By Isaac Asabor

Copyright independent

Dr. Orlando Olumide Odejide applauds the latest United Nations report showing only 35 per cent of Africa’s SDG targets are on track, saying it adds urgency to the upcoming African Sustainability Perspectives (ASP) 2025 summit and sharpens its mandate.

The report, released this year, reveals that out of all 17 Sustainable Development Goals launched in 2015, only about one-third show moderate to strong progress. Nearly half the targets are moving too slowly, and many are stagnating or regressing.

Dr. Orlando insists these findings must shape Africa’s SDGs agenda, arguing that Africa cannot afford half-measures in the five years remaining till 2030. “This report confirms what many of us already sensed: progress is mixed, and time is running out,” he states. With only 35 per cent of SDG targets on track and many regressing, Dr. Orlando urges that ASP 2025 focus on actionable, locally anchored solutions, not just lofty goals.

He emphasises that in 2025, SDGs must move beyond diagnosis to delivery. The summit should spotlight how sustainable development challenges unique to Africa, financing, governance, capacity, local innovation—can be turned into levers for progress. Among priorities he highlights are closing the financing gap (estimated at over US$1.3 trillion annually), improving data systems to track SDG indicators accurately, and integrating SDG targets into national development plans not just rhetorically but in budgets and policy.

Dr. Orlando also points to the UN’s call for greater domestic resource mobilisation and reducing dependence on foreign aid as essential. He believes Africa must leverage its rich resources, youthful population, and innovation to scale up solutions in green energy, food security, education, and health.

He says ASP 2025 offers an opportunity to align these elements with the sum of African experience—using tangible case studies, interactive policy dialogues, and commitments that governments, civil society, the private sector, and youth can own.

ASP 2025, scheduled for October 25, 2025, will be virtual. In Dr. Orlando’s view, the latest UN SDG findings sharpen its purpose: to ask not just how far Africa has come, but whether what has been done is sufficient, and more importantly, what next steps are possible and necessary.

Registration is now open; Dr. Orlando encourages all stakeholders, from policymakers and ESG leaders to grassroots voices, to join so that Africa’s journey toward the SDGs is led from within, built on African realities, and capable of producing measurable, lasting outcomes.