UNDP together with the Nigerian government have domesticated and adopted the integrated Sustainable Development Goals (iSDGs) policy simulation model for use in aligning the country’s national development strategies with the SDGs targets, in order to meet the 2030 deadline. 

The iSDG simulation model report was reviewed at the stakeholders’ validation workshop which held in Abuja recently. UNDP has been working with partners to respond more effectively to complex challenges using an integrated approach. 

The iSDGs Model report domesticated for use in Nigeria is a collective effort of UNDP, the Office of the Senior Special Assistance to the President on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the Ministry of Budget and National Planning.

The aim of the iSDG report which was reviewed by members of a selected technical team is to provide stakeholders, including policy makers at the Federal and State Government levels, development practitioners, planners, budget experts, civil society organizations and citizens with the tools to evaluate government policy performance and help in tracking progress towards achieving the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) as well as the SDGs.

Speaking at a validation workshop for policy makers on the iSDGs, The Resident Representative of UNDP in Nigeria, Mohamed Yahya, said: “The model will enable policy makers and planning officials at all levels to understand the interconnectedness of policies designed to achieve the SDGs and test their likely impacts before adopting them. The model also demonstrates to policy makers and planners that whereas there are often synergistic effects between different policies, there also exists inherent tradeoffs and that investment in one sector occurs at the expense of investment in another sector. Our challenge is to strike an optimal balance and achieve the greatest impact with the limited resources available.”

 Yahya further stated that UNDP, with its catalytic funding, technical capacity, and access to global network of resources and ideas, will continue to support the Government of Nigeria in its efforts to tackle poverty and deprivation; promote human rights and international norms; build resilience to economic and ecological shocks; and expand the range of choices available to individuals and communities within the framework of the SDGs. 

Addressing participants at the event, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals, Mrs. Adejoke Adefulire stated that institutionalization of the iSDGs model in Nigeria is critical for the pursuit of the SDGs, given its dynamism in addressing, simultaneously, the economic, social and environmental challenges that we face. 

She said that the Model, with its in-built costing element, will serve as a veritable tool in devising the appropriate financing frameworks for the SDGs and drawing up long- and medium-term SDG based plans as well as sectoral plans and linking such plans to annual budgets and monitoring and reporting frameworks.

Participants at the workshop included Directors and Permanent Secretaries from of Planning, Budgeting and Programmed Departments of both Federal and State Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs), International Development Partners (IDPs), namely, United Nations System in Nigeria, UNDP, and UNICEF.

The iSDG model has been designed to cater for long term planning and integrated scenario analysis at a high aggregation level. It aims at maximizing the coherence of policy packages by minimizing trade-offs between measures and maximizing synergies between measures. The sectoral costing tools are better used for short term sectoral programming of expenditures in the budget, and for costing of initiatives contained in medium-term sectoral strategies at a more detailed aggregation level for implementation purposes of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).