From Saka Bolaji, Minna.
African countries and Nigeria has the longest way to go in terms of global development hence needed to retrace their step towards sustainable development in its social economic development just as they were left behind since 1950s and 60s.
UNESCO Chair in Reorienting Teacher Education Towards Sustainability, Prof. Charles Hopkins, made the disclosure in an interview with journalists in Minna at the Nigerian Regional Centres of Expertise (RCEs) Forum, under the auspices of African RCEs with Niger state government.
The Canadian development expert at the 1st Nigerian RCEs interactive session tagged ‘Minna 2017’ with the theme: The role of RCEs in the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Nigeria said that it would be hard for Nigeria and Africa to catch up with the required global development but has to embarked on an attainable well planned vision and mission for themselves.
Prof Hopkins charged regional centres to set up research development, training programs to link RCEs to SDGs for sustainable development in Nigeria if it must succeed and the implementation of its activities must be done in local context to all levels.
He noted that the interactive session will enable him get first hand information, brainstorm on ideas about the critical problems facing the region, provide avenue for the development of strategies and action plans across areas of implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the SDGs to actualized 2014 Global Action Program (GAP) on ESD in Nigeria.
Hopkins added that the forum was to create platform for networking RCEs in Nigeria and allowed knowledge sharing, experience, building capacity of participants so as to sustainance of development for future generations.
The President of African RCEs and Coordinator of RCEs Minna, Dr Abdul Hussaini who appreciated the visit for the first time of the expertise to Nigeria noted that the country has five regional centres which includes: Lagos, Kano, Zaria, Minna and Port Harcourt.
He stated that the aim is to find solution to societal challenges like poverty reduction, create better economic system, sustained capacity of environment for sustainable development for future generations
The Director General of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), Niger State, Engr Abdullahi Abubakar Ketso stated that educational stakeholders were involved to raise their horizon of educational sustainability by using available resources to the benefit of the future generations.
He stated that the state government was on the right path considering the ongoing whole school renovation approach by Governor Abubakar Sani Bello an indication he said was government given the desired priority for education in the state.
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