Over 112 million Nigerians live below poverty line, a group, Brain Builders International said in Ilorin yesterday. The group, which copiously alluded to a World Bank report, also disclosed that a mere 28 per cent of the Nigerian population could only access improved sanitation facility.

Addressing a press conference at the Auditorium Basement of the University of Ilorin, founder of Brain Builders International, Olasupo Abideen, attributed the ravaging poverty in the country to the weakness in the implementation of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

In his address tagged "Engagement of Nigerian Political Leaders, Youths and Stakeholders Towards Accelerated Implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)" in the country, Abideen explained that the MDGs project could not achieve its goals owing to the exclusion of major stakeholders including the youths, who he said, represent a significant portion of the world's population. He, however, challenged the government at all levels to commit themselves to the agenda and implementation of SDGs, which he stated, was embedded with lots of hope.

Abideen also called on the Federal Government to midwife the establishment of a ministry for SDGs to ensure seamless implementation of numerous programmes built in it.

He urged the media and civil society groups to collaborate with relevant stakeholders with a view to bringing the project to reality. "Brain builders international strongly welcomes the final draft of the 2015 outcome document as it brings a robust level of ambition and a clear commitment towards universality and integration, as well as positive steps towards inclusion and participation.

"The document balances different perspectives shared by member states and stakeholders during the inter-governmental negotiations, and we call upon the Nigerian government at all levels to commit to this agenda and its implementation.

"The draft outcome document tries to ensure the integrated, indivisible and interlinked nature of the Sustainable Development Goals. We applaud the commitment of the UN in ensuring a people-oriented agenda while we also commend the revised document for seeking to respect, protect and fulfill the human rights of all, and the recognition of gender equality as a cross-cutting issue. "We also welcome explicit mention of participation and the call for all people, including the most marginalized, to be engaged in implementation, follow-up and review.

"We strongly stress the need for Nigerian government to implementing the SDGs across borders, so that the post-2015 development goals would not suffer the same fate that the MDGs suffered owing to the negligence on the part of the government.

"In this regard, we seek the cooperation of the media in the implementation process of the SDGs especially in the area of advocacy, sensitization and creating awareness of the international goals. No doubt, the Nigerian media and the civil societies have a crucial role to play in ensuring the implementation of the SDGs and its various targets.

"We intensely push for the creation or the development of cross ministerial commissions so as to bring to live the inter-linkage between the SDGs vis-a-vis departments and agencies of government.