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NWANKWO, CHINEMEREM ALVAN
PG/M.SC/08/48369
UNITED NATIONS MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS
AND CHALLENGES OF DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA
Political Science
SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR THE AWARD OF MASTER OF SCIENCE (M.SC) DEGREE IN
POLITICAL SCIENCE
Webmaster
Digitally Signed by Webmaster‘s Name
DN : CN = Webmaster‘s name O= University of Nigeria, Nsukka
OU = Innovation Centre
2010
UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA
2
TITLE PAGE
UNITED NATIONS MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS
AND CHALLENGES OF DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA
BY
NWANKWO, CHINEMEREM ALVAN
PG/M.SC/08/48369
SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF MASTER OF
SCIENCE (M.SC) DEGREE IN POLITICAL SCIENCE
DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE
UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA NSUKKA
SUPERVISOR: DR. A. M. N. OKOLIE
MARCH 2010
3
DEDICATION
This study is dedicated to all those truly committed to the liberation of
Nigerians from the shackles of abject poverty, hunger and disease.
4
APPROVAL PAGE
This is to certify that this research work titled ―United Nations Millennium
Development Goals and Challenges of Development in Nigeria‖ has been
approved by the Department of Political Science, University of Nigeria, Nsukka
---------------- -----------------
Date
Dr. A.M.N. OKOLIE
(SUPERVISOR)
--------------------- -------------------
PROF. E.O. EZEANI Date
(HEAD OF DEPARTMENT)
PROF. P.C. ONOKALA -------------------
(DEAN OF FACULTY) Date
------------------ --------------------
EXTERNAL EXAMINER Date
5
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I am grateful to the Almighty God for His faithfulness in giving me life
and every good thing that goes with it. He is indeed a God of covenant and to
Him be all glory, honour and adoration forever more. Amen.
I will ever remain indebted to my erudite academic father and Project
Supervisor Dr. A.M. N. Okolie. He patiently strengthened my faltering steps
which eventually culminated in the successful and timely completion of this
Thesis. Indeed, Dr. Okolie is a Supervisor par excellence and a first among
equals. He taught me everything I can boast of in research through his careful
and intensive corrections. I count myself very lucky to have had the rare
privilege of having Dr. Okolie supervise me for the second time in a row. God
please bless Dr. Okolie some more.
My gratitude also goes to my one in a million parents Elder and Mrs.
A.O.J Nwankwo who not only believed in me but also inspired me ceaselessly.
Through their bountiful moral and material support, I never lacked anything in
school. They are a dependable shoulder whose reassuring presence
accompanies me every where I go and in whatever I do. God will replenish you
for happily sacrificing so much comfort these past years in order to enable me
reach the highest academic height possible.
My elder brothers and sister also contributed immensely to guarantee
pleasant post-graduate years for me. They are Onyekachi, Chinyere, Chilaka,
Machi, and, Amara. God will surely bless you for complementing the efforts of
our dear parents.
I also fondly acknowledge Chief Elder Dr. G.C. Nwankwo for all his relentless
support as well as Elder Lious Ejerenwa and family; who were also supportive.
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This acknowledgement will not be complete without the mention of my
God-Father, Mr G.A. Mbakanma of the office of the DVC Academics, UNN
and his wonderful family. He has always been there for me. May the Almighty
God continue to bless him. Commendation also goes to Bro Steve Ijearu and his
dear wife who set me off on this road to academic exploits as well as linked me
up with the Mbakanma family.
This acknowledgement will be hollow without mentioning Prof. Marian
Ikejiani-Clark, Prof. E.O. Ezeani, Prof. Obasi Igwe, Dr. Ken Ifesinachi, Prof.
Jonah Onuoha, Dr. Ogban Iyam, Dr. Chukwu Umezurike, Dr Edeh, Mr.
Vincent Onah, Mr. Ben Nwosu and Mr Chris Ezeibe all of the Department of
Political Science, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
These wonderful friends of mine also deserve mention: Okonkwo,
Amalachukwu Obioma who was not just a one in a million friend but a caring
sister; Odoh, Sabastein (Saba Nwannem) for his unquantifiable and
unconditional assistance; my big sister Oluchi Nwosu (Mrs.) and Ameh,
Samson O. who has always been a true colleague, friend and father.
Others are Ezinne Joy Ileche, Nwaka Gabriel, Elechi Felix Aja, Adiole,
Priscal Chinwe, Anyanwu Kelechi, Ngozi Okoyedike, my dear sons; Chikodili,
Ejikere, Sylvestre Ozoemenam, Ubong Bassey and Chukwudi Ngwunangwu as
well as others too numerous to mention. I also acknowledge Olunna Onyenowe
of Excel Computers, Alvan Hall, UNN and his staff who took the trouble to
typeset this work.
I must not forget to pay tribute to my Cat, Kitsy, who kept me company
during those days at home on vacation, even though she chose the wrong time
to walk away.
Nwankwo, Chinemerem Alvan
March 2010
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ABSTRACT
There is no gainsaying the fact that development is essential and
inevitable in every human society. Thus every society strives towards
development invariably giving rise to uneven or unequal development. In other
words, it gives rise to a situation whereby some societies develop at a greater
pace than others. This can be attributed to the divergent developmental
challenges peculiar to that society. For the society to develop, therefore, it must
surmount all these hurdles.
Nigeria and other States tagged the Global South have long been
bedeviled with a plethora of developmental woes thus necessitating the
launching of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the United
Nations in 2000. The MDGs include eight goals the major thrust of which is to
halve poverty by the year 2015. Though modest in its entirety, the MDGs mark
a departure from previously internationally generated development programmes
and policies as it is centred on human welfare with no conditionalities attached.
The Marxist Theory of the State was employed in the broad task of this
study which is to explore the MDGs and challenges of development in Nigeria.
This study equally shows the link between political corruption and policy
implementation.
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1: The incidence of poverty
in the Developing World - - - - - - - 108
Table 2.2: Nigeria‘s Human Development Index 2007 - - - 110
Table 2.3: Selected indicators of human poverty for Nigeria - - 113
Table 2.4: The GDI compared to the
HDI – a measure of gender disparity - - - - - 115
The Table 4.1 Status at a Glance - - - - - 150
Table 4.I: NEEDS Targets and Level of Achievement - 183
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE-
1.1 INTRODUCTION - - - - - - - 1
1.2 Statement of Problem - - - - - - 5
1.3 Objectives of Study - - - - - - - 10
1.4 Significance of Study - - - - - - 10
1.5 Literature Review - - - - - - - 11
1.6 Theoretical Framework - - - - - - 65
1.7 Hypotheses - - - - - - - - 70
1.8 Methodology- - - - - - - - - 70
CHAPTER TWO
MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS AND POVERTY
REDUCTION - - - - - - - - 73
2.1 The Millennium Development Goals - - - - 73
2.2 Poverty Reduction Programmes of the
Millennium Development Goals - - - - - 97
2.3 Incidence of Poverty in Nigeria - - - - - 100
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CHAPTER THREE
POLITICAL CORRUPTION AND
POLICY IMPLEMENTATION - - - - 120
3.1 Implementation of the Millennium Development
Goals in Nigeria: An Assessment - - - - - 123
3.2 Political Leadership and Implementation of the Millennium Development
Goals - - - - - - - 151
3.3 Implications of Policy Failure on Sustainable Development - 157
CHAPTER FOUR
DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES AND
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT - - - - - 164
4.1 The National Development Plans - - - - - 165
4.2 Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) - - - 169
4.3 Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) - - - 173
4.4 National Economic Empowerment
Development Strategy (NEEDS) - - - - - 176
4.5 Poverty Alleviation Programme (PAP) - - - - 185
4.6 National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP) - - 185
4.7 Seven Point Agenda - - - - - - - 193
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4.8 Reasons for Failure of Global Development Initiatives - 212
4.9 Alternative Development Initiative - - - - 216
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
Summary - - - - - - - - - 220
Conclusion - - - - - - - - - 222
Recommendations - - - - - - - - 227
Bibliography - - - - - - - - 229
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
In its quest to serve as an agent of international economic development,
the United Nations from time to time launches one initiative or the other to
facilitate its aims. One of such initiatives is the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs). The MDGs came into being at the United Nations Millennium
Summit held in New York on September 8, 2000. It was at that summit that
United Nations member countries made the following declaration:
We will spare no effort to free our fellow men, women
and children from abject and dehumanizing conditions
of extreme poverty to which more than a billion of them
are currently subjected
(United Nations Millennium Declaration: September
2000).
The aim of the Millennium Development Goals is to accelerate economic
development by improving social and economic conditions in the world‘s
poorest countries. According to OECD Development Cooperation Directorate,
these goals derive from earlier international development targets and were
officially established at the Millennium Summit in 2000, where all world
13
leaders present endorsed the United Nations Millennium Declaration from
which the eight goals were promoted.
The goals require that every State meet a set of obligations and that other
States who have achieved those goals, have an obligation to assist those who
have not (http//:www.undp.org/mdgbasics.html). The key word here is ‗assist‘
which by implication points to the fact that the State(s) being assisted will
shoulder most of the responsibilities required for the attainment of the MDGs
by the year 2015.
Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa with a population of about
150 million. Agriculture is the mainstay of the economy, contributing about
45% of GDP. The agricultural sector employs about two-thirds of the country‘s
total labour force and provides a livelihood for about 90% of the rural
population (IFAD, 2007). Nigeria is the world‘s largest producer of cassava,
yam and cowpea – all staple foods in sub-Saharan Africa.
Despite Nigeria‘s plentiful agricultural resources and oil wealth, poverty
is widespread in the country and has been on the increase since the late 1990s
(Obadan, 2008:6). Over 70% of Nigerians are now classified as poor, and 35%
of them live in absolute poverty. Poverty is especially severe in rural areas,
where up to 80% of the population live below the poverty line and social
services and infrastructure are limited (World Bank, 2001). The country‘s rural
14
dwellers depend on agriculture for food and income. About 90% of Nigeria‘s
food is produced by small-scale farmers who cultivate small plots of land and
depend on rainfall rather than irrigation systems. Surveys show that 44% of
male farmers and 72% of female farmers across the country cultivate less than
one hectare of land per household (IFAD, 2007). The poorest groups eke out a
subsistence living but often go short of food, particularly during the pre-harvest
period. The productivity of the rural population is also hindered by ill health,
particularly HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
Food, water and housing are three important parameters used in
measuring the value of lives and these things have become elusive to the
majority of people in Nigeria (Oritsejafor, 2008:1). However, poverty in
Nigeria has other ugly faces. For instance, the purchasing power of the Naira is
extremely weak and cannot compete well against other foreign currencies. In
some very bad situations, some people do not have money at all.
Rural infrastructure in Nigeria has been neglected for a very long time.
Again, investments in health, education and water supply have been focused
largely on the cities (Tamuno, 2000:150). Hence, the rural population has
extremely limited access to services such as schools and health centres, and
about half of the population lack access to safe drinking water.
15
Neglect of rural infrastructure affects the profitability of agricultural production
and equally encourages rural-urban drift.
As the population swells and pressure is asserted on diminishing
resources, escalating environmental problems further threaten food production.
Land degradation as a result of oil exploration, extensive agriculture,
deforestation and overgrazing is already severe in many parts of the country.
Drought has become common in the north, and erosion provoked by heavy
rains, floods and oil pollution is a major problem in the south and south-east
(Aigbokhan, 2008).
Poverty and violence are often closely interconnected. Religious and
ethnic tensions continue to brew in different parts of Nigeria, erupting into
outbreaks of violence and in turn leading to a situation of escalating poverty and
malnutrition. In the Niger Delta, (where the oil industry is based) decades of oil
exploration have led to environmental degradation. This in turn has given rise to
civil unrest, tensions and disputes over recognition and reward.
