CROSS RIVER CONVERSATION 9 THE ROLE OF THE ORGANIZED PRIVATE SECTOR IN ACHIEVING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS IN CROSS RIVER STATE

Against the backdrop of the recent passing of the Cross River State Sustainable Development Goals Agency Bill 2015 by the Cross River State House of Assembly and anticipation of signing it into law by the Governor of Cross River State Sen. Prof. Ben Ayade, I will like to take a critical look at the role of the Organized Private Sector is expected to play in achieving Sustainable Development Goals in the state.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was launched at the 70th United Nations General Assembly in New York, United States which took place from the 25th to the 27th of September, 2015. The Sustainable Development Goals SDGs are envisioned to replace the Millenium Development Goals MDGs, as these wind-down at the end of 2015.

The Hon. Speaker of the Cross River State House of Assembly Rt. Honorable John Gaul Lebo and the Chairman of the House Committee on International Development and Sustainable Development Goals Hon. Peter Odey attended the UN General Assembly and were part of the launching of the Sustainable Development Goals which afforded them the opportunity to learn more about the opportunities this provides the state and thus key in maximally to the initiative.

These and many other actions have made Cross River State a premier state in the domestication of the Sustainable Development Goals globally. Cross River State had earlier been celebrated as a leading state in the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals and has taken the lead again in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. The success of this will require the contribution of all stakeholders including the Organized Private Sector in the state. This will be the focus of this treatise.

The Sustainable Development Goals will be operative from 2016 to 2030 and is made up of;

• A universal set of 17 proposed sustainable development goals (SDGs) with 169 associated targets;
• A new framework for the sustainable financing of development, which is one of the most critical means of implementation for the emerging global development agenda; and
• A new universal climate agreement, with specific climate actions.

The General Assembly and Sustainable Development Goals Launch had in attendance heads of Governments and Private Businesses around the world, the civil society, UN delegates, members of the press and many others. The three days featured a mixture of plenary meetings and “interactive dialogues” on the main themes of the SDGs – including ending poverty, tackling inequality and combating climate change.

Below is a lineup of the 17 goals:

1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere
2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
10. Reduce inequality within and among countries
11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development

Progress on sustainable development will be contingent on:

• Robust and high quality inclusive growth accompanied by job generation, with benefits shared widely across society;
• Effective domestic and global governance mechanisms that support corporate and environment sustainability and climate action;
• The ability of Governments to better leverage the strengths and resources of the private sector for sustainable development; and
• Augmenting multilateral frameworks to harness finance; trade; and science and technology.

How can we promote private sector partnership required to achieve these goals?

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon speaking at a United Nations forum said “Governments must take the lead in living up to their pledges. At the same time, I am counting on the private sector to drive success. Now is the time to mobilize the global business community as never before. The case is clear. Realizing the Sustainable Development Goals will improve the environment for doing business and building markets. Trillions of dollars in public and private funds are to be redirected towards the SDGs, creating huge opportunities for responsible companies to deliver solutions.”

He added “The SDGs are unprecedented in their ambition – but the fundamental ways that business can contribute remain unchanged, first, companies need to do business responsibly and then pursue new opportunities. In short, companies must not make our world’s problems worse before they try to make them better.”

Ban Ki-moon’s speech is instructive and shows clearly the critical role of the private sector in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals globally.

Goals 7, 8 and 9, are all tied to private sector inputs. These are capped and cemented by goal 17 which calls for; strengthening the means of implementation and revitalizing the global partnership for sustainable development. This partnership is at the very core of the role of the private sector.

Specifically, there is need for an urgent transition to sustainable development approaches, supported by global cooperation at an unprecedented scale in technology development and diffusion, which allows switching for adoption of low-carbon sustainable technologies and employment of greener energy alternatives. The private sector’s role in pursuing these low carbon paths is critical.

The Organized Private Sector must also seek to mobilize a much larger and more varied set of financial resources for the purpose of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Of course, national and state governments will continue to have a primary responsibility for financing and managing their own development but that will not be enough.

The United Nations recently launched a new tool – the SDG compass to make it easy for every business in the world to look at the SDGs, to align their strategies, to master and manage the things that are going to help contribute to those SDGs and to be transparent about the progress made. This was communicated by Peter Bagger, President and CEO of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.

The guide outlines five steps for companies to maximize their contribution to the global goals – understanding the SDGs, defining priorities, setting goals, then integrating, reporting and communicating on them.

As Cross River State leads other states in Nigeria in designing policies and structures for the effective implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals in the country, I will like to appreciate the Hon. Speaker of the Cross River State House of Assembly Rt. Hon. John Gaul Lebo for showing leadership in the process. The Hon. Speaker communicating on the need for Cross River State to internalize the SDGs said:

“CRS must design its own model and concept of the SDG around the philosophy and value chain of the 17 goals and 169 targets. In designing the CRS Model of SDG, the following key steps will be crucially fundamental.

1) The state must present and analyze its END POINT REPORT of the CR-MDGs.
2) The State must admit areas of failures in the MDG implementation scheme and learn from these.
3) The state must admit and identify some unfinished business in the MDGs and carry it forward.
4) The House must domesticate the 17 goals as part of the state development agenda and internalize or mainstream them.
5) The State must identify further sustainable development agenda that is peculiar to our peculiar domestic need assessment.
6) The House must urgently develop various strategic institutional Infrastructure and regulatory framework for the 17 goals.
7) The State must Continue to build the Sector Wide Approach Strategy already passed by the 7th Assembly, which is now adapted to the SDGs.
8) The State must identify quick wins from the 17 goals of the SDGs and install a Success Strategy for the CR SDGs.
9) The State must utilized the CR COUNTERPART FUND ACCOUNT LAW to finance the CR SDGs.
10) A strong Accountability framework, Monitoring & Evaluation, Legislative Oversight and Institutional capacity are also required.

If we can focus on these core issues, then we can be assured that we have instituted a Solution Architecture for CR-SDGs.”

The Governor of Cross River State Hon. Prof. Benedict Ayade has also shown commitment to the success of the initiative in the state by creating the Ministry of Sustainable Development Goals and Social Welfare with a commissioner and also appointing a core development consultant in the person of Hon. Nkoyo Toyo as Lead Special Advisor on SDGs.

As the Cross River State Sustainable Development Goals Agency Bill 2015 is signed into law by the Executive Governor, there is need for the Organized Private Sector in the state to take leadership and partner the government through this agency and the Ministry to ensure the success of the Sustainable Development Goals project.

The Ministry of Sustainable Development and Social Welfare and the leadership of the new agency must quickly create a platform for effective engagement of the Government Stakeholders, the Organized Private Sector, the Civil Society and Donor Agencies to engage on the effective implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals in Cross River State.

Just as Cross River State was a leading state in the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, the state must maintain this leading position in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and do more to achieve better results in the years to come. The Organized Private Sector under the leadership of Mrs. Thelma Bello, the President of Calabar Chambers of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture CALCIMA, must be seen as a key partner if this must be achieved.

As we look forward to seeing this synergy yield result in the state, we wish all stakeholders the best as they work to achieve the outlined goals in the next 15 years.

Best Regards.
Emmanuel Etim is a development consultant based in Nigeria