Scale up implementation of SDGs - Akufo-Addo to African leaders

President Akufo-Addo has admonished African leaders to strengthen their commitment and scale up momentum in their implementation of the 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

This, according to President Akufo-Addo, is the best way to guarantee the prospects for success, adding that “posterity will be the judge of our determination and resolve.”

The President made this known on Sunday when together with the Prime Minister of Norway, Erna Solberg, he addressed African leaders on the sidelines of the ongoing African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Addressing the gathering, he noted that when the Founding Fathers met in Addis Ababa, in 1963, to adopt the OAU Charter, their overarching aspirations were the attainment of freedom, equality, justice, dignity, and the economic transformation of the African continent, driven by the continent’s immense natural and human resources.

“Today, those aspirations are embodied both in the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals and in the AU’s Agenda 2063,” he added. With the global community, collectively, adopting the noble Agenda of the SDGs as a framework to tackle the many challenges that currently confront the world, he said he was convinced that “17 SDGs present our generation with a great opportunity to fight inequality on all fronts, wipe out extreme poverty, tackle the issues of climate change, reverse the degradation and unsustainable use of our environmental and marine resources, transform our economies, and bring enhanced prosperity to our peoples.”

He continued, “The strong degree of convergence between the SDGs and Agenda 2063 makes it imperative that we leverage implementation of the SDGs to achieve the goals and objectives of our Agenda 2063. With the substantial progress that our continent is making on many fronts, I stand firmly with those who say that ‘this is Africa’s moment’.”

However, in order to fully capture the ambitions of the African peoples, the President urged African leaders to take advantage of the opportunities that the SDGs present.

“We have to implement the SDGs with great gusto. We have the capacities, creativity, knowledge and resources to lead the world in the implementation of the SDGs. So, let us be up and doing. The SDGs are about hope, and they are investments for our future – the future of our youth and that of generations yet unborn,” he added.

Recalling that the SDGs take their inspiration from the Millennium Development Goals, in themselves instigated by the bold vision of one of this continent’s most illustrious sons, former UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, of blessed memory, President Akufo-Addo noted that “success in implementation of the SDGs is exactly what Kofi Annan would have wished.”