There has not been efficient or functional power supply even if you can
conveniently pay for it. There may be no fuel to run the noisy and
environmentally unfriendly generators. Nigerians have no known options to
blackouts. It is a hard reality of life. This deficiency of power supply has aided
unemployment and underemployment as thousands of people have been put out
16
of job since many companies and some small-scale enterprises can no longer
sustain their operations in the absence of it. A consequence of lopsided, non-
broad based economic growth, and lack of sound economic management, is the
problem of unemployment. Unemployment has become an endemic and almost
permanent feature of the Nigerian economy. It is estimated that an annual
average of about 2.8million graduates enter the labour market, with only about
10% of them securing employment (Sudharshan and Saji, 2001).
Given the above, it is germane to study these divergent development
challenges in Nigeria which the Millennium Development Goals is set to
achieve by the year 2015.
STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
It is a generally accepted fact that development means different things to
different people. While some see it as revolving around the number of
observable social infrastructures, others are persuaded to perceive it as being
centred on the individual in the society (Nnoli, 1981:35). Whichever way
anyone chooses to look at the concept of development from, the fact remains
that it is essential and inevitable in human society and the present economic
world order depicts a situation whereby some societies are far ahead of others in
the development continuum.
17
Thus the problem of development have occupied the attention of
scholars, activists, politicians, development workers, local and international
organizations for many years with an increased tempo in the last decade. Even
though there are different perspectives to development, there is a general
consensus that development will lead to positive change manifested in
increased capacity of people to have control over material assets, intellectual
resources and ideology; as well as obtain physical necessities of life (food,
clothing & shelter), employment, equality, participation in government,
political and economic independence, adequate education, gender equality,
sustainable development and peace among others (Nnoli, 1981:36). This is why
some people have presented the argument that the purpose of development is to
improve people's lives by expanding their choices, freedom and dignity.
However, the reality of the world is that many countries are
underdeveloped with precarious development indices. More than 1.2 billion
people or about 20 percent of world population thrive on less that US $1 per
day. Wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few people. The United Nations
Development Programme in its 1998 Report documented that the three richest
people in the world have assets that exceed the combined Gross Domestic
Product (GDP) of the forty eight (48) least developed countries (UNDP, 1998).
Similarly, the one thousand richest people in the world have personal wealth
18
greater than five hundred million people in the least developed countries (Shetty
Salil; 2005:09).
Nigeria, which was one of the fifty richest countries in the early 1970s, has
retrogressed to become one of the twenty-five poorest countries at the
commencement of the twenty first century
(http://www.globalaging.org/ruralaging/world/2008/nigeria.htm). It is ironic
that Nigeria is the sixth largest exporter of oil and at the same time host the
third largest number of poor people after China and India. Statistics show that
the incidence of poverty using the rate of US $1 per day increased from 28.1
percent in 1980 to 46.3 percent in 1985 and declined to 42.7 percent in 1992 but
increased again to 65.6 percent in 1996 (Abdelkrim and Awoyemi, 2006:7).
The incidence increased to 69.2 percent in 1997. The 2004 report by the
National Planning Commission indicates that poverty has decreased to 54.4
percent (National Population Commission, 2004).
Nigeria fares very poorly in all development indices. The average annual
percentage growth of GDP in Nigeria from 1990 -2000 was 2.4. This is very
poor when compared to Ghana (4.3) and Egypt (4.6) (Aigbokhan, 2008).
Poverty in Nigeria is in the midst of plenty. Although there has been steady
economic growth in the last few years, there are doubts whether the benefits are
evenly distributed especially to the poor and marginalized. Nigeria is among the
19
twenty countries in the world with the widest gap between the rich and the poor
(Obadan: 2008).
Nigeria happens to be one of several other countries far behind in the race
for development. Given the abundant natural resources with which Nigeria is
blessed, it defies imagination to think that Nigeria is leading the Group of 77
(G77) poorest countries of the world. Nigeria proudly wields a testimonial full
of huge foreign debt, weak economic base, political instability, poverty and
hunger, killer diseases, unemployment, dilapidated infrastructure, high infant
mortality rate, corruption amongst others (Soludo, 2003:134). Nigeria certainly
had her chances to fortify her economic base during the oil boom era but failed
to take them. Ever since then, Nigeria has not been able to get it right instead
the problems continue to deepen.
But then, record has it that Nigerian governments have always been
inclined to accept and implement economic growth measures recommended by
the Bretton Wood institutions – the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and
World Bank. All such measures end up derailing from their earlier advertised
purposes. One example of such is the World Bank‘s Agricultural Development
Project (Tamuno, 2000:149). The ADP was meant to serve the needs of small-
scale farmers but ended up benefiting large-scale progressive farmers rather
than the majority of the peasantry (Tamuno; 2000:149).
20
Perhaps, the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
could not have come at a better time than now when Nigeria seems to have
gotten to the end of the tunnel. One interesting fact about the United Nations
Millennium Development Goals is that its emphasis is on human welfare
development in contrast to the modernization interpretation of development as
economic growth (Nelson, 2009:1). Yet the issue to be interrogated here is the
chances of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals to achieve its
target goals in Nigeria by the year 2015.
As much as the issues of Nigerian development (or underdevelopment)
have continued to attract scholarly attention, not much literature exists on the
issue of MDGs and its quest to develop Nigeria since its launch and
endorsement in 2000 & 2001. On the issue of development, scholars like Ake
(2001), Tamuno (2000), Ofoeze (2000), Igwe (2000), Rodney (1982), Cardoso
(1979), Frank (1969), Nnoli (1981), Offiong (2001), Okolie (2005), Obi (2005),
Onuoha (2008) amongst several others have written quite extensively.
However, none of these scholars have related the UN MDGs to the Nigerian
development agenda with emphasis on the factors that could inhibit the success
of the MDGs in Nigeria using the following research questions:
(1) Has the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals reduced
the incidence of poverty in Nigeria?
21
(2) Is there any relationship between political corruption and the failure of
the government to implement the Millennium Development goals in
Nigeria?
(3) Is the development of a global partnership for development likely to
strengthen Nigeria‘s weak economic and political structure?
OBJECTIVES OF STUDY
This study has the general objective of evaluating the various
development challenges in Nigeria which the Millennium Development Goals
are set to address. Specifically, the study attempts to:
(1) Investigate whether the implementation of the Millennium Development
Goals has reduced the incidence of poverty in Nigeria;
(2) Examine the relationship between political corruption and the failure by
the government to implement the Millennium Development Goals in
Nigeria; and,
(3) Evaluate whether the development of a global partnership for
development is likely to strengthen Nigeria‘s weak economic and
political structure.
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SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY
Contemporary international community is preoccupied with talks of the
huge development gap between the developed and developing nations. Sequel
to this, the United Nations introduced a number of specific goals to be achieved
by the year 2015. Once attained, these goals will go a long way towards
addressing some of the problems of the developing world.
Even though various scholars have addressed the problem of
development especially in the developing world, they have been unable to carry
out an in-depth inquiry into the challenges of development in Nigeria within the
context of the Millennium Development Goals.
This study, therefore, will theoretically add to the existing knowledge as
well as provoke inquiries among scholars and students in this field of study.
Practically, the findings of this research will be of immense value in the
formulation of development policies in Nigeria. In other words, it will serve as
a viable policy formulation and implementation guide.
LITERATURE REVIEW
This literature review will be basically conducted within the precinct of the
research questions. The central focus of the review, therefore, will be on the
following sub-themes:
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(a) Millennium Development Goals and Poverty;
(b) Political Corruption and Policy Implementation; and,
(c) Preview of Development Initiatives and Economic Development in
Nigeria.
Millennium Development Goals and Poverty
The World Bank (1990:26) defines poverty as "the inability to attain
minimal standard of living." Poverty is a multifaceted concept, which manifests
itself in different forms depending on the nature and extent of human
deprivation. Poverty can be absolute or relative. In absolute terms, poverty
suggests insufficient or the total lack of basic necessities like food, housing and
medical cares. It embraces the inadequacy of education and environmental
services, consumer goods, recreational opportunities, neighbourhood amenities
and transport facilities. In relative terms, people are said to be poor when their
incomes fall radically below the community average (World Bank 2000). This
implies that such people cannot have what the larger society regard as the
minimum necessity for a decent living. Thus the World Bank defines the poor
as follows:
24
(a) Individuals and households lacking access to basic services, political
contacts and other forms of support;
(b) Households whose nutritional needs are not met adequately;
(c) Ethnic minorities who are marginalized, deprived and persecuted
economically, socially, morally, and politically; and,
(d) Individuals and households below the poverty line whose incomes are
insufficient to provide for their basic needs (World Bank 2001).
Here poverty is measured as incomes that fall below the amount of money
needed for a minimally adequate supply of basic material resources like food,
clothing and shelter. Poverty, ignorance and disease mutually reinforce each
other.
It therefore follows that at the root of the challenges facing the
Millennium Development Goals is widespread poverty. The 2003 National
Millennium Development Goal Report indicates that the poverty situation in
Nigeria has been on the increase in both rural and urban areas over the period
1980 to 1996. Rural poverty increased from 22% to 69.8%, while urban poverty
increased from 17.6% to 55.2% over the period. The poverty situation in
Nigeria is precarious not only in income poverty but also in terms of food
poverty. On income poverty, the report noted a worsening income inequality
while on food poverty it stated that the proportion of underweight children
25
stood at 30.7% in 1999. The figure for rural food poverty stood at 34.1% while
that of the urban food poverty was 21.7% in 1999.
Nelson (2009) contends that the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) propose a monumental global effort to reduce the incidence of severe
poverty and many of its most manifestations over a twenty five year period.
They are a significant political effort in themselves, and they are also revealing
of important patterns in the politics of poverty and poverty reduction in
international affairs. Endorsed by 189 governments at the Millennium Summit
and supported by the World Bank, United Nations and all of the major donor
governments, the MDGs mobilize the classic development sector tools: donor
pledges, goals and benchmarks, multi-volume reports, and sophisticated
monitoring by United Nations agencies and other major donors.
On the task of the MDGs, he stated that the MDGs undertake a
monumental task of improving the physical well-being of more than a billion of
the world‘s poorest people, and rely heavily on goals, goodwill and the
enlightened self-interest of donor countries to mobilize the resources and social
energies needed. To him, while the MDGs and related anti-poverty campaigns
have been highly successful in mobilizing interest among development NGOs
operating in the international arena, the ability of domestic constituencies to
hold government accountable to anti-poverty commitments is key to rapid and
26
sustained reductions in poverty, and here there is very little evidence that the
MDGs have gained a foothold. A recent study shows that while human rights
have been an important mobilizing resource and source of leverage for social
movements and local citizen organizations in demanding government action to
protect, respect and fulfill rights related to nutrition, health, education and
housing, the MDGs have not proven to be a motivating force or source of
political leverage for such citizen action (Nelson 2007).
Nelson argues that the MDGs attempt to frame poverty reduction in an
apolitical, technical manner, side-stepping politically difficult issues and
underestimating the need to mobilize domestic constituencies politically in
order to accomplish the goals. Hence while donor agencies and the
governments they represent propose to accomplish objectives that are
immensely important in human terms, and aid efforts motivated by the MDGs
have made important contributions to improving the physical quality of life for
some extremely poor people, their limits and their larger political significance,
reflect historic patterns over a sixty year period, and demonstrate the limits of
technical poverty-reduction strategies that fail to give serious attention to both
domestic politics and the politics of international rule making in trade and
investment, he concludes.
27
In his own contribution, Otive Igbuzor in a paper presented at the
Symposium on Millennium Development Goals And Nigeria: Issues,
Challenges And Prospects organized by the Institute Of Chartered Accountants
of Nigeria (ICAN), Abuja District On 27th
July, 2006 At Sheraton Hotel And
Towers Abuja, stated that in order to address the problem of poverty and
promote sustainable development, the United Nations Millennium Declaration
was adopted in September 2000 at the largest ever gathering of Heads of States
committing countries both rich and poor to do all they can to eradicate poverty,
promote human dignity and equality and achieve peace, democracy and
environmental stability. The goals include those dedicated to eradicating
poverty, achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality and
empowering women, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health,
combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensuring environmental
sustainability and developing a global partnership for development.
