The Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals by Nigeria: An Assessment of the Role of Development Partners

Abstract

With the end of the cold war, world attention shifted to the urgent need to address the issues of poverty, hunger, diseases, illiteracy, homelessness and the deteriorating environment, particularly in the developing countries. Four earlier initiatives, as expressed in the United Nations various development decades from 1961, had failed to achieve desired objectives. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), became a global article of faith to mitigate developmental challenges in developing countries. Giving their antecedents, the question arose whether developed countries would fulfil their promises and redeem pledges made for development assistance. This gave rise to whether Nigeria would learn to take her destiny in her hands. These questions were in tandem with the objectives of this study. The methodology adopted were the primary and secondary sources of data collection. Such data were analysed descriptively, using the set of research questions as the compass. The findings enabled us to draw some conclusions, viz: (i) that development partners were not meeting substantially the pledge to grant official Development Assistance (ODA) to developing countries agreed at 0.7 percent of their Gross National Products (GNP); (ii) that the little support being granted provided critical stimulus and catalyst for government actions; (iii) that the Debt Relief Gain (DRG) accruing from exit from the Paris Club debt had empowered government to financially intervene in the MDGs implementation more productively; (iv) that the government could do much more on her own if it undertook urgent massive investment in infrastructure development to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI);and (v) finally, the study revealed the insincerity of the Development Partners to a truly liberalised, open and rules-based international trading system such that developing countries could compete fairly and profitably. In the light of the findings, the study recommended that Nigeria should vigorously pursue domestic resource mobilisation; encourage inflow of greater foreign direct investment; pursue her exit from the London Club of creditors; and champion advocacy on a universal, rules based, open, non-discriminatory and equitable multilateral trading system.