of the private sector in the implementation of the United Nations 2030
Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Emphasising the urgent need for private and public players to
collaborate in order to meet up with the 10-year timeline for the full
implementation of the SDGs, Victor-Laniyan reiterated that it is an
onerous task that cannot be expected to be borne alone by the public
sector.
“Achieving success in implementation requires a lot of financial
investment. Research on the estimated cost of eradicating poverty
globally pegs it at about $66bn per year. While the annual investment
required to improve infrastructure; that’s clean water, power,
transportation, and agriculture could total to about $7tn. That is a
substantial amount, the government alone cannot tackle the SDGs at the
national level, businesses and private institutions have a key role to
play,” Victor-Laniyan said.
With Nigeria still navigating an economically crippling pandemic, the
path to achieving the SDGs is currently facing several forms of systemic
hindrances and other national threats such as terrorism and increased
poverty levels. This development continues to cause a decline in the
growth targeted by the United Nations but as experts have expressed, the
situation can be steered towards change with increased participation and
partnership from various actors from across the private and public
sectors.
Speaking on whether the private sector can respond differently from the
public sector in addressing global crises, and more recently the raging
global pandemic, Victor-Laniyan opined that, “The private sector can
behave differently. Issues around development offer opportunities for
private sector organisations that are innovative. Challenges require
solutions, and as the private sector, we could provide those solutions.
The private sector can proffer these solutions by innovating
appropriately across various SDG areas, such as building sustainable
cities, climate-smart agriculture, clean energy, improved healthcare,
and so on. All of these require not only the dynamism but also the
funding of the private sector working in very close partnership with
governments and communities.”
Victor-Laniyan went on to highlight what businesses stand to gain if
they key into applying a Sustainability driven business approach stating
that, “organisations that use the SDGs as an overarching framework in
shaping and communicating their various strategies, goals, and
activities, obtain the unwritten the social license to operate and this
ultimately leads to profitability.”