Former Governor of Anambra State, Mr Peter Obi, is among Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) experts scheduled to speak at the Global Festival of Action for Sustainable Development holding at the World Conference Centre, Bonn, Germany, from Wednesday to Friday, March 21-23, 2018.

A statement made available globally by UN SDG Office disclosed the reason behind the invitation to each of the speakers. On Mr. Obi, the statement said that he was invited as “an expert speaker” given his critical role as an advocate and and experiences in implementation of SDGs in Africa.

“We would be honoured to host you as an expert speaker to share your insights into the importance of multistakeholder engagement and cross-sector collaboration to achieve the SDGs. We would be delighted to hear from you about ways in which subnational governments can be instrumental in the implementation of the goals,” Mitchell Toomey, Head of UN SDG Action Campaign, had said in a letter of invitation to Mr. Obi dated 19 February 2018.

Mr. Obi, who is already in Bonn for the global event expected to be attended by over 1,000 participants from across the world, is known for his zealous implementation of Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and SGD programmes during his time as Governor from 2006 to 2014. As a result, he was recognised by Nigeria’s Presidential MDG Office and UNDP Nigeria Office as the Best Governor in MDGs implementation in Nigeria, and was invited to the UN Headquarters in New York, USA, to speak and his experience.

Other speakers at the Bonn event include Mr Mitchell Toomey, Head UN SDG Action Campaign; Dr Anne Kamau, Institute for Development Studies, University of Nairobi, Kenya; Professor Tran Thi Thai Ha, Director, Education Information Centre at Vietnam Institute for Educational Sciences; Mr Ashok Sridharan, Lord Mayor of Bonn Germany;

Dr Nova Maulani of Indonesia; Albert Askeljung of UNDP Nordic Office Sweden;

Professor Willem Fourie, Co-ordinator, South African Sustainable Development Hub,

Pretoria; Dr Tejas Joshi, Independent Educationist; Dr Eddy Okoth Odari, Founder, Ogallo Osako Memorial Foundation; and HE Princess Adegoke Orelope-Adefulire Senior Special Assistant to the President of Nigeria on SDGs.

The Global Festival of Action for Sustainable Development is a ground-breaking annual event powered by the UN SDG Action Campaign with the support of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. “The Festival,” according to Mr Toomey, “will bring together the global community taking action to make the Agenda 2030 become reality. It will recognise and celebrate the innovators, conveners and breakthrough actors who are transforming lives, tackling trade-offs and generating practical solutions to some of the world’s most intractable development problems.”

He disclosed that “over the course of three days, the Global Festival of Action will use innovative methods to create the space and networks for implementers of the SDG agenda for share practical examples of processes, projects and approaches to achieve the SDGs, form critical relationships with fellow national, regional and sectoral stakeholders and foster discussions across networks and partnerships to further action on SDG implementation.”

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