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agencies). These agencies impact tremendously on
the policy choices adopted by developing
countries.
In the context of the MDGs, the extent to which a
developing country is able to make progress on
many of the goals (especially Goal 1 of
eradicating poverty and hunger, but also Goals 4,
5 and 6 relating to health, and Goal 7 on
environmental sustainability) depends not only on
domestic policy choices, but also on how
‗friendly‘ or ‗hostile‘ the external economic
environment is to that country. Given Nigeria‘s
huge and growing population, successfully
meeting the development needs of its citizens
without a level playing field that would facilitate
transition from poverty to sustainable
development would still prove difficult. The
Goal‘s lack of benchmarks against which to
measure progress makes it difficult to judge how
much more is required of international
development partners with respect to their
individual and collective obligations in providing
assistance and cooperation to Nigeria.
Findings
Target 8a: Developing an Open, Rule-based,
Predictable, Non-Discriminatory Trading and
Financial System
From the mid-1970s onwards, Nigeria‘s main
trade policy instruments shifted markedly away
from tariffs to quantitative import restrictions,
particularly import prohibition and import
licensing. As a reflection of this shift, Nigeria‘s
customs legislation established an import
prohibition list for trade items and an absolute
import prohibition list for non-trade items. While
the trade list covers the full range of agricultural
and manufactured products, the non-trade list
relates to goods and services that are considered
harmful to human, animal and plant health, as well
as public morals. The Bretton Woods institutions
and the WTO believe strongly that the economy
should pursue an open, rule-based, predictable and
non-discriminatory trading and financial system.
They feel strongly that Nigeria should continue to
liberalise its trade policy regime. The Nigerian
government has however persisted in its policy of
import prohibition. Much of the local opposition
to import bans has generally been voiced by
importers and traders. The consumers, who
ultimately bear the burden of the resulting higher
prices and poor quality and limited variety of
locally produced alternatives, have remained
largely silent.
Domestic producers of banned imports and the
workers‘ unions associated have succeeded in
lobbying government to impose and maintain its
import prohibition policy. Given the process of deindustrialisation
that continues to intensify in
Nigeria, it is important that stakeholders engage
more actively the trade policy regime so that we
are better able to discern consequences of policy
options taken or proposed on the economy.
Target 8b: Addressing Some of Nigeria’s Special
Needs
As part of achieving Goal 8 in Nigeria,
development agencies (ESSPIN, DFID, UNICEF
and other international development partners)
have been contributing to the development of the
educational sector. Below is the 2009 update of
major donor activities.
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