Continuing, he went on to concur with the admission by some scholars
that it is important to point out that there are limitations of utilizing the MDGs
as a framework for delivering or measuring development (Abani, C., Igbuzor,
O. and Moru, J; 2005). First, they risk simplifying what development is about,
by restricting the goals to what is measurable. Many aspects of development
cannot be easily measured. Secondly, some of the goals are very modest e.g. the
28
goal to half the proportion of people living on less than $1 a day by 2015 and
the target to achieve a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100
million slum dwellers by 2020. Finally, some of the targets do not address the
problems holistically. For instance, the MDG on education talks only of a full
course of primary schooling with no reference to secondary and tertiary
education.
Igbuzor went on to posit that despite the limitations mentioned above, it
is necessary to engage the MDGs for many reasons;
- First, the MDGs draw together in a single agenda issues that require
priority to address the development question.
- Secondly, the MDGs have received tremendous endorsement and
backing by world‘s governments.
- Thirdly, the MDGs have the advantage of being more or less measurable,
few in number, concentrated on human development and focused almost
on a single date - 2015. Another advantage of the MDGs is that it adds
urgency and transparency to international development. Finally, explicit
resource commitments have been made to achieve the MDGs.
Concerning the MDGs in Nigeria, he asserted that the situation of MDG
in Nigeria can be seen from two main sources: the Nigeria MDG Report 2004
29
and the Nigeria MDG Report 2005 as well as from MDG Office especially the
Debt Relief Gains as provided in the 2006 annual budget.
In the same vein, Onuoha (2008:205-210) agreed that the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) grew out of the various agreements and
resolutions of world organizations in the past decade, and it is aimed at
addressing the ever-growing poverty among the populace, especially, in
developing countries. The millennium declaration thus created a new focus in
addressing the issue of poverty that undermines the international communities‘
commitment to act with a renewed vigour, or sense of urgency, in achieving
specific benchmark within a given time span.
He went on to assert that Nigeria and other developing countries,
especially sub-Saharan African countries, face the greatest challenge of meeting
the MDGs. This, according to him, is because poverty has remained pervasive;
growth is below the threshold of 7% per annum required for the MDGs. Also,
the private sector is weak, external debt remains high in almost all countries,
while social indicators generally point to low levels of human development. All
the above scholars were however silent on the issue of whether the
implementation of the MDGs has reduced the incidence of poverty in Nigeria or
not.
30
Corroborating the above, Okolie (2007:288) noted that African political
leaderships are once again in search of permanent solutions to problems of
poverty, dependency and underemployment. He contends that it is axiomatic to
state that most Africans reel under the agonizing grip of poverty orchestrated by
factors of colonialism, political corruption and irresponsible and unresponsive
governance. Okolie thus adopted Agyeman‘s assertion underscoring the
pervasiveness of poverty among Africans, viz:
Poverty appears to be the only word one is given to know and understood about
Africa. Africa today, seems to be defined by it, maligned and pitied by it…
The gap here is that none of the above scholars premised their study within the
context of whether the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals
in Nigeria has reduced the incidence of poverty.
POLITICAL CORRUPTION AND POLICY IMPLEMENTATION
Makinde (2005) provided a comprehensive review on why plan
implementation in Nigeria always goes wrong. He attempted to identify and
proffer possible solutions to the various problems facing developing nations as
regards implementation of policies. He contended that it has been observed that
policy implementation is one of the major problems confronting developing
nations. According to Ademolekun (1983), policy implementation refers to the
31
activities that are carried out in the light of established policies. It refers to the
process of converting financial, material, technical and human inputs into
outputs – goods and services (Egonmwan, 1991). Edwards (1980) defines
policy implementation as a stage of policy making between the establishment of
a policy (such as the passage of a legislative act, the issuing of an executive
order, or the promulgation of a regulatory rule) and the consequences of the
policy for the people whom it affects. It also involves a wide variety of actions
such as issuing and enforcing directives, disbursing funds, making loans,
assigning and hiring personnel, etc. Implementation problem occurs when the
desired result on the target beneficiaries is not achieved. Such problem is not
restricted to only the developing nations. Wherever and whenever the basic
critical factors that are very crucial to implementing public policy are missing,
whether in developing or developed nations, there is bound to be
implementation problem. These critical factors are communication, resources,
dispositions or attitudes, and bureaucratic structure (Edwards, 1980). The four
factors operate simultaneously and they interact with each other to aid or hinder
policy implementation. By implication, therefore, the implementation of every
policy is a dynamic process, which involves the interaction of many variables as
would be discussed below. Communication is an essential ingredient for
effective implementation of public policy.
32
Through communication, orders to implement policies are expected to be
transmitted to the appropriate personnel in a clear manner while such orders
must be accurate and consistent. Inadequate information can lead to a
misunderstanding on the part of the implementors who may be confused as to
what exactly are required of them. In effect, implementation instructions that
are not transmitted, that are distorted in transmission, that are vague, or that are
inconsistent may cause serious obstacles to policy implementation. Conversely,
directives that are too precise may hinder implementation by stifling creativity
and adaptability (Edward, 1980). Such precise directives do not leave room for
implementors to exercise discretion and flexibility where and when the need
arises. Where implementation orders are clear, consistent and accurately
transmitted, the absence of adequate resources will result in implementation
problems. Resources include both the human and material such as adequate
number of staff who are well equipped to carry out the implementation, relevant
and adequate information on implementation process, the authority to ensure
that policies are carried out as they are intended, and facilities such as land,
equipment, buildings, etc. as may be deemed necessary for the successful
implementation of the policy.
Without sufficient resources it means that laws will not be enforced,
services will not be provided and reasonable regulations will not be developed.
33
In addition to communication and resources, disposition or attitude is another
key factor that affects policy implementation. Most implementers can exercise
considerable discretion in the implementation of policies because of either their
independence from their nominal superiors who formulate the policies or as a
result of the complexity of the policy itself. The way the implementers exercise
their discretion depends, to a large extent, on their disposition toward the
policy. Therefore, the level of success will depend on how the implementers see
the policies as affecting their organizational and personal interests.
It is to be noted that the fact that communication, resources, and positive
disposition are put in place does not guarantee implementation success. If there
is no efficient bureaucratic structure, the problem of implementation can still
arise especially when dealing with complex policies. As observed by Edward
(1980) where there is organizational fragmentation it may hinder the
coordination that is necessary to successfully implement a complex policy
especially one that requires the cooperation of many people. It may also result
in wastage of scarce resources, inhibit change, create confusion, lead to policies
working at cross-purposes and, at the end, result in important functions being
overlooked. However, there are, in addition to the above, some problems that
seem peculiar to developing nations in the area of policy implementation. These
are usually problems that lead to implementation gap and which can be traced
34
not only to the policy itself but also to the policy maker and the policy
environment.
Relating policy implementation problems to the Nigerian experience,
Makinde went on to assert that stripped of all technicalities, implementation
problem in most developing nations is the problem of a widening gap between
intentions and results. Honadle (1979:6) tried to identify the problem associated
with policy implementation as that of social carpenters and masons who fail to
build to specifications and thus distort the beautiful blue print. Here he was
equating policy with a building plan. According to him:
Implementation is the nemesis of designers, it conjures
up images of plans gone awry and of social carpenters
and masons who fail to build to specifications and
thereby distort the beautiful blue prints for progress
which were handed to them. It provokes memories of
―good‖ ideas that did not work and places the blame on
the second (and second-class) member of the policy and
administration team…
The above quotation shows the importance that is attached to policy
implementation and those that are responsible for implementing these policies.
It also shows that no matter how beautiful the blueprint of a programme is, a
defective implementation of it will make nonsense of the whole programme.
35
Unfortunately, the situation as described by Honadle above is what goes
on in most developing countries, Nigeria inclusive. As stated by Egonmwan
(1971), implementation in these countries often turns out to be the graveyard of
policy where the intentions of the designer of policies are often undermined by
a constellation of powerful forces of politics and administration in cooperation
with people. Little attention is paid to the subject of policy implementation by
policy decision makers while it is often taken for granted that once a policy is
adopted by government it must be implemented and the desired goals achieved.
The above lapse has often resulted in poor policy implementation, which, in
effect, gives rise to implementation gap. There is policy failure when there is a
sizeable gap between a policy decision and its implementation. Such a gap is
characterized, for example, by the rich getting richer and the poor getting
poorer in spite of stated policy goal to the contrary. Implementation gap thus
manifests in the ―widening of the distance between stated policy goals and the
realization of such planned goals‖ (Egoamwan, 1991: 213).
On the causes of the implementation gap existing in Nigeria, Makinde
contends that there could be implementation gap as a result of many factors,
which could arise from the policy itself, the policy maker, or the environment in
which the policy has been made. Implementation gap can arise from the policy
itself when such a policy emanates from government rather than from the target
36
groups. By this, it means that planning is top-down. And, by implication, the
target beneficiaries are not allowed to contribute to the formulation of the
policies that affect their lives. This is usually what happens in most developing
nations as it happened in the case of the Better Life Programme (BLP) and the
Family Support Programme (FSP) in Nigeria. Mrs. Mariam Babangida put the
Better Life Programme in place in 1987 when her husband General Ibrahim
Babangida was the Military President of Nigeria. The programme was targeted
at rural women in Nigeria with the aim of creating awareness in women through
mobilization so that they can realize, utilize and develop their potentials for a
more fulfilling life and national development. The programme, however,
transformed to The Family Support Programme in 1994 after General Sani
Abacha became the Head of State in November 1993. The Family Support
Programme under Mrs. Mariam Abacha focused on the family as a whole. The
main objective of the programme was to improve and sustain family cohesion
through the promotion of social and economic well being of the Nigerian family
for its maximum contribution to national development. While one may wonder
at the need for the change of name when both programmes seem to share
similar focus, the reason may not be far fetched. It may be traced to the ego of
our leaders and the fact that the government of Abacha toppled that of
Shonekan. The Interim Government of Sonekan was put in place by General
37
Babangida in 1993 and that administration was carrying out the programme of
Mrs. Babangida – i.e. The Better Life Programme. Therefore, for General
Abacha‘s wife to make a name for herself, it was necessary to initiate new
programmes or, at least, change a few areas in the existing one and then give it
a new name rather than continue with the programme initiated by the wife of
the Head of the previous government. This may explain one of the reasons why
it is possible to find abandoned projects all over Nigeria.
Apart from the ego problem which sometimes culminates in lack of
continuity as explained above, it should be noted that for policies to be
successful they should involve target groups and they should allow for
participatory system, whereby policy makers plan with the people rather than
for the people in meeting their felt needs. Such participation will give the target
groups a sense of belonging as well as get them committed to the successful
implementation of the policy. Unfortunately, however, studies carried out on
the two programmes mentioned earlier (BLP & FSP) by Ogolo (1997) and
Faleye (1999) revealed that the two programmes failed to take this important
aspect of policy implementation into consideration. Most of the time, the target
beneficiaries were not involved at the planning stage. And this eventually
resulted in implementation gap.
38
Another cause of implementation gap is the failure of the policy makers
to take into consideration the social, political, economic and administrative
variables when analyzing for policy formulation. A policy maker in a Muslim
dominated community who formulates a policy that offends against the tenets
of Islam is likely to face implementation problems. Such a person has not
considered the socio-cultural variable. The same is true of political and
economic variables. A policy that runs contrary to the manifesto of the
government in power may suffer at the implementation stage because it may
lack support, both financial and administrative. Also, failure to take the
economic variable into consideration may also spell doom to policy
implementation.
What is the essence of formulating laudable policies without economic
support? Such policies will suffer implementation gap. For example, where
there is the need to employ staff for the purpose of implementation, or acquire
equipment for similar action, adequate funding becomes very crucial. Lack of
funds will only result in the inability of the policy implementers to function, as
they should. Even where there is an ongoing project, if money fails to come up,
such a project may become abandoned. In essence, the policy maker must be
able to consider the environment – social, economic, political and cultural - in
which he is formulating his policies if he is to avoid implementation gap.
