European Journal of Research and Reflection in Educational Sciences Vol. 5 No. 4, 2017 ISSN 2056-5852 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS IN NIGERIA: WHAT ROLE(S) FOR NIGERIA’S INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES? Olagoke Alamu Ekiti State University Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, NIGERIA ABSTRACT This paper takes a critical look at the roles of Nigeria’s indigenous languages in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in Nigeria. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or the Global Goals (GGs) is a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) policy guideline and funding programme which should be implemented by all member countries between 2016, when it came into effect, and 2030. An assessment of the level of implementation of the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) in Nigeria, which serves as a springboard for the SDGs, and which was to be implemented between 2000-2015 reveals that Nigeria has not met twenty five percent of the MDGs. The great challenges of the country have not been met with great action by government. Our observation has shown that the high level of illiteracy has been responsible for underdevelopment and poverty in Nigeria. Information to provide guidance by government to majority of the people on sustainable development can only come from the use of indigenous languages if only 79 million Nigerians out of a population of 156 million can speak and understand English. Keywords: Millenium Development Goals, Sustainable Development Goals, Indigenous languages, Literacy, Language Planning. INTRODUCTION Sustainable development, according to the United Nations (UN), is the organizing principle for meeting human development goals while at the same time sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystems services upon which the economy and society depends. The desirable end result of this is a state of society where living conditions and resource use continue to meet human needs without undermining the integrity and stability of the natural systems. Sustainable development is that development that meets our present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. According to the United Nations, the components that work together, to produce sustainable development are economic development, social development and environmental projection (UN General Assembly, 2005). These three must be conceptualized together, planned together and implemented together by a government to achieve the desired results. So, sustainable development in a way has a moral dimension that demands a great sense of responsibility from the leader (government) and the follower (citizen). The SDGs came into effect in January, 2016 and it is a (United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) policy guideline and funding programme for the next fifteen years. The goals are to be accomplished by all member nations (189 countries) by 2030. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) also known as the Global Goals (CGs) are structured to end poverty, protect the environment and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity. The Progressive Academic Publishing, UK Page 1 www.idpublications.org European Journal of Research and Reflection in Educational Sciences Vol. 5 No. 4, 2017 ISSN 2056-5852 goals, 17 in number are fashioned out from the earlier Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and are presented in the diagram below: Summary of SDGs Targets The summary of the SDGs are the following: 1. Universal plan and agenda to tackle some of the pressing challenges facing the world such as poverty, climate change and conflict. Poverty is at the centre of all these goals. 2. Provide the expertise to drive progress and help support countries on the path to sustainable development. 3. Build on the accelerated progress already achieved under the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) The MDGs provide the foundation on which the SDGs are built. The latter rely on the structure of the former and widen its scope. The MDGs had existed and its goals are expected to be meaningfully achieved and implemented by member countries 15 years before the SDGs came into existence. It had existed for 15 years since it was established following the Millenium summit of the United Nations (UN) in 2000. All 189 UN member states, including Nigeria at that time, and at least 22 international organizations, committed to help achieve the 8 MDGs by 2015. The goals which are related to the SDGs are: Progressive Academic Publishing, UK Page 2 www.idpublications.org European Journal of Research and Reflection in Educational Sciences Vol. 5 No. 4, 2017 ISSN 2056-5852 (i) To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger (ii) To achieve universal primary education (iii) To promote gender equality and empower women (iv) To reduce child mortality (v) To improve maternal health (vi) To combat HIV/AIDs, malaria, and other diseases (vii) To ensure environmental