An expert an partner at the Boston Consulting Group. (BCG), Tolu Oyekan has urged Nigeria and countries in Sub-Saharan Africa to strive for improvements in the areas of data aggregation, developmental techniques and empowerment of people, to enable them meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) in the region by 2030.
Oyekan made the call while highlighting the challenges that are hindering development in SSA countries and proffering possible solutions to address the numerous problems in the region.
The consultant said: “The UN has set a target of 2030 to reach the SDG’s goals and in effect, eliminate the developmental obstacles to growth and minimum livelihoods that hold back SSA and other countries around the world. For SSA, that is an ambitious deadline.”
He, however, suggested that for SSA countries to meet the set target, various governments and citizens must gather more and better data and utilize them more effectively.
He added that the governments must also increase and adjust the developmental techniques they employ to ensure they sufficiently address local concerns and issues while taking advantage of existing best practices, even from other disciplines.
He added that SSA must enlarge the tent to bring a wider and more diverse group of people into the design and implementation process.
The BCG Partner emphasized that when effectively used, data, developmental techniques and human capital can help SSA countries achieve meaningful developmental gains, thereby making the region more competitive.