39
Other serious problems are that of bribery and corruption which have
contributed greatly to the failure of policy implementation in developing
countries. For example, implementation problem may arise in a situation where
huge amounts are earmarked for a project but the officers in charge of
implementation steal such amounts or a substantial part of the amounts. A good
example is the allegation contained in The Guardian of August 3, 1993
whereby the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) was accused of
inflating the cost of tankers bought for the corporation by N2.5 million. To
quote Orewa (1997:155):
Much as the idea of purchasing NNPC Owned
tankers is desirable, the NNPC has not denied the
allegation by Chief Martin Ikediashi in The
Guardian of August 3, 1993 that the corporation is
buying the tankers at N6.5 million as against the
―factory price at Leventis, ANAMCO, and Incar
Motors at just N4 or N4.5 million.
As much as one would like to say that the policy of the corporation to
have its own tankers was a good one, the corrupt practices of the implementers
actually negated the intention of the corporation. Rather than save money for
the corporation, the corrupt practices only succeeded in impoverishing the
corporation contrary to the expected result of the policy. In his inaugural
address in 1999, President Obasanjo identified corruption as the bane of
development in Nigeria.
40
In addition to the above, there is what Egonmwan (1991) called ―plan
indiscipline‖. This occurs when originally planned projects are abandoned
without convincing reasons thus resulting in distortion of original plan.
Abandonment of projects may also arise from ego tripping, change of regimes
which results in lack of continuity as explained earlier. Perhaps, the most
important point to emphasize in respect of policy implementation is the extent
to which success or failure in implementation depends on the activities already
carried out at the policy formulation stage.
For instance, a resounding failure might occur if, because of the
sophisticated techniques adopted in the analysis of alternatives that culminated
in a policy choice, the implementation is taken for granted. Other variables as
discussed above have to be taken into consideration.
Ademolekun (1984) suggests that the best way out is to approach the
implementation process with maximum flexibility taking into consideration the
fact that many assumptions and probabilities characterize policy formulation
techniques. As a matter of fact, he clearly stated that the formulation and
implementation of policies are not completely distinct phases of activities and
that there is no definite end to policy implementation. He arrived at this
conclusion as a result of new demands that usually emerge after new tensions
might have been generated as a result of implementation of new policies.
41
Sometimes, new demands emerge that have to be transmitted to the policy
making machinery; they are then processed and transformed into one or more
policies that in turn have to be implemented. And, this may become cyclical.
As a matter of fact, the problem facing developing countries, most of the
time, is not that of policy formulation but of implementation. This can be
clearly seen in the case of Nigerian Policy on Education (NPE), which seems to
have failed to be effective. Adesina (1977) confirmed the non-effectiveness of
this policy when he admitted that the policy on education has failed to be
effective as a result of defective planning process, political constraints, financial
constraints and statistical deficiencies.
Another example of implementation gap can be found in the case of the
defunct Better Life Programme (BLP) and the Family Support Programme
(FSP) whereby their objectives were very laudable but the programmes failed to
achieve most of the objectives due to faulty implementation process.
In a study carried out by Makinde (2003) on the implementation of the
Better Life and the Family Support Programmes in Osun State of Nigeria, it
was discovered that the objectives of the two programmes which were primarily
to empower women economically and politically were not achieved on a large
scale due to implementation problems. Some of these problems include lack of
continuity that arose as a result of change in government. Mrs. Mariam
42
Babangida initiated the Better Life Programme. It was changed to Family
Support Programme (FSP) when Mrs. Mariam Abacha came on board. The
programme was suspended and changed to Women‘s Right Advancement and
Protection Alternative (WRAPA) when Mrs. Abdulsalami Abubakar became
the First Lady. With the exit of Mrs. Abubakar, WRAPA metamorphosed to
Child Care Trust (CCT), which became the focus of Mrs. Stella Obasanjo.
From the above, one can see a clear evidence of discontinuity of
programme. Each First Lady, rather than continue with the predecessor‘s
programme, prefers to embark on a new one. While one cannot really say why
this happens, it is quite possible to guess that perhaps each First Lady tries to
make a name for herself by doing something different from what her
predecessor did. This is the ego dimension as discussed earlier in this paper
whereby each person wants to be seen as being unique. In addition to the above,
other reasons given for the failure of the BLP and FSP to greatly empower rural
women in Osun State as desired are given as lack of funds, inadequate
manpower, inadequate monitoring of projects as well as inadequate
maintenance of equipment.
With regard to over-ambition in policy formulation, in developing
countries like Nigeria, many policies tend to be over-ambitious, sweeping and
fundamental in nature. This is as a result of some of those countries being
43
influenced by special conditions that affect how programmes and policy goals
are decided. Grindle (1990: 22-23) as cited in Egonmwan (1984) highlighted
that the enormity of human and physical needs in poor countries, the desire to
establish legitimacy, the desire to improve conditions, and the feelings that the
deprivations of the colonial past must be obliterated create a situation in which
political leaders are likely to formulate policies that will lead to radical and
rapid improvement in the conditions of life.
A good example was Nkrumah‘s ambitious rapid development
programmes for Ghana when he was the Prime Minister of Ghana after her
independence. Nkrumah was motivated to embark on very ambitious
programmes in the early 1960s. The construction of Akosombo Dam for rapid
industrialization of Ghana was a good example. Although the Dam was
successfully constructed, part of the programmes that were to follow flopped
because Ghana ran out of money due to a drop in the price of cocoa which was
the basis of the country‘s budget.
Grindle went further to state that over-ambitious policies are frequently
beclouded in ideological context that may hide the actual problems involved in
executing them. If, at the planning stage, consideration had been given to the
fact that the source of income for Ghana depended on international market
forces which may swindle up and down, perhaps the project would have been
44
pruned down to a size that would be manageable whichever way the market
forces go. From the example of Ghana given above, we should note that the
scope and comprehensiveness of some policies may experience implementation
bottlenecks arising from any, or a combination, of the following:
- Lack of appropriate technology for implementation;
- Inadequate human and material needs;
- over-stretching of available resources for maximum visibility and impact
at the end of which nothing concrete may be achieved.
Makinde concluded by positing that it is apparent that policies are rolled
out regularly in developing nations but most of the time, without achieving the
desired results. For any government to be judged to be administratively
competent there must be evidence of bridging the gap between the intention of a
policy and the actual achievement of the policy. This is where it becomes
necessary for any policy maker, be it government or governmental organization,
to take the issue of policy implementation seriously even at the formulation
stage.
Eneh (2009) provided a comprehensive study on how and why political
corruption has been hampering policy implementation in Nigeria. He began by
stating unequivocally that:
45
Nigeria‘s underdevelopment is more of poor
implementation than lack of development visions and
programmes. Policy summersault and development
projects abandonment are common. Political leaders
need to be sensitized on putting society interest first
and committing to development visions and
programmes.
To him, there is poor development because Nigeria‘s
political leadership has failed to work for social and economic transformation of
the society. There is too high level of hypocrisy, insincerity and lack of integrity
in the practice of our politics. Poverty continues to hold the society hostage. In
the words of the ascetic and sage Mahatma Gandhi, he finally warned Nigerians
of eight deadly monsters:
- Wealth without work
- Pleasure without conscience
- Knowledge without character
- Commerce without morality
- Science without humanity
- Worship without sacrifice
- Politics without principle
- Right without responsibility.
Continuing, Eneh noted that amid corruption in Nigeria, vision, policy,
plan, politics, principle, conscience, wealth, commerce, pleasure, sports,
46
knowledge, science, worship and morality are all corrupt. In its eight years of
existence, the Independent Corrupt Practices (and other related offences)
Commission, ICPC, has remained a toothless bulldog, having very little to show
as evidence of its success in the war against corruption. It almost watches like a
spectator in the war against corruption. On the other hand, the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, another anti-graft agency, faces
enormous challenges from indicted former public office holders, who use their
loots to buy their ways to freedom.
The circumstances are still so devastating for the vast majority of
Nigerians in spite of the nation‘s enormous endowments, because we have no
serious intention to turn things around or lack the capacity to face the
challenges or are still searching for the right strategies to tackle the core issues
of true development.
Thus failed development visions, abandoned development programmes
and policy summersault are common problems that militate against
development in Nigeria. They are products of corruption and political
leadership ineptitude that characterize the country. These factors combine to
mastermind underdevelopment and a failed Nigerian state, in spite of abundant
natural and human resources in the country. Corruption in Nigeria rubbishes
47
good development dreams, visions, policies and plans, and keeps development
crawling.
Therefore, for any meaningful development to take place and root in
Nigeria, corruption must first be fired by the political leadership who initiates,
breeds and perpetuates it. This has serious implications for African business and
development because Nigeria accounts for one-fifth of the population of the
African continent, and is more endowed with human and natural resources than
most African countries. Therefore, many other African countries look up to
Nigeria for business and development.
Instead of a free and democratic society, we have a militarized Nigerian
society, with a great havoc done to the psyche of the citizenry. For a just and an
egalitarian society, we have injustice and insecurity conundrum characterized
by child abuse, ritual murder and extra-judicial killing, cultism, hostage-taking,
ethnic and religious riots. Far from being united, strong and self-reliant, the
Nigerian nation is divided along tribal and religious lines. Patriotism is a
stranger to an average Nigerian‘s lexicon, the ‗federal character‘ and ‗Nigerian
factor‘ having replaced merit and rights. Rather than offer bright opportunities
for all citizens, Nigeria is a land of failed people, with corruption, kleptocracy,
and unemployment characterizing the country‘s political leadership. Wrong
reactions or responses to this ugly situation include brain-drain.
48
Under the cover of addressing poverty and the food needs of the nation,
the same administration also came up in 1972 with many programmes,
including the ―Import Substitution Programme‖, the ―National Accelerated
Food Production Programme‖ and the ―Nigerian Agricultural and Co-operative
Bank.‖ But, today, the country is worse off with import dependency and food
insecurity (Eneh, 2008).
Similarly, the Obasanjo-led federal government (1976-1979) introduced
the ―Operation Feed the Nation‖. The Shagari government (1979-1983) came
up with the ―Green Revolution‖. The Buhari/Idiagbon administration (1983-
1985) introduced the ―War Against Indiscipline‖, to which the Abacha
government added ―corruption‖, to get ―War Against Indiscipline and
Corruption‖. The Abacha-led government also baptized the Babangida‘s ―Better
Life Programme‖ to obtain the ―Family Economic Advancement Programme‖,
and introduced the ―Vision 2010‖. The Babangida-led government (1985-
1993), known for ‗political Maradonaism‘ and self-styled ‗evil genius‘, had the
longest list of development visions and programmes, including the ―National
Directorate of Employment‖, the ―Directorate for Foods, Roads and Rural
Infrastructure‖, the ―Better Life Programme‖, ―Peoples Bank‖, ―Community
Bank‖, and the ―National Economic Reconstruction Fund‖.
49
The Obasanjo-led Third Republic (1999-2007) came up with the
―National Poverty Eradication Programme‖, ―National Economic
Empowerment and Development Strategy‖ (NEEDS), the sectoral reform
agenda and mentioned the ―Vision 2020‖.
According to Eneh, development visions, policies and programmes are
often paraded alongside the international goals, treaties, conventions, protocols,
etc., which the political leaders merely parrot. Usually, the National Planning
Commission (NPC) goes into elaborate packaging of the visions, programmes
or policies. For example, the NEEDS was so well packaged to the point of
having blueprints for the State level programme (State Economic
Empowerment and Development Strategies, SEEDS); the local government
level programme (Local Economic Empowerment and Development Strategies,
LEEDS); and the community level programme (Community Economic
Empowerment and Development Strategy, CEEDS). The present Yar‘Adua-led
federal government has a ―7-Point Agenda‖ of power and energy, agriculture
and food security, wealth creation and employment generation, qualitative and
functional education, the Niger Delta, mass transportation and land reforms
(Newswatch, 2008). Within sixteen months, it was been white-washed or
modified to: electoral reform, rule of law, the Niger Delta, power and energy
sector, rebuilding human capital, accelerating economic reforms, and security.