sustainability (viii) To develop a global partnership for development When we compare the SDGs with the MDGs, we observe that while the MDGs are limited and few, the SDGs are elongated and greater in number, though each goal in the two development agenda has specific targets and dates for achieving those targets. The SDGs replaced the MDGs in 2016. How far has Nigeria attained the implementation of the MDGS? Nigeria is one of the UN member nations that signed and adopted the agenda MDGs in 2000 for implementation within the next 15 years. To help Nigeria and other developing nations, the G8 finance ministers agreed in June 2005 to provide funds to the World Bank, the International Monetary fund (IMF) and the African Development Bank (AFDB) to cancel 40 to $55 billion debt owed by heavily indebted poor countries, Nigeria inclusive, to allow them redirect resources to programmes for improving health and education and for alleviating poverty (www.wikipedia/millenium development goals). It was as a result of this that Nigeria got a debt relief. The table below shows how far Nigeria has gone with the implementation of the 8- goal agenda. Goals Specific Target(s) Result 1. Eradicate poverty and hunger (a)Reduce by half the While Nigeria has one of proportion of people living the world’s highest on less than a dollar a day economic growth rates of 7.4%, poverty still remains significant at 33.1% (World Bank Nigeria Economic Report, July (b)Reduce by half the 2014). proportion of people who suffer from hunger Attempts at poverty Alleviation: 1976: Operation Feed the Nation 1979: Green Revolution Programe 1986: Directorate of Food, Roads and Rural Infrastructure (DFRRI) 1993: Family support Programme 2001: National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP) No fewer than 112 million Progressive Academic Publishing, UK Page 3 www.idpublications.org European Journal of Research and Reflection in Educational Sciences Vol. 5 No. 4, 2017 ISSN 2056-5852 Nigerian’s live below poverty level. This represents 67.1% of the country’s total population of 167m (National Bureau of Statistics Oct. 18, 2016). 2. Achieve Universal Primary (a)Ensure that ALL boys and This has not been achieved. Education girls complete a full course We all know that many of primary schooling school age children are still (Emphasis mine) on the street hawking or being trafficked for domestic slavery. 3. Promote Gender Equality (a)Eliminate gender disparity There is an improvement and Empower Women in primary and secondary on gender disparity in education preferably by primary and secondary 2005, and at all levels by education given the 2015. statistics below: (a)Public Primary School Enrolment by State, Year and Sex. 2013-14 2013: Male – 12, 916, 185 female – 11,268,842 2014: Male -12,145, 968 Female – 10,983,959 (b)Public Junior Secondary School Enrolment, 2013-14 2013:Male – 2, 290, 478 Female – 1, 962, 892 2014: Male 2,393, 750 Female: 2,042, 229 Source: National Bureau of Statistics: Universal Basic Public Education and Key Statistics in Nigeria, 2016. The disparity in school enrolment between the male and the female child has reduced. 4.To reduce child mortality Reduce by two thirds the According to the United mortality rate among Nations Population Fund children under five. (UNFPA), 300,000 women die annually during pregnancy and child birth, 3m babies do not survive the first month of life, while 2.5m are still born, majority in Africa. Nigeria lost about 2,300 under five year old and 145 women during childbirth in a day Progressive Academic Publishing, UK Page 4 www.idpublications.org European Journal of Research and Reflection in Educational Sciences Vol. 5 No. 4, 2017 ISSN 2056-5852 in 2013 making it the second largest contributor to the under-five and maternal mortality rate in the world. Source: Child Health Survey by UNICEF in 2015. 5.Improve Maternal Health Reduce by three quarters the Refer to 4 above. maternal mortality ratio 6.Combat HIV/AIDs, malaria (a)Halt and begin to reverse In 2014, the HIV/AIDS and other diseases the spread of HIV/AIDs adult prevalence rate was HALT (emphasis mine). 3.17% while the number of people living with HIV/AIDS was 3,391,600. which is about 2.7% Source: Nigeria Demographic Profile (2016). 7.Ensure Environmental (a)Integrate the principles of (1)Air pollutants are still sustainability sustainable development into very common in Nigeria. country policies and These pollutants represent programme; reverse loss of a diverse range of environmental resources substances, such as gases, (b)Reduce by half the biological materials which proportion of people without are remitted into the sustainable access to safe atmosphere and causing drinking water harm or discomfort to (c)Achieve significant humans or other living improvement in lives of at organisms, or damage to least 100m slum dwellers by the environment. The 2020. sources of these substances are natural (volcanic eruptions) or anthropogenic sources such as industrial emissions, combustion of fossil fuels for transportation, gas flaring etc.