10th U6+ Consortium of African Universities International Conference

The Global Goals, that are known as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), include ending extreme poverty, giving people better healthcare, peace, education, economic growth etc, were outlined by United Nation in 2015 with a mandate before member countries to commit themselves to the 17 life-changing goals and improve the lives of their citizens by 2030. Nigeria scholars particularly, Arabic poets of Ilorin origin, as socio–cultural stake holders have signified their concern and interest in pursuance of the Goals (SDGs) through their poems of multidimensional themes. But unfortunately, the identified related poems are yet to be given adequate attention by critics and researchers. Nine out of the seventeen SDG goals were discovered in the works of five randomly selected poets from Ilorin Emirate. The objectives of this paper therefore, are to: identify Arabic poems on Global Goals (SDGs) in the works of Ilorin Arabic poets, examine the contents and features of the selected poems and evaluate them to ascertain their level of conformity to the norms of poetical composition in Arabic. The study adopted both historical and descriptive methods. Through the historical approach, the events that necessitated writing of the poems were documented, while the descriptive method was used for analysing their socio-developmental contents. The parameters employed were based on Arabic classical theory. Among the findings of the study are that Arabic poems of the Ilorin origin are replete with SDG objectives; the contents comprise: Eradication of hunger and poverty, Education, Health care, Innovation etc; and the poems, to a large extent conform to the norms in Arabic poetical composition. The study recommends compilation, documentation and translation of the selected poems for fruitful and sustainable re-orientation.