50
Yet, neither the first nor the second version can be distinguished from the
NEEDS, the Phase I (2004-2007) of which have been adjudged a failure. But,
they are being given flesh and articulated as fresh vision documents. Most
policies in Nigeria are wonderful, but ultimate summersault, abandonment or
failure awaits them. Nigeria is replete with brilliant, impeccable and well
written policies. The problem is implementation. The logical and expensively
produced policies often end there as policies. Weak efforts at implementation
often rubbish them through corruption. Thus, NEEDS have failed to sort out our
needs (Ebigbo, 2008).
Ogbe (2008) submits that the past programmes have not succeeded in
meeting the yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians, adding that crime,
corruption, unemployment, and electoral malpractices are still very much with
us. Onah (2006) opines that all development visions and programmes fail in
Nigeria because of poor handling by corrupt and poor/hungry
politicians/bureaucrats, leading to growing poverty symptoms, including
electoral frauds; untrue and inefficient representatives; violence: religious
crises, crises in the Middle belt and Niger Delta regions, hostage taking, and
cult; food insecurity; low agricultural production; illiteracy (that also weakens
democracy); crime; high mortality and morbidity rates; prostitution and poor
health and national image; low GDP and GNP; and high unemployment rate.
51
Reacting to a report, Aniekpon (2008) challenged Nigerian leaders, rulers
and political heavyweights to think of where Nigeria was heading to if an
individual could burn a whopping sum of N270 million and gather only the ash
for a fetish deal, in a country of grinding poverty where many homes cannot
solve even problems that may require just N100.
The Nigerian economy does not reflect the actualization of any of the
beautiful, mouth-watering development visions, annual budgetary speeches,
short- or long-term plans, or perspective plans. Even the laws of the land are
often decorative, as travesty of justice takes the scene. Nigeria‘s civilian and
military governments deliver low economic growth and increasing poverty
since the 1970s. Agricultural productivity keeps declining. Manufacturing
capacity utilization declined from 56.6% in 2003 to 53.3% in 2006.
Manufacturing value added has declined steadily from 10% GDP in 1983 to 3%
in 2006. Nigeria dropped in global economic ranking to 101st position out of
125 nations studied, and the economy is still burdened with double-digit
inflation, estimated at 13%, and deteriorating infrastructure.
Nigeria was placed 159th out of 177 countries of the world examined for
the human development index. Nigeria also lost 34 places (falling to rank 112)
in the basic requirements sub-index, which highlights the fundamentals for
achieving sustainable growth, namely strong institutions, adequate
52
infrastructure, a supportive macro-economic environment, and good basic
health and education (Ujah, 2006 and Famakinwa, 2006).
The World Bank estimated that 50% of the federal roads have
deteriorated in the last six years to the extent that it costs more to send goods
from Lagos to Maiduguri than to send them to Europe. Due to the poor
conditions of the roads, 33,600 people died in road accidents from year 2001 to
2005, while 34,200 people sustained various degrees of injuries during the
period. The power sector is in perpetual crisis and cannot drive meaningful
development (Sobowale, 2006 and Onah, 2006).
DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES AND EVEN DEVELOPMENT IN
NIGERIA
Many scholars have written on the issue of development initiatives and
even development in Nigeria. These scholars include Waterson (1963),
Ademolekun (1983), Okoli (1983), Ayo (1988), Abah (2000), Aja Akpuru-Aja
(2003), Obi and Obikeze (2005) among several others.
In his study of the political economy of Nigeria, Aja Akpuru-Aja
(2000:3-12) contended that the British did not impose its political power on
Nigeria with any obligation of local economic development but to effectively
dominate, subjugate and exploit the abundant cheap natural, human and
53
economic resources of the country. He subscribed to the contention of scholars
like Ake and Ihonvbere that the post-independence Nigerian state was weak,
partisan and subservient and devoid of the capacity and will to be a captain of
industry and technological development. It tended more to be an agent of
foreign economic and other interests, which has resulted in the strong
domination and exploitation of Nigerian economy by multinational
corporations. Having been perceived as a portfolio of a commercial asset, the
struggle for political power in Nigeria became too commercialized and
militarized. The state was thus perceived as a leeway for the acquisition of
provocative wealth necessary to the intensification of the struggle for political
power.
Thus the negative attitudes in politics and economics of Nigeria have
resulted in several self-reliance efforts without sustainable democracy or
economic growth and development. National priorities are wrongly set arising
from the lack of clear definitions of national interests and core values.
The First National Development Plan (1962-1968) recorded an overall
negative annual growth rate of 6.15% GDP. The agricultural sector equally
recorded a negative annual growth rate. The mining and quarrying sector,
however, recorded positive growth rates at a time when crude petroleum started
to be mined in commercial quantity. The failure of the First National
54
Development Plan was attributed to the negative impacts of the civil war which
raged between 1967 and 1970.
In the same vein, the Indigenization Decree was introduced by the
Gowon administration in a desperate bid to have greater control of the national
economy. The Decree was ill conceived and implemented. As a result, the
outcome was not sustainable economic growth and development of the Nigerian
economy. It was rather the deepening and expansion of the domination and
exploitation of the country‘s economy by foreign Multinational Companies and
other economic interests. The national self reliance goals were, therefore, a
mere aspiration given the weak character of the Nigerian state and the emerging
unproductive, comprador bourgeois class.
To this end, Aja concluded that despite the fact that four successive
National Development Plans recorded positive Gross Domestic Product (GDP),
the critical problems facing the country remained. First the growth in GDP was
not sustained and economic growth rate in Nigeria did not result in any
modernization and development of the economy and society.
To Ofoeze (2000:14-22), economic planning is not a new phenomenon in
Nigeria. It dates back to the period of colonialism when the colonial
government formulated and implemented its economic and socio-political plan
55
for the country. And ever since then, Nigeria on a five-yearly basis has
formulated and implemented one National Development Plan or another.
He contends that notwithstanding the numerous development plans,
Nigeria is still very far away from the take-off stage of economic, social and
political development as manifested by the persistent mass poverty,
malnutrition, high rate of infant and adult mortality, acute hunger, mass
unemployment, persistent galloping inflation, unfavourable balance of
payments and trade, general economic disarticulation and lack of
complementarity among the different sectors of the economy, high level of
corruption and other social vices as well as political instability.
He asserted that the principal cause of the failure of development plans in
Nigeria to lead to the desired economic development of the country is primarily
because of the extreme politicization of economic development planning and
the plans themselves. This, according to him, is because rather than predicating
economic planning and the plans themselves on the relevant, concrete, critical
and objective economic facts, factors and variables, development planning,
plans in Nigeria over the years have been based on extraneous non-economic
facts and variables which serve more the interests of the dominant geo-ethnic
areas in the country.
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Thus development planning in Nigeria only serves as the process of
officially or authoritatively packaging the social, economic and political
interests of the geo-ethnic area(s) whose members dominate the federal
government. In this way, rather than achieve development, national
development plans in Nigeria result in economic, social and political
underdevelopment, partial and anti-development.
Abbah (2000:89-94) began his own discussion with a cursory definition
of development plan. To him, Planning can simply be defined as thinking
before acting. A plan is a guide for action. It constitutes what Henry Fayol
described as prevoyance or forecast – examination of the future to draw up a
comprehensive programme of action. According to Koontz, planning can be
defined as ―deciding in advance what to do, how to do it, when to do it and who
to do it‖. Planning bridges the gap between where we are and where we are to
go. It makes it possible for things to occur which would not otherwise happen.
Planning is a vital aspect of every form of development especially for the less
developed countries where development is particularly lacking.
Development plan as the name implies, is thus a guide for the decisions
and activities of a government to create conditions within its domain for the
more fulfilled life of its subjects. Having political foundation and implication,
development plans attempt to capture and define the fundamental objectives
57
and policy direction of the government, especially as they relate to the future
development of the economy. As ideals never imply the certainty of a goal
being achieved, development plans are not complete until they specify the
strategies by means of which the set objectives will be accomplished. Those
strategies are normally translated into specific targets. Development plans also
attempt to present a centrally coordinated and internally consistent set of
principles and policies chosen as the most appropriate means of implementing
the strategies and achieving the targets, which then will be adopted as a
framework to guide subsequent day-to-day decisions and actions. Development
plans often comprehend the entire economy and not a section or sector of it.
They therefore employ a formalized macro-economic approach to social action.
Typically, development plans cover a fairly long period of, say 5 to 6
years and find physical expression in medium-term (rolling) plans and short-
term plans (annual budgets) which however reflect the bases and principles of
the longer-term perspective plan. A development plan or any aspect thereof
may be concerned with the entire economy, especially with the growth of such
economic variables as production, consumption, savings and investment. It may
also be sectoral - dividing the economy into sectors and designing specific plans
for each sector, or it may be comprehensive, using input-output variables to
design plans to cover the entire economy, that is, projected indices of
58
production, consumption, saving and investment in both the public, private as
well as the informal sectors and other aspects of the social system.
In planning for national development, the stage of the country‘s
development must be taken into consideration as complex plans requiring
sophisticated models and technologies may be appropriate for countries at
certain stages of development, such as developing countries at their early
stages.
Continuing, he contended that for maximum utility therefore, the plan
and its strategies must be congruent with the stage of development of the
country. Consideration need also be made of the institutional structure,
availability and quality of statistical information and the prevalent resource
constraints, for the effective and efficient implementation of development plans
depends largely on the nature and character of political and administrative
institutions and availability of data as well as resources.
In capitalist democracies, development planning is usually adapted to,
and can benefit from the existence of a diversified economic structure, a
dynamic class of business managers and a long tradition of political and
economic liberties. Consequently, although planning implies an extension of
economic responsibilities and activities of the state, the mainstream of
economic growth remains in the private sector. Only rarely does the state
59
intervene directly in the affairs of individual firms beyond the establishment of
the legal environment of business operations. Economic planning thus remains
indirect and takes the form of collaboration between the private and public
sectors.
The role of government in development planning specifically includes:
- The drive towards rapid economic growth with high level of employment
and stable policies;
- The use of fiscal and monetary policies to encourage savings and
investment and to promote industrial activities;
- To create and operate public agencies and catalysts of development to
enhance the role of government in improving the economic and social
opportunities and ultimately the living condition of the people;
- To create conditions that will prevent economic instability while
stimulating growth;
- To increase government expenditure with tax rate adjustments;
- Inflation and deflation are held in check by counter-cyclical fiscal
policies, interest rate adjustments and wage-price guidelines; and,
- Balance of payment fluctuations are counteracted by tariff adjustments,
exchange controls, import quotes and tax incentives.
60
Thus, the instruments of policy are active but indirect. They are active in
that they steer the economy in the desired direction and they are indirect as they
are merely intended to create favourable conditions which will influence private
decision-makers to behave in ways that are likely to promote stable economic
growth.
As has been pointed out earlier, the history of development planning in
Nigeria can be traced to the 10 - year development and welfare programme of
the colonial administration in 1946. Even though the 1946 plan was not an
ambitious one, so to say, it provided the necessary impetus for the emerging
Nigerian leadership to see development planning as the official instrument with
which government intervenes in the socio-economic development process of
society. In 1945, the World Bank on the request of the Nigerian and British
governments sent a mission to appraise the prospects for economic
development and recommend measures for realizing such prospects.
