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CHAPTER 9: GOAL 8—TOWARDS A GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP FOR<br />

NIGERIA’S DEVELOPMENT<br />

Background<br />

MDG 8 is designed <strong>to</strong> respond <strong>to</strong> the need for the<br />

more advanced countries <strong>of</strong> the world <strong>to</strong> meet<br />

their commitments <strong>to</strong> assist less developed<br />

countries in the rapidly growing global village <strong>to</strong><br />

meet their development needs. There are a number<br />

<strong>of</strong> shortcomings about this Goal. First, although it<br />

focuses on the range <strong>of</strong> international policy issues<br />

such as trade, aid, and debt, that require<br />

commitments and, more importantly, fulfilments<br />

from the more developed countries <strong>to</strong>wards the<br />

creation <strong>of</strong> a level playing field that would help<br />

the less developed countries out <strong>of</strong> poverty, it is<br />

the only MDG goal that places no concrete<br />

quantitative benchmarks <strong>to</strong> be reached by 2015.<br />

Second, it is obvious that the overall success <strong>of</strong> all<br />

the MDGs depends heavily on the success <strong>of</strong> Goal<br />

8 and that, for the less developed country<br />

signa<strong>to</strong>ries <strong>to</strong> the Millennium Declaration <strong>to</strong> make<br />

significant progress <strong>to</strong>wards achieving Goals 1-7,<br />

the richer countries must change their domestic<br />

policies relating <strong>to</strong> foreign aid, debt relief, trade<br />

GOAL 8: Summary <strong>of</strong> Indica<strong>to</strong>rs & Targets<br />

Target 8.A: Develop further an open, rule-based,<br />

predictable, non-discrimina<strong>to</strong>ry trading and<br />

financial system<br />

Target 8.B: Address the special needs <strong>of</strong> least<br />

developed countries<br />

Target 8.C: Address the special needs <strong>of</strong><br />

landlocked developing countries and Small Island<br />

developing States<br />

Target 8.D: Deal comprehensively with the debt<br />

problems <strong>of</strong> developing countries<br />

Target 8.E: In cooperation with pharmaceutical<br />

companies, provide access <strong>to</strong> affordable<br />

essential drugs in developing countries<br />

Target 8.F: In cooperation with the private sec<strong>to</strong>r,<br />

make available benefits <strong>of</strong> new technologies,<br />

especially information and communications<br />

and technology transfers. Nonetheless, MDG 8 is<br />

the least specific <strong>of</strong> all the MDGs, and as a result,<br />

does not lend itself easily <strong>to</strong> operationalisation and<br />

measurability. What is worse, at present no<br />

mechanisms exist for holding the development<br />

partners <strong>of</strong> developing countries accountable,<br />

neither are there institutional arrangements that<br />

can be used by the citizens <strong>of</strong> the partnering<br />

countries (both developed and developing) and<br />

their representative bodies<strong>to</strong> moni<strong>to</strong>r and oversee<br />

the extent <strong>to</strong> which the commitments <strong>of</strong> both<br />

parties are being met.<br />

These shortcomings notwithstanding, Goal 8 is<br />

critical in the overall scheme <strong>of</strong> the MDGs as it is<br />

the only one that generally and specifically covers<br />

the external economic environment which is<br />

determined or influenced by international agencies<br />

such as the IMF, the World Bank, the WTO, the<br />

UN, and developed country groupings (such as the<br />

Group <strong>of</strong> Eight, the OECD and bilateral aid<br />

Page 46 <strong>of</strong> 150

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