SDGs: ‘Rural Dev ’ll Aid Nigeria’s Efforts’

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) says the development of rural areas will facilitate Nigeria’s efforts to attain the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) before 2030.
Assistant FAO Country Representative (Programme) for Nigeria, Mr Ahmed Matane, said this in an interview with newsmen yesterday in Abuja.
The SDGs, as adopted by the United Nations (UN), seek to end poverty and hunger; realise the human rights of all; achieve gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls; and ensure the lasting protection of the planet and its natural resources by 2030.
Matane said that pragmatic efforts should be made to provide adequate resources for rural development projects across the country.
He said that this was because more than half of the Nigerian population, the vast majority of people in developing countries and other parts of the world lived in rural areas, while their source of livelihoods largely depended on agriculture.
He said that in spite of the reality, it was so unfortunate that most of the people in the rural areas were still very poor and they depended on rudimentary agricultural practices.
“They live in isolated and often inhospitable places, with little access to the resources they need to improve their agriculture.