The report of the World Bank mission is, perhaps, the most important
pre-independence development landmark in the process of development
planning in Nigerian. As a result of the World Bank Report, certain institutional
arrangements were put in place for the purpose of development planning and
implementation. These include the National Economic council which was to be
the highest organ for national planning and the co-ordination of economic
61
policies, Marketing Boards that would set the standards of quality and price for
agriculture exports; Loans Boards and Regional Development Boards for the
financing and Execution of agricultural and industrial development policies; a
Railway Corporation, Ports, Coal and Electricity corporation to provide
ancillary service and a state Bank to serve as Central Bank and Strategic
Coordinating unit.
In 1958, a joint planning committee was also established to assist the
National Economic Committee and to guide government (federal and regional)
in the formulation of development programmes. In 1970, a Central Planning
Office was created to remedy the problems associated with the JPC. It was a
body of experts responsible for the statistical projection of economic trends as
well as the preparation and co-ordination of all ministerial and state plans. In
1972 also, a National Economic Advisory council was set up to advice the
central planning authority (the supreme military council at the time) on the
proper direction of plan and also to ensure the incorporation of the interest of
the private sector and other interests not represented in the planning process.
The advisory council was disbanded in 1975 and in its place a Joint Planning
Committee created to input technical standards on the recommendations of the
CPO. In March 1992, on omnibus agency, the National Planning Commission
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was established by the Federal military Government to develop and ensure the
implementation of comprehensive economic development plans for the country.
Under the auspices of these agencies, four comprehensive national
development plans and other development projects were designed and pursued
by the Federal Government in view of the ideology that the state by its own acts
of investment and enterprise and various controls- inducements and restrictions-
over the private sector, shall initiate, spur and steer economic development.
This ideology is based on the premise that the national leadership has an
adequate appreciation of the values and aspirations of society upon which the
goal of planning must be based.
The political dimension of the planning ideology requires that internally,
a sense of national unity and discipline be cultivated in all segments and at all
levels of society, and externally, foreign domination of the national economy
should be checked. This is achievable only in an atmosphere of effective
freedom and economic empowerment that will enable the citizenry to plan full
self-reliance and greater control over the destiny of the nation. These lofty
ideals derive from the fundamental objectives and directive principles of state
policy as contained in the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Continuing, Abah rightly observed that over the years, the Federal
Government of Nigeria and State governments alike have done marvelously
63
well in planning for development. Where problems exist, we obviously cannot
attribute such to the planning process. To support this observation, he examined
the various development plans made by the Federal Government of Nigeria to
support this position.
The colonial Welfare Development Plan (1946-1956): The first attempt at
development planning in Nigeria was that which was made by the colonial
administration in 1946. That plan was a ten year development plan, estimated to
cost £184 million.
The objectives of the plan were as follows:
- The provision of a country-system of communication network.
- The provision of adequate funds for the spread of higher education and
fundamental research.
- The provision of social service for the Federal Territory of Lagos.
- The provision of public service and utilities for the entire country.
- The provision of adequate machinery for safeguarding Nigerian security
and revenues.
- The provision of loan finances for statutory corporations.
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The First National Development Plan (1962-1968)
This was the first national development plan after independence had been won.
This six-year plan was estimated to cost N 2, 4 billion. Its objectives were as
follows:
- To raise the growth rate of GDP from 3.9 percent to 4 percent and, if
possible increase it above 4 percent.
- To achieve ―a‖ above through the investment of 15 percent of GDP each
year.
- To develop as rapidly as possible opportunities in education, health and
employment, and to improve access of all citizens to those opportunities;
and,
- To achieve a coordinated economy consistent with the political and social
aspiration of the people.
This would be achieved through the creation of more employment,
modernization of agriculture, creation of more managerial opportunities,
provision of necessary infrastructure and maintenance of a reasonable measure
of stability through appropriate fiscal and monetary policies.
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The Second National Development Plan (1970-1974)
The military coup of 1966 and the civil war which started in 1967
disrupted the first plan. At the end of the war however, and eager to consolidate
the unity just regained and to reconstruct the war-battered economy, General
Gowon introduced the second National Development plan estimated to cost N
3.3 billion. The objectives of the second plan included the achievement of a
united strong and self-reliant nation, a just egalitarian society, a free and
democratic society as well as a land bright and full of opportunities for the
people.
In order to achieve these objectives, the plan would seek to bring about:
(i) A substantial rate of growth of the economy
(ii) A reduction in personal income disparities through equitable distribution
(iii) The creation of opportunities which would help to realize the potential and
development of the personality of every Nigerian.
(iv) A situation of expanding opportunities for employment, education and self-
fulfillment.
High on the priority of the agenda included:
(1) The reconstruction of facilities damaged by the war or fallen in disrepair.
(ii) The rehabilitation and resettlement of persons displaced by the war.
(iii) The rehabilitation and resettlement of demobilized armed forces personnel.
66
(iv) The establishment of efficient administrative systems and appropriate
economic infrastructure especially in the new states.
(v) The achievement of a rate of growth of per capita output sufficiently high to
bring about a doubling of real income per ahead before 1975. An average
growth rate of 6.6 percent was the minimum target.
(vi) Creation of job opportunities.
(vii) The production of high level and intermediate manpower
(viii) The promotion of balanced development between the urban and rural
areas.
(ix) Rapid improvement in the level and quality of Social Service provided for
the welfare of the people.
The Third National Development Plan (1975-1980)
Due to the oil boom windfall, the Federal Military Government could
develop a third National Development plan estimated to cost a whooping N
53.3 billion, and with the following objectives:
- The rapid growth in per capita income which was expected to increase on
the average by 6.6 percent per annum, assuming that the rate of growth of
the population could be kept at 2.2 percent.
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- A more even distribution of income, the benefits of economic
development being spread out to bring about marked improvement in the
standard of living of the majority of people.
- Adequate supply of all categories of manpower required for sustained
economic growth.
- Reduction in the level of unemployment.
- Increased diversification of the economy through rapid expansion and
broadening of industrial activities.
- Balanced development to ensure simultaneous development of all the
country‘s geographical areas.
- Indigenization of economic activities.
The fourth National Development Plan (1981-1986)
The second republic administration of Alhaji Shehu Shagari in 1981
introduced the fourth plan estimated to cost N 82 billion which had the
following objectives:
- Increase in the real income of the average citizen.
- More even distribution of income among individuals and socio-
economic groups.
- Reduction in the level of unemployment.
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- Increase in the supply of skilled manpower
- Balanced development.
- Increased participation of citizens in the ownership and management of
productive enterprises.
- Development of technology
- Reduction in rural-urban migration.
- The promotion of a new national orientation conducive to greater
discipline, better attitude to work and cleaner environment.
The Fifth National Development (Rolling) Plan (1990-1992)
The Babangida administration introduced the fifth National Development
plan otherwise known as the first National Rolling Plan. Unlike the four earlier
plans which were meant to last for five years or more, the first rolling plan was
expected to last for three years (1990-1992). In introducing the plan, the
government made it clear that the plan was aimed at removing the weakness of
earlier plans because, according to Babangida, ―the economic crisis that faced
the nation since 1983 has revealed that fixed five-year plan were not the best
suited to cope with attendant problems of economic management and
adjustment under conditions characterized by numerous uncertainties, fairly
69
rapid changes as well as pressing issues that called for urgent solution‖ The
plan was estimated to cost N 144.2 billion and had the following objectives:
- To consolidate the achievement made so far in the implementation of the
structural adjustment programme.
- To deal with the pressing problem of inflation, unemployment, the
sluggish performance of the productive sectors, particularly the
manufacture sector, and the inadequate availability of foreign exchange
to service the economy at higher level of overall capacity utilization due
to external debt burden and slow growth of non-oil export
- To provide solution to socio-economic problems such as high growth
rate of population, low level of productivity and threats to the
environment.
- To provide solution to anti-social behaviors such as armed robbery and
drug abuse.
High on the priority of the regime included:
Agricultural development
(ii) The provision of infrastructural services.
(iii) Giving priority to key programmes that would benefit-segments of the
society that have been adversely affected by the economic down-turn.
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(iv) Streamlining public expenditure to give priority to the completion of
critical on-going projects.
If these objectives were achieved within the three years of the plan, the
necessary base for sustained economic growth would have been established.
But it is doubtful if any meaningful progress could have been made within such
a short period of time. Most of the problems of Nigeria (ethnicity, nepotism,
corruption, poverty, etc) have been institutionalised and have become a way of
life deep-rooted in the social fabric. Moreover, there is a high positive
correlation between the Structural Adjustment Programme introduced and
pursued with so much vigour by this regime and the increasing socio-economic
problems.
Finally, at this age when every aspect of the development of the country
is tied to technological development, the plan is so woefully empty in this
direction-having no strategic plan to acquire/develop the technology that will
provide the necessary engine of growth.
The development of agriculture took a front seat in the rolling plan. In
this connection, the following institutional frameworks were to provide the
necessary inputs and support service:
- Agricultural Development Programmes (ADP);
- River Basin Development Authorities;
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- State Ministries of Agriculture;
- The Directorate for food, Roods and Rural Infrastructure (DFRRI); and,
- Agricultural Finance Institutions.
It is necessary to mention at this juncture that the agricultural programme
in the First Rolling Plan did not introduce any radical change which could help
solve the problem of agricultural development. Given the history of their
performance, it is doubtful if the Agricultural development Programme and
River Basin Development Authorities could perform magic in an age of
dwindling financial resources, when they could not do same in the 1970s when
the availability of money was not a serious problem.
Moreover, the investment profile still shows the dominance of the public
sector over the private sector. Out of a total of N 144.2 billion, the public sector
took N 96 billion or 65: 3% while the private sector took N50.2 billion
representing 34.7%. This looks like a contradiction with the development
policies of a government which places great emphasis on privatization,
commercialization and rationalization. As long as the public sector dominated
the investment profile of the plan, it was doubtful if the goal of privatization
would be realized. Other problems which affected the plan adversely included
lack of statistical data, lack of adequate manpower and political instability.
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Obi, and Obikeze (2005:80-82) pointed out that mention should also be
made of the fact that it was at the expiration of the Fourth Development Plan in
December 1985 that a one year economic emergency programme was initiated
in 1986. Later the Structural Adjustment Programme which was then projected
to last for two years was introduced. The government also decided to stop the
traditional 5 year planning programme for a 3 year Rolling Plan which will be
operated along with a 15- 20 year perspective plan and the annual budget.
The objectives of SAP were;
- To restructure and diversify the productive base of the economy in order
to reduce dependence on the oil sector and on imports;
- To achieve fiscal and balance of payments viability over the period;
- To lay the basis for a sustainable non-inflationary growth; and
- The public sector, improve that sector‘s efficiency and enhance the
growth potential of the private sectors
The main elements of the Nigerian SAP were:
- Strengthening of demand management policies;
- Adoption of measures to stimulate domestic production and broaden the
supply base of the economy;
- Adoption of a realistic exchange rate policy through the establishment of
Second-tier Foreign Exchange Market (SFEM);
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- Rationalization and restructuring of the tariff regime in order to aid the
promotion of industrial diversification;
- Progressive trade and payments liberalization;
- Reduction of complex administrative controls and fostering reliance on
market forces;
- Adoption of appropriate pricing for public enterprise; and,
- Rationalization and commercialization/privatization of public sector
enterprises.
The military Junta of Late General Sani Abacha added what would have
been a new twist to the process of Development Planning in Nigeria through the
‗Vision 2010‘ which was introduced on September 18, 1996. According to
Abacha, vision 2010 was introduced because the ‗time is indeed ripe for us to
have a definite vision of the type of society we want, especially one that is
economically prosperous, politically stable and socially harmonious.
Accordingly, the vision should provide a strategic insight into the direction in
which the nation needs to move as well as a proper focus on the formation of
the dream‖.
The task of articulating the ‗Vision 2010‘ was assigned to a carefully
chosen group of eminent intellectuals, traditional rulers, industrialists and
74
professionals. The 172 man committee was headed by Chief Ernest Shonekan
the former Head of the Interim National Government (ING).
