The Oyo State Government has organised a one-day training workshop for directors on budget, research and statistics and SDG desk officers across the 33 local government areas and various Ministries, Departments and Agencies in the state on the preparation of the 2024 Conditional Grant Scheme CGS- SDGs.
The workshop, with the theme: “Expected Official Roles and Responsibilities Towards Successful Implementation of 2024 CGS-SDGs in the state,” was organised to aid the fast-tracking of the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals in the state.
Speaking at the workshop held at the Local Government Service Commission Hall, Secretariat, Agodi, Ibadan, on Wednesday, the chairman, State Implementation Committee on SDG and Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Professor Musibau Babatunde, said that the sustainable goals are expected to move the world into an inclusive sustainable development path, leaving no one behind in the process.
Professor Babatunde, who spoke through the Senior Special Assistant on SDG, Hon. Muftau Ogunremi, said the SDG goals align with Governor Makinde’s vision and that he has worked assiduously to establish the policy, institutional and financial mechanisms needed to attain the SDGs in the state.
He assured the stakeholders of the agency’s commitment to bringing developmental dividends to the grassroots through the implementation of different projects and programmes in the state.
Earlier in his goodwill message, the Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Professor Salihu Adelabu, said his Ministry is prepared to release all records needed by the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, as goals four and seventeen of the SDG are related to education and they need effective and efficient planning and not just about accessing grants.
He noted that the Oyo State Government works with data, science and logic to drive the development of the state, adding that the Ministry of Education would provide the data needed through the Education Management Information System (EMIS) unit of the Ministry for easy access to educational grants.
He charged the participants at the workshop to make judicious use of the training to ensure that they use the data gathering to drive development into the state.
He said: “When we were invited for the SDGs, there were two goals that were pertinent to my Ministry, which are SDG 4 and 17. These are educationally-related sustainable development goals.
“And when we are talking of data gathering, it enables you to do effective and efficient planning. It is not about accessing grants alone. As we all know that this government works on data; the logic behind the data and the science of the data. So, everything still revolves around data gathering.
“So, when they mentioned data, every data needed for SDG 4 and 17, my Ministry would be willing to oblige the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning in order to move forward.
“The state is operating the Management Information Centre MIC, a unit under the office of the Governor of Oyo State, and we have our own Education Management Information System EMIS, implying that we have data in abundance, but how do we make use of them?
“And the essence of coming to this workshop is that there should be a strong synergy between the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning and Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, because I know that there are more than one million grants that we can access.
“If truly you are talking of data gathering with the aim of attracting grants, we are readily available as a Ministry. We only need synergy.
“I know you are doing the SDGs thing effectively but our main focus is that of SDG 4 and 17. You will discover that is what is taking us to Education-for-all 2030, which is already knocking at the door. But can we still take advantage of what is readily available now in order to supplement all the budget we are planning for the state?”
Also in his address, the Statistician-General of the state, Mr Adekunle Ajuwon, said data collection is important to access grants or information needed for the attainment of SDG goals, affirming that all the data needed for the implementation of SDGs are available in the state.
He charged the stakeholders and the participants to get involved and committed to the exercise for the successful implementation of the programme.
