The United Nations (UN) has announced the appointment of His Royal Highness Muhammadu Sanusi II, Emir of Kano, as one of its new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Advocates for 2019-2020.
Antonio Guterres, UN secretary-general, made the announcement through Farhan Haq, his spokesman, at a news conference in New York on Thursday.
The appointment is sequel to the UN member states’ agreement to accomplish the SDGs by 2030 and will be co-chaired by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of Ghana and Prime Minister Erna Solberg of Norway.
Emir Sanusi is the only Nigerian on the 17-man secretary-general’s list of SDGs Advocates who are 17 influential public figures committed to “raising awareness, inspiring greater ambition, and pushing for faster action on the SDGs.”
The other five new members are Hindou Ibrahim of Chad, Dia Mirza of India, Edward Ndopu of South Africa, Nadia Murad of Iraq and Marta Vieira da Silva of Brazil.
Haq said the six new members will take over from the previous six who had been made SDG advocate alumni.
“The Secretary-General looks forward to working with the group over the coming years to advance the SDGs,’’ the spokesman said.
Sanusi’s latest appointment comes few days after Nigeria’s telecoms giant, MTN appointed the former Central Bank governor as a Non-Executive Director effective July 1, 2019.
The appointment of the Emir is part of a board room shake-up at Africa’s biggest wireless carrier, which will also see the on-boarding of South Africa’s former deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas as a new group chairman.
The appointment also comes a day after Abdullahi Ganduje, governor of Kano state, assented to a bill passed by the Kano house of assembly on the breaking up of the emirate in the state and reducing the powers of the Emir.
