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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION<br />

The MDGs and <strong>Nigeria</strong><br />

<strong>Nigeria</strong> is an active member <strong>of</strong> the global<br />

community that acceded <strong>to</strong> the United Nations<br />

Millennium Declaration <strong>of</strong> 2000, which is the<br />

basis <strong>of</strong> the Millennium Development Goals<br />

(MDGs). The eight MDGs are time-bound (<strong>to</strong> be<br />

achieved by the year 2015) with specific<br />

miles<strong>to</strong>nes (18 targets and 48 technical indica<strong>to</strong>rs<br />

agreed by the international community) for<br />

measuring progress. The Millennium Declaration<br />

is thus one <strong>of</strong> the more progressive initiatives <strong>of</strong><br />

the global community, with a results-based<br />

approach for alleviating poverty and improving<br />

living standards, focusing not only on inputs,<br />

activities and outputs but, more importantly, on<br />

outcomes.<br />

Even though <strong>Nigeria</strong>‘s poverty reduction<br />

strategies have entailed significant investments in<br />

MDGs sec<strong>to</strong>rs for decades especially at State and<br />

Local Government levels where constitutional<br />

responsibility for poverty reduction lies, the<br />

volume <strong>of</strong> the financial resources on <strong>of</strong>fer have<br />

been inadequate and the management and impact<br />

<strong>of</strong> these investments have not <strong>of</strong>ten been very<br />

effective. In the socio-political environment,<br />

demands for good governance, accountability and<br />

transparency, greater development effectiveness,<br />

and delivery <strong>of</strong> tangible results, in the face <strong>of</strong> the<br />

country‘s huge oil revenues had swelled up.<br />

For many developing countries, mustering the<br />

relatively huge financial outlays necessary for<br />

moving <strong>to</strong>wards adopting development<br />

management systems geared <strong>to</strong>wards achieving<br />

the MDGs in an effective and transparent way has<br />

constituted enormous challenge. For <strong>Nigeria</strong>, this<br />

challenge lingered until the nation got debt relief<br />

from the Paris and London Clubs in 2005, nearly<br />

half a decade after acceding <strong>to</strong> UN Millennium<br />

Declaration. The DRGs and the conditionalities<br />

associated with how they should be invested<br />

provided the government with a new opportunity<br />

<strong>to</strong> demonstrate its willingness and ability not only<br />

for reforms but, above all, for showing results. It is<br />

this quest for both reform and development results<br />

that led <strong>to</strong> the establishment <strong>of</strong> a cabinet-level the<br />

Office <strong>of</strong> the Senior Special Assistant <strong>to</strong> the<br />

President on MDGs (OSSAP-MDGs) charged<br />

The eight goals <strong>of</strong> the Millennium<br />

Declaration<br />

Goal 1:Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger<br />

Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education<br />

Goal 3:Promote gender equality and empower<br />

women<br />

Goal 4:Reduce child mortality<br />

Goal 5:Improve maternal health<br />

Goal 6: Combat HIV & AIDS, malaria and other<br />

diseases<br />

Goal 7:Ensure environmental sustainability<br />

Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for<br />

development<br />

Page 1 <strong>of</strong> 150

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