The committee delineated 12 Critical Success Factors (CSF) around
which technical teams will be constituted to work. The critical success factors
include; Good and sustainable governance, sustainable economic growth,
education, health care, population growth, openness, law and order, external
environment, co-operation and competition and norms and standards. The
committee finished its work within 12 months and submitted its report on the
30th of September 1997.
The dream of ‗Vision 2010‘ unfortunately died with it‘s originator on the
8th of the June 1998, when the then Nigerian maximum ruler General Sani
Abacha died suddenly.
In their evaluation of the plan implementation over the years, Obi and
Obikeze contended that over the years, it has been discovered that Nigerians
have actually excelled in programme formulation but have not fared well in
implementation. Hence implementation has been the bane of development plans
in Nigeria. Development plans have not been immune from this cancer of poor
programme implementation. In his own appraisal, Ademolekun has outlined
five determinants of the quality of plan implantation in Nigeria. They are; the
adequacy of executive capacity in relation to these demands; the behaviour of
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the donors of foreign aid; the performance of the economy; whether the
economy is capable of providing the real resources required for implementation
and the political system and the interests of politicians.
On his part Ibeanu (2005) noted that fully aware that its economic reform
programmes will hurt the poor, the Obasanjo administration (1999-2007)
established a number of initiatives. These include the Poverty Reduction
Strategic Paper (PRSP), National Economic Empowerment Development
Strategy, and National Poverty Eradication Programme. However, Ibeanu
contends that poverty reduction or alleviation did not arise out of the
magnanimity of government. It was because the International Finance
Institutions demanded them as conditionality for accessing concessionary
international finance and for debt forgiveness.
Concluding, these scholars noted that the country has recorded some
positive achievements on some fronts and has performed woefully on many
other areas. There is however a consensus that though none of the plans has
been meticulously or fully implemented, the introduction of Development Plans
has actually helped the country tremendously. A review of the various plans
clearly shows that, the country is still very far from where it was envisaged it
will be today. This is simply as a result of either faulty implementation of the
76
plan, distortions or even non-implementation. None of theses studies however,
took the Millennium Development Goals into cognizance.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Our discussion of the challenges of development in Nigeria can best be
premised within the Marxist Theory of the State. The state, according to Engels
(1942:155), is a product of society at a certain stage of development. It is the
admission that the society has become entangled in an irresoluble contradiction
with itself hence splitting into two irreconcilable opposites. But in order that
these opposite that is classes with conflicting interests shall not consume
themselves in fruitless struggle it becomes necessary to have a power that
seemingly stands above the society to moderate the conflict and keep it within
the bounds of order. This seemingly neutral power standing above the society is
the state.
It should be noted that the state exists to preserve the existing social and
political order. This order should not be seen as denoting only stability of
government and absence of open political disorder in a strict sense. Rather, it
also encompasses the broader question of maintaining the global order
necessary for the reproduction of the interest of the dominant class at the
economic, political and ideological levels. In other words, the interests pursued
77
by the state always correspond with that of the dominant class. To this end, Karl
Marx asserted that "the executive of the modern state is but a committee for
managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie".
It is this order pursued by the state that Western liberal scholars put
forward as being beneficial to all even though this order is designed mainly to
protect the interests of the dominant class. The Marxist Theory of the state
postulates that this order is not neutral. Instead it is an order in which some
people dominate and exploit others and in which some classes appropriate the
labour of others.
Neo-Marxist scholars have advanced this classical theory of the state to
take care of the character of neo-colonial states. Most of these scholars believe
that the classical theory of the state did not fully explain the character of neo-
colonial states. For instance, Alavi (1973:146-147) opines that in the post-
colonial society, the problem of the relationship between the state and the
underlying economic structure is more complex than the context in which it was
posed in the European society. It is structured by yet another historical
experience and requires fresh theoretical insight.
Corroborating this fact, Ekekwe (1986:12) pointed out that the difference
between the two forms of capitalist state is thus: that whereas the state in the
advanced capitalist formations function to maintain the economic and social
78
relations under which bourgeois accumulation take place, in the periphery of
capitalism, factors which have to do with the level of the development of the
productive forces make the state a direct instrument for accumulation for the
dominant class or its elements.
Colonialism shaped the character of post-colonial states in the sense that
in their quest to secure and perpetrate their economic interests, the colonizer
discouraged the rise of a strong indigenous bourgeoisie and instead planted
stooges. Having a very weak economic base, these stooges resorted to using the
state for primitive capital accumulation thus becoming a ready instrument for
class formation and class domination.
Thus Ake (1981:128-129) asserted that to begin with, we have a state that
is interventionist and involved in the class struggle, that is to say a state already
dragged into politics and politicized. Partly because of this fact (whose
significance is the perception of the state as being very partial), and partly
because the state power in question is highly developed, there is a bitter
struggle to gain control of it.
Elaborating further in a subsequent work Ake (2001:6-10), noted that
colonial rule left most of Africa a legacy of intense and lawless political
competition amidst an ideological void and a rising tide of disenchantment with
the expectation of a better life. The political environment at independence was
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profoundly hostile to development. Hence the struggle for power was so
absorbing that everything else, including development, was marginalized. As
those elites outside the corridors of power sought to garner credible force to
challenge those in power as well as to limit to a significant extent their own
vulnerability to harassment and abuse, those in power were obsessed with
consolidation of power and crushing of any form of opposition. In a highly
statist post-colonial polity, they did not even have the option of channeling their
ambitions into economic success, which was primarily a matter of state
patronage. Political power was everything; it was not only the access to wealth
but also the means to security and the only guarantor of general well-being.
Besieged by a multitude of hostile forces … those in power were so
involved in the struggle for survival that they could not address the problem of
development. The elites made token gestures to development while trying to
pass on the responsibility for development to foreign patrons. Development
plans were written and proclaimed. But what passed for development plans
were mere aggregations of projects and objectives informed by the latest fads of
the international development community. As these fads changed in the larger
world, so they were abandoned. The summary of Ake‘s argument is that the
main obstacle to development …is not so much that the development project
has failed as that it never got started in the first place.
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Thus in Nigeria, many development plans (both internally and externally
generated) have been implemented with one thing in common – massive failure.
This is because they were initiated in the first place to win the support of the
masses that might be habouring doubts over the legitimacy of the government
in question. Much attention is however paid to the appropriation and
expropriation of the resources meant to be devoted to the improvement of the
welfare of the masses. Unemployment, infrastructural decay, labour unrest,
massive corruption, executive lawlessness, food insecurity, insecurity of lives
and property amongst other vices becomes the order of the day.
Thus in Nigeria today, the yawning gap between the rich and the poor
widens with each passing day despite lofty poverty alleviation/eradication
policies and programmes. This compels one to wonder whether these policies
were not designed so as to make their implementation unproductive. As the
income gap widens, a great number of people are forced into abject poverty
with a concomitant rise in crime wave. Discontent with the existing social order
equally heightens. Solution to these vices lies explicitly on redressing the
imbalances within the political system and not by wholly embracing one alien
development agenda or the other going by the fact that such foisted
development agenda have a history of massive failure in Nigeria. This cannot
be done by outside forces as they can only gloss over the problems in question
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but never solve it in its entirety. Bereaved of a government capable of
formulating and implementing people-oriented policies and programmes,
development will continue to be a mirage in Nigeria.
HYPOTHESES
The study shall explore the following hypotheses:
(1) The implementation of the Millennium Development Goals has not
reduced the incidence of poverty in Nigeria.
(2) There is a link between political corruption and the failure by the
government to implement the Millennium Development Goals.
(3) The development of a global partnership for development will not
strengthen Nigeria‘s weak economic and political structure.
METHODOLOGY
Research Design
Research design involves the structuring of investigation aimed at
identifying variables and their relationship to one another. It is used for the
purposes of obtaining data to be used in the test of hypothesis or in answering
82
research questions. It is also an outline or a scheme that serves as a useful guide
in the generation of data (Asika, 2009:27).
In this study, therefore, the Ex Post Facto (After the Fact) research design
will be adopted. The choice of ex post facto design stems from the fact that it is
a systematic empirical study in which the independent variables cannot in any
way be controlled or manipulated given that the situation of study already exists
or has already taken place. The implementation of the Millennium Development
Goals has been going on following its adoption by United Nations member
states in 2001. Ex post facto research will be used in generating data on the
journey so far.
Method of Data Collection and Analysis
Data will be sourced from existing records like books, journals, United Nations
documents, World Bank publications, government and other official
publications, internet materials, seminar papers, newspapers, magazines as well
as other documents related to Millennium Development Goals and Challenges
of development in Nigeria.
In this study, we employed the technique called Content Analysis. This
technique, according to Obikeze (1990:81), was developed as a result of the
need for a reliable scientific method for assessing, analyzing and interpreting a
83
large variety of materials. Thus we relied heavily (but not exclusively) on this
analytical technique to evaluate the data generated in the course of this study.
Obikeze (1990) while quoting Berelson (1984) explained that Content Analysis
is a research technique adopted for the objective, systematic and qualitative
analysis and interpretation of information.
In essence, therefore, this data analysis technique was applied to ascertain
whether the information generated from the various sources do corroborate and
validate or invalidate all the research questions raised, the hypotheses posited
and the theoretical framework of analysis adopted for the research work.
Objectively, this forms a point of departure from the view of Kerlinger
(1973:526) that content analysis is a method of coherent logical deduction from
available data to determine the validity of hypothesis in a research process.
Reliability and Validity
To ensure validity of the instruments used, all the research questions and
hypotheses will be fully addressed. My Project Supervisor will also vet the
research questions objectively while paying particular attention to their
relevance to the subject matter and their coverage of the entire topic of study.
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Similarly, reliability of the instruments used will be guaranteed given that data
to be used in the analysis will be drawn from documented materials related to
the problem under study.
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CHAPTER TWO
MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS AND POVERTY
REDUCTION
The primary objective of the Millennium Development Goals is to
significantly reduce poverty by half by the year 2015. This explains why
poverty reduction is the number one goal. In this chapter, therefore, we shall
focus on what these eight development goals and twenty one targets are as well
as how the international community intends to successfully achieve these goals
by the year 2010. Again, the incidence of poverty in Nigeria in relation to the
Millennium Development Goals will be examined.
2.1 THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS
Towards the close of the last century, world leaders from both developed and
developing nations met in order to evaluate progress made in social, economic
and political dimensions of national and international development, and to
strategize for improvements in the twenty-first century. It became clear from
the analysis of realities on the ground that many United Nations resolutions and
developmental targets had remained elusive while some important projects and
programmes are either unimplemented or they could not yield the anticipated
outcomes. Most worrisome was the fact that the gap between the developed and
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underdeveloped countries was widening rather than closing up. The
interactions, awareness and negotiations led to the United Nations establishing
the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to guide plans and programmes of
nations and development partners. The year 2015 was chosen as an important
milestone at which point a comprehensive assessment of goal achievements
would be made. Along the way, however, were specific targets to be met by
2005 and 2010.
Leaders of developed countries acknowledge the need to pay special
attention to the African continent, particularly sub-Saharan Africa where
poverty, hunger; illiteracy, undemocratic, despotic and corrupt governments and
HI V/AIDS were ravaging the populace.
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) grew out of the various
agreements and resolutions of world organizations in the past decade, and it is
aimed at addressing the ever-growing poverty among the populace, especially,
in developing countries (Onuoha, 2008:205). The MDGs are drawn from the
actions and targets contained in the Millennium Declaration that was adopted
by one hundred and eighty nine nations and signed by one hundred and forty
seven Heads of State and Governments during the United Nations Millennium
Summit in September 2000.
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Thus, at the Millennium Summit held in New York in September 2003, the
United Nations declared that:
We will spare no effort to free our fellow men,
women and children from the abject and
dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty, to
which more than a billion of them are currently
subjected. We are committed to making the right to
development a reality for everyone and to freeing
the entire human race from want (United Nations
Millennium Declaration September, 2000).
