Why Nigeria may not attain
MDGs in 2015 – Ochekpe, anti-poverty activist
By MODESTUS CHUKWULAKA
Monday,
July 23, 2007
 |
•
Ochekpe, anti-poverty activist
Photo: Sun News Publishing | |
In September 2000, 189 world leaders, including Nigeria’s
immediate past president, Olusegun Obasanjo, met at the United
Nations for the Millennium Summit.
The outcome of the gathering was the adoption of the Millennium
Declaration, a commitment by the leaders to reduce extreme
poverty by half by 2015. The leaders had also pledged to eliminate
gender inequality, environmental degradation and HIV/AIDS,
to improve access to education, healthcare and clean water
as well as forge a global partnership for development.
Halfway through the 15-year timeline given for the attainment
of these objectives otherwise known as Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs), the civil society in Nigeria has sounded an
alarm that Nigeria may yet again fritter away the opportunity
offered by the millennium challenge to brake away from the
dubious shackles of poverty and underdevelopment. Civil society
groups led by Actionaid Nigeria, have been taking stock, not
only to appraise the country’s performance during the
first half the MGDs implementation, but also to assess its
chances of realising the overall objective of the declaration
by the target year. Although the consensus is that on many
fronts, some appreciable progress has been made, yet there
are worries that Nigeria’s chances of attaining the
MDGs in the next seven and half years are rather remote.
Dr. Sarah Ochekpe is one of such Nigerians. As the policy
adviser/coordinator of the Civil Society Coalition on Education
for All (CSACEFA), Ochekpe is deeply involved in the activities
of the various civil society groups campaigning against poverty
and for the attainment of the MDGs on the platform of Global
Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP)/MDGs Nigeria Working
Group. The view of the groups is that Nigeria stands the risk
of not attaining the MDGs if what has happened in the last
seven and half years is anything to go by. "At half time,
the score board for Nigeria does not show clear victory by
2015 if we continue at the same pace. We are still a long
way from achieving the MDGs unless something drastic is done
and in a sustained manner," she said in Abuja recently.
She reasoned that with 54 per cent of Nigeria wallowing in
poverty and having to make do with less than $1 per day, a
situation being worsened by retrenchment and lay-off, the
target of halving the population of hungry Nigerians by 2015
is terribly threatened. Besides, she noted, education is of
poor quality with three of every four candidates who sit for
the Universities Matriculation Examination failing the examination.
Maternal and infant health has remained an issue of serious
concern as 800 out of 100,000 Nigerian women die during childbirth.
Ochekpe also pointed to the problem of rising unemployment,
as well as the unabated expansion in the number of urban slums
and environmental degradation resulting from poor sanitary
and environmental habits. She also regretted that the level
of aid from development partners is still considerably low,
despite their commitments on paper to the attainment of the
MDGs.
"There is near absence of commitment in the purposeful
development by states and local governments which will address
the issues of poverty reduction and general development,"
she added, pointing out that the war against extreme poverty,
hunger and ignorance should be taken directly to the local
communities where a great majority of Nigerians live. According
to her, the civil society strongly believes that the present
strategies adopted in pursuit of the MDGs need to be redefined
and articulated for a scale up of efforts and commitment that
would involve all tiers of government actively in the implementation
of projects and programmes that are people-centred. Such programmes
and projects, she said, would not only lead to the attainment
of the MDGs, but in surpassing them.
If there is any time to address these worries, Ochekpe feels
it should be now, which is half way through the one and a
half decades set for the attainment of the goals. She likened
this to the half time break in a football match during which
players usually retreat into the locker room to assess their
performance during the first half and fine tune their strategies
for the second half. "For the MDGs, it is half time and
it is critical for all governments and stakeholders worldwide
and indeed the Nigerian government, to take stock of the efforts
towards attaining the MDGs so far.
It is time to ascertain what has worked and what has not worked;
which strategies need to be strengthened and which ones are
to be modified or thrown off; the level of resources required
for the next lap of the race; stakeholders to be involved
and the areas to be emphasized," she said. Since the
MDGs provide the minimum standard for development, she noted,
the civil society expects the Nigerian government to use them
as a launch pad to develop the entire country without any
difficulty, given the level of resources available. However,
Ochekpe noted that there had been relative improvement in
the area of poverty reduction, enrolment rates, level of participation
of women, number of children vaccinated, while the rate of
new HIV/AIDS infections has gradually declined.
Expressing the hope that the Yar’Adua administration
would seize the opportunity of the midpoint to inject new
vigour and urgency into the programmes and activities that
would strengthen the drive towards the attainment of the MDGs,
she reminded President Umar Yar’Adua of his roots in
the talakawa movement. "We hope the talakawa spirit remains
his central motivation as he presides over the affairs of
Nigeria," the CSACEFA policy adviser said. Although governments
have much to do towards the attainment of the MDGs, she said
it requires the concerted efforts of all and sundry.
While the government and the international community are expected
to show more political will and allocate more resources, she
said, citizens must recognize that they also have a responsibility
to demand for accountability and transparency in the use and
management of resources, sustained political will from elected
and appointed representatives.
Ockekpe’s views was echoed by the UN millennium campaign
director, Salil Shetty, who believed the goals are achievable
by Nigeria, provided there is a significant increase in government
funding for the MDGs and programmes to fight poverty and ill-health
and really reach the poor.
He was confident that the new administration at the federal
level would follow in the footsteps of its predecessor and
see the urgency in translating the goals into concrete benefits
for Nigerians at state and local levels. Building on some
of the successes in increasing primary enrolment and reducing
extreme poverty since 2000, he said, the country should during
the second half of the MDGs move quickly to achieve other
goals, particularly in the health sector.
"The real challenge is to ensure that the goals are achieved
more evenly across all parts of Nigeria with a strong focus
on regions and social groups that are lagging behind,"
he said. According to him, one key element in the second half
of the MDGs has to be a strong campaign led by Nigerian citizens,
to hold leaders at all levels accountable for the achievement
of the goals. With some of the poorest countries in Africa
like Rwanda, Mozambique and Tanzania on track to achieving
the goals, there is no reason why Nigeria cannot do much better.
|
