian action

16. Transnational organized crime

17. Piracy and maritime security

18. Preventing violent extremism (PVE) etc.

Enobong Ekwere has an extensive professional working experience in projects such as;

1. PRELT (Prevention of radicalization and extremism leading to terrorism)

2. BRAVE (Building resilience against violent extremism)

3. iDOVE (Interfaith dialogue on violent extremism) in local communities across Kaduna state and Nigeria at large.

I have initiated two projects to counter religious and violent extremism among the youths in local communities in Nigeria, and one empowerment program, these are;

1. CAARE ( Countering Attitudes Against Religious Extremism)

2. CAAVE (Countering Attitudes Against Violent Extremism)

3. NEET (Not in Education, Empowerment or Training) an empowerment training program aimed at training vulnerable population of young people in local communities in Nigeria with leadership skills, entrepreneurial and vocational skills acquisition.

He can be reached via:

Tel/WhatsApp: +2347082558952

Email: julyenobong2020@gmail.com

            : enobongekwere825@gmail.com

MY PERSONAL SOCIAL MEDIA HANDLES:

FACEBOOK: 

https://www.facebook.com/enobong.ekwere.372

TWITTER: 

http://www.twitter.com/Enobongekwere2

INSTAGRAM: 

http://www.instagram.com/enobongekwere825

LINKEDIN: 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/enobong-ekwere-3271b116b

MY ORGANIZATION'S SOCIAL MEDIA HANDLES:

FACEBOOK: 

https://www.facebook.com/cyplp.net.ng/

TWITTER: 

http://www.twitter.com/youngpeoplefor/

INSTAGRAM: 

http://www.instagram.com/cyplp/

WEBSITE: 

www.cyplp.net.ng

VOLUNTEER - INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION (IHRC) GENEVA, SWITZERLAND.