The Federal Government of Nigeria has hosted an official state delegation from the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia for a three-day strategic policy exchange centered on sustainable development financing. Organized by the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals (OSSAP-SDGs)—which serves as the secretariat for Nigeria’s Integrated National Financing Framework (INFF)—the bilateral program was supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and funded by the European Union. The summit focused on how African nations can maximize internal capital, improve public financial management, and reduce dependency on traditional external aid to fund critical public infrastructure.
The high-level policy exchange highlighted three main structural pillars of Nigeria’s fiscal strategy:
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Decentralized Sub-National Governance: H.E. Princess Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, Senior Special Assistant to the President on SDGs, emphasized that basic public services—such as primary healthcare, local agriculture, clean water, and basic education—are fundamentally delivered at the sub-national level. The INFF framework acts as an operational platform to build domestic tax administrative capacity across individual states, ensuring localized institutions can fund essential services independently.
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Integrating Tax Reform with Development Targets: The Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Chair of the INFF Steering Committee, Professor Taiwo Oyedele, stated that the framework serves as a multi-layered finance architecture designed to support enterprise and voluntary tax compliance. He noted that national transformation depends on the disciplined execution of moving capital directly into prioritized social sectors.
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Broadening the Fiscal Space: Ms. Elsie G. Attafuah, UNDP Resident Representative in Nigeria, reiterated that expanding state-level revenue systems directly dictates how efficiently policies translate into measurable social outcomes. Commending the insights gained, the head of the Ethiopian delegation, Solomon Tesfasilassie Tegene, affirmed that the shared knowledge regarding monitoring systems, private-sector engagement, and innovative resource mobilization will help shape Ethiopia’s own sustainable country financing platforms.
