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| Rasheed Adebiyi at a Public Function |
In
this What Expert Tells Infoprations (WETI), Rasheed Adebiyi, a Lecturer
at Fountain University, Osogbo speaks on how the University through the Mass
Communication Department is making significant contributions to the attainment
of Sustainable Development Goals in Osun State, especially in Osogbo, the
institution host community. He bears his mind on the place of the University
considering the recent research conducted by his students concerning public
understanding of the Global goals.
Recently your
students conducted a study on SDGs as parts of the requirements for a course
and the result indicates that 1.5% of 404 Oshogbo residents seek information
about the Goals. What is your reaction to this?
Well,
we deliberately got involved in the project for certain reasons. One, in the
course of taking the classes and reading around the SDGs, I discovered that the
Global goals would clock 5 years by September, 2020. It is a milestone in the life of the
implementation of the goals. It is one third of the 15year-target set for the
implementation. And, we have to take a reflective look at how far we have gone
in achieving the goals. Two, there is a need to take stock of what people, on
whose behalf some of the goals were put in place, know about the goals. Three,
it is our way of breaking the barriers between the town and the gown.
How
do you intend to intervene having discovered the gap?
The
gown is there to proffer solutions to the problem in the town. So, it is our
own way of directing attention to the prevailing situation in town as far as
the SDGs are concerned. We cannot afford to do researches that fail to take
cognizance of our problems in the society. We can take the attempt to
understand people's knowledge of the Global goals as one of the numerous ways
Fountain University is contributing to her host community.
What are the implications
of the result on the contributions of the locals to state and national
attainment of the goals?
The
implication of the gap noted is profound. It shows a disconnection between
efforts at the federal and state level. It equally implies that there is little
or no impact of the global campaigns on the local scene. This is not a good
sign for the implementation of the goals if after a quarter of the 15-year
timeframe, we are here talking about a gap in knowledge of the goals at the
point where the goals are needed most.
Time
is not on our side in the achievement of the goals. There is an urgent need for
collaboration and coordination between the three tiers of government in the
country. Such would provide a mechanism for the incorporation of the goals into
the processes of government. The three levels of government in the country need
to fashion a bottom up approach to ensure some of the goals are achieved in the
remaining 10 years.
The
17th goal of the SDGs is partnership and collaboration. I think the drafters of
the Global goals included that because they had envisaged that to achieve the
goals, there would be a need for partnership between countries, corporate
organizations and other concerned stakeholders. With what we have seen so far,
I want to suggest a more radical approach to the implementation of the goals.
This should be built on data.
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