United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed has called for effective collaboration between governments at all levels, development partners and non-state actors in addressing the needs of Nigeria where poverty and infrastructural challenges are the most acute.

Speaking at a Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Acceleration Conference organized by the Kaduna state government, Mohammed stressed the need for government and other stakeholders to take the issue of accurate data gathering and analysis very seriously in order to for government to effectively plan and implement its policies and programmes that will impact positively on the people.

Present at the conference were Kaduna state government officials, captains of industry, youths and development partners.

Most notable amongst those present were Governor Nasir El-Rufai and the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed.

Addressing the participants, the United Nations Deputy Secretary-General, emphasized that ending extreme poverty in Nigeria is a huge challenge requiring sustainable solutions and concerted measures from a number of factors including national and state governments, local administrations, development partners, international organisations, the private sector, and civil society.

On his part, the host Governor, Nasir El-Rufai said his administration is working hard to generate sufficient data and has also identified the state’s baseline status of the SDGs by working closely with development partners to achieve the targets of the plan.

In her presentation which focuses on what the government is doing to overcome fiscal challenges in the country, the Minister of Finance, said the federal government will soon launch the Strategic Revenue Growth programme aimed at improving revenue generation and freeing resources for effective implementation of the SDGs.

According to the organisers, the conference is designed to provide a necessary context for “Building Effective Partnership for Accelerated Progress towards the SDGs.

•Sourced from a Channels TV report