UNIOSUN don faults Nigeria’s SDGs strategy

Director of the Global Affairs and Sustainable Development Institute, Osun State University, Osogbo, Prof. John Agbonifo, has faulted Nigeria’s piecemeal approach to the Sustainable Development Goals, warning that the country risks failure unless it embraces collaboration between the sciences and the humanities.

Agbonifo, who spoke at the 2025 International Sustainable Development Dialogue, held at Osun State University with the theme “Sustainable Development in the Age of Crises: Humanities, Science and a More Equitable World,” said the SDGs are interlinked and require an integrated response.

Agbonifo said, “The SDGs are interlinked. You can’t achieve SDG 1 on poverty if SDG 4 on education or SDG 5 on gender equality is ignored. A case of sexual violence, if informally settled and unpunished, undermines everything we claim about justice and equality. The sciences and humanities must collaborate. Solutions need to be interdisciplinary, inclusive, and rooted in compassion. Leave no one and no discipline behind.”

He added that the major dilemma was that the SDGs were designed for a stable world that no longer exists.

We realised that strategies from a previous era won’t work today. But we’re not resigning to fate. We’re asking, what can still be done, even now?” Agbonifo said.

Other experts at the conference, organised in collaboration with Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, South Africa, warned that Africa’s SDG progress would remain elusive without radical rethinking and deeper partnerships.

Associate Professor of Global Sustainable Development at the University of Warwick, Dr Feng Mao, cautioned against “helicopter research” in Africa.

This is not a Nigeria-specific problem; it’s global. But when foreign experts fly in with ready-made solutions without engaging local people, it won’t work. We must co-create solutions—communities, researchers, and policymakers sitting together to solve collaboratively,” Mao said.

A former Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, Prof. Mohammed Ladan, described Africa’s SDG trajectory as “deeply worrying.”

“Only 35 per cent of SDG targets in Africa are on track or showing moderate progress. Even more concerning, 27 per cent show minimal movement, and 80 per cent of energy-related goals have regressed below 2020 levels,” he said.

According to him, Africa now accounts for nine per cent of the world’s poor, largely due to COVID-19 setbacks and ongoing regional crises.

Achieving the SDGs is capital-intensive. In Africa, the funding gap is not only wide but growing. Without substantial new investments, even modest progress will be difficult,” Ladan warned, adding that weak statistical systems further undermine monitoring.

“No single African country can achieve all the goals in isolation. What we need is a coordinated regional and global effort, supported by investment, innovation, and accountability. What we need is not despair but determination. The future of sustainable development in Africa depends on it,” he stressed.

Climate resilience and urbanisation also dominated discussions. Prof. Gareth Doherty of Harvard University urged African cities to rethink planning models.