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were developed out of the
eight chapters of the United Nations Millennium Declaration, signed in
September 2000. The eight goals and twenty one targets include:
(1) Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
- Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is
less than one dollar a day.
- Achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all,
including women and young people.
- Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from
hunger.
The first goal includes sub-goals to address both extreme income poverty
and extreme hunger. This goal addresses the needs of the poorest people on
Earth and attempts to reduce the number of people living in total deprivation.
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The United Nations identified three indicators to measure progress on reducing
income poverty: the proportion of people living on less that a dollar a day, the
depth of poverty,
and the share of the poorest fraction of the population in
national consumption.
The first two indicators complement each other well.
While the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day shows the
incidence of poverty, the poverty gap captures the depth of poverty. Knowing
the depth of poverty is important for policymakers because while some policies
effectively reduce the incidence of poverty, they can simultaneously increase
the depth of poverty for people still below the poverty line (Poling, 2003:11).
The share of the poorest fraction of the population in national
consumption captures inequality by highlighting unequal consumption patterns
for the poorest fifth of the population. Though the relationship, even here, is
tangential, this is the only place that the MDGs address inequality in society.
The hunger sub-goal states that the UN will halve the proportion of
people who suffer from hunger by 2015. The two indicators chosen to measure
hunger are the prevalence of underweight children
and the proportion of the
population below a minimum level of necessary dietary energy consumption
(calories). While the percent of children underweight is a good indicator of
hunger, measuring dietary energy consumption is much more problematic.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), ―minimum dietary
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energy requirement‖ is, for a specified age and sex category, the amount of
dietary energy per capita that is adequate to meet energy needs for light activity
and good health (FAO, 2001:50). For a whole population, statisticians take the
weighted average of the energy requirements for different age and sex groups in
the population and express the result in kilocalories per person per day.
Unfortunately, assuming that an entire population exerts only light
activity ignores major variations across rural and urban lifestyles and manual
versus sedentary employment settings. Additionally, individuals have different
metabolic rates making generalizations difficult. Finally, although protein-
energy malnutrition is its most deadly form, many cases of malnutrition actually
result from insufficient micronutrients such as iodine and vitamin A (WHO,
2000:11-13).
(2) Achieve universal primary education
- Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be
able to complete a full course of primary schooling.
The goal for primary education identifies three indicators: the net
enrollment rate in primary school, the persistence of children from grade 1
through grade 5,
and the literacy rate of 15-24 year olds. The Net Enrollment
Ratio (NER) divides the number of enrolled children of the official age group
by the total number of children in that age group. This indicator does not count
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children older or younger than the official age group even though they might be
enrolled in school (UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2002:10). In situations
where there are high repetition rates in schools, the NER is less accurate than
the age-specific enrollment ratio, which includes all children attending school.
The second indicator measures the percent of children who started Grade
1 who reached Grade 5. Fifth Grade is particularly important because studies
have shown that children need five years of schooling for sustainable literacy
(UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2002:14). This indicator gives policymakers
an idea of how many students drop out of school. There are many reasons why
children drop out of school including poor health (UNESCO Institute for
Statistics, 2001:42), financial difficulties, and the distance to school. Another
reason children leave school is low school quality (UNESCO Institute for
Statistics, 2001:42). Persistence to Grade 5 can therefore, with caution, also act
as a proxy for school quality. Data is not routinely collected in all countries for
persistence to Grade five, so it is estimated through a combination of cohort
analysis modeling and observations (UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2002:14).
Young adult literacy rates are the final indicator for the education goal.
Literacy is a skill that can be an outcome of successful primary education, but
there is no direct correlation between literacy and primary education. Although
some children learn to read during primary school, others do not, and still others
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learn to read outside of school through family or religious activities (World
Bank, 2001:12).
To the extent that literacy and primary education can be
linked, this indicator, because it measures literacy in the 15 to 24-year old
population, reflects the achievements of primary and community education over
the past decade rather than at present.
While enrollment rates and persistence to grade 5 measure inputs to
education such as time spent in school, literacy rates measure achievement. But
since literacy is not necessarily acquired through formal schooling, there are no
indicators trying to directly measure the quality of education. Yet, school
quality is a major issue in the developing world where access to books and
chalkboards is limited, and where teacher-student ratios can be more than 40:1
(World Bank, 2001:11, 36). Quality of education is especially important as
enrollments increase because there might be a quality-quantity trade-off in
education (Duraisamy et al., 1997:14). Although persistence to Grade 5 can be
used as a proxy for school quality, a more comprehensive approach to
monitoring schooling adds another indicator to directly measure school quality.
Few data are available about school quality, but a reasonable proxy is the
student-teacher ratio in primary school. Educational achievement is more
difficult with more students per teacher so this measure can monitor school
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quality as enrollments increase to meet the MDGs (World Bank, 2001:36;
Bennell, 2002:1184).
(3) Promote gender equality and empower women
- Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferably
by 2005, and at all levels by 2015.
The goal for primary education identifies three indicators: the net
enrollment rate in primary school, the persistence of children from grade 1
through grade 5,
and the literacy rate of 15-24 year olds. The Net Enrollment
Ratio (NER) divides the number of enrolled children of the official age group
by the total number of children in that age group. This indicator does not count
children older or younger than the official age group even though they might be
enrolled in school (UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2002:10). In situations
where there are high repetition rates in schools, the NER is less accurate than
the age-specific enrollment ratio, which includes all children attending school.
The second indicator measures the percent of children who started grade
1 who reached grade 5. Fifth grade is particularly important because studies
have shown that children need five years of schooling for sustainable literacy
and numeracy
(UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2002:14). This indicator gives
policymakers an idea of how many students drop out of school. There are many
reasons why children drop out of school including poor health (UNESCO
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Institute for Statistics, 2001:42), financial difficulties, and the distance to
school. Another reason children leave school is low school quality (UNESCO
Institute for Statistics, 2001:42). Persistence to grade 5 can therefore, with
caution, also act as a proxy for school quality. Data is not routinely collected in
all countries for persistence to grade five, so it is estimated through a
combination of cohort analysis modeling and observations (UNESCO Institute
for Statistics, 2002:14).
Young adult literacy rates are the final indicator for the education goal.
Literacy is a skill that can be an outcome of successful primary education, but
there is no direct correlation between literacy and primary education. Although
some children learn to read during primary school, others do not, and still others
learn to read outside of school through family or religious activities (World
Bank, 2001:12).
To the extent that literacy and primary education can be
linked, this indicator, because it measures literacy in the 15 to 24-year old
population, reflects the achievements of primary and community education over
the past decade rather than at present.
While enrollment rates and persistence to Grade 5 measure inputs to
education such as time spent in school, literacy rates measure achievement. But
since literacy is not necessarily acquired through formal schooling, there are no
indicators trying to directly measure the quality of education. Yet, school
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quality is a major issue in the developing world where access to books and
chalkboards is limited, and where teacher-student ratios can be more than 40:1
(World Bank, 2001:11, 36). Quality of education is especially important as
enrollments increase because there might be a quality-quantity trade-off in
education (Duraisamy et al., 1997:14).
Although persistence to grade 5 can be used as a proxy for school quality,
a more comprehensive approach to monitoring schooling adds another indicator
to directly measure school quality. Few data are available about school quality,
but a reasonable proxy is the student-teacher ratio in primary school.
Educational achievement is more difficult with more students per teacher so this
measure can monitor school quality as enrollments increase to meet the MDGs
(World Bank, 2001:36; Bennell, 2002:1184).
(4) Reduce child mortality
- Reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality
rate.
Three indicators were identified to measure progress on reducing child
mortality by 2015. The three indicators are the Under-five Mortality Rate
(U5MR), the infant mortality rate (children 0-12 months old), and the
proportion of 1-year-olds that are immunized against measles. The U5MR and
the infant mortality rate are expressed as number of deaths per 1,000 live births
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and are essential indicators of child mortality. The indicator measuring
immunizations against measles requires more explanation. While measles is a
devastating disease that afflicts young children, it accounts for only 5% of child
deaths (WHO, Integrated Management of Child Illness). Acute Respiratory
Infection (ARI), diarrhea, and malaria all account for a greater percentage of
deaths (19, 13, and 9% respectively) than measles. Additionally, malnutrition is
associated with more than half of all child deaths (WHO, Integrated
Management of Child Illness). The infant mortality rate was not selected
because it is a subset of the U5MR.
Extremely high child mortality rates indicate human deprivation because
basic medical care can significantly improve child survival. For instance, many
sub-Saharan African countries have child mortality rates in excess of 20% while
other countries in the same region have rates of less than 9% (Poling: 2003:19)
(5) Improve maternal health
- Reduce by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality
ratio.
- Achieve, by 2015, universal access to reproductive health.
Three indicators were identified to measure progress on reducing child
mortality by 2015. The three indicators are the Under-five Mortality Rate
(U5MR), the infant mortality rate (children0-12 months old), and the proportion
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of 1-year-olds that are immunized against measles. The U5MR and the infant
mortality rate are expressed as number of deaths per 1,000 live births and are
essential indicators of child mortality. The indicator measuring immunizations
against measles requires more explanation. While measles is a devastating
disease that afflicts young children, it accounts for only 5% of child deaths
(WHO, Integrated Management of Child Illness). Acute respiratory infection
(ARI), diarrhea, and malaria all account for a greater percentage of deaths (19,
13, and 9% respectively) than measles. Additionally, malnutrition is associated
with more than half of all child deaths (WHO, Integrated Management of Child
Illness). The infant mortality rate was not selected because it is a subset of the
U5MR. Extremely high child mortality rates indicate human deprivation
because basic medical care can significantly improve child survival. For
instance, many sub-Saharan African countries have child mortality rates in
excess of 20% while other countries in the same region have rates of less than
9% (Poling: 2003:19).
The first indicator identified to measure maternal health is the maternal
mortality ratio, which measures maternal deaths per 100,000 live births.
Maternal deaths can be caused directly by pregnancy or indirectly when
pregnancy or delivery aggravates a pre-existing condition (AbouZahr and
Wardlaw, 2001:562). It is difficult to obtain accurate statistics about the
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maternal mortality ratio of a society especially in developing countries where
vital registration systems are absent or inadequate and many births occur
outside specialized facilities (AbouZahr and Wardlaw, 2001:562). To combat
the problem of inaccurate or incomplete information, another indicator is
frequently used to measure the percentage of births attended by a skilled health
professional (AbouZahr and Wardlaw, 2001:561). Skilled health professionals,
according to the World Bank, are:
Personnel trained to give the necessary supervision,
care, and advice to women during pregnancy, labor, and
the postpartum period, to conduct deliveries on their
own, and to care for the newborns (World Bank, 2002).
Although it is difficult to translate the qualifications of a ―skilled health
professional‖ across political, linguistic, and cultural boundaries (AbouZahr and
Wardlaw, 2001:564), the UN identified the proportion of births attended by a
skilled professional as the second indicator for maternal health.
This is informed by the fact that similar to the case of child mortality,
high maternal mortality ratios are indicative of human deprivation as countries
such as Angola and Tanzania have rates greater than 1,000 per 100,000 live
births while neighboring countries such as Namibia and Botswana have rates of
less than five hundred per one hundred thousand live births. Such high rates of
maternal mortality are anathema and it is crucial that they be reduced (Poling,
2003:20).
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(6) Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
- Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS.
- Achieve, by 2010, universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for all
those who need it.
- Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and
other major diseases.
This goal includes sub-goals that address HIV/AIDS, malaria, and
tuberculosis. The three indicators identified for HIV/AIDS are the prevalence of
HIV among 15-24 year-old pregnant women, condom use as a percent of total
contraception use, and the number of children orphaned by HIV/AIDS. The
prevalence rate is collected among pregnant women between 15 and 24 years of
age because surveillance of that population is set up at antenatal clinics
(UNAIDS, 2002:56).
While it is important to know the percent of the population that is
currently affected by HIV/AIDS, which this first indicator describes for a subset
of the population, it is also good to know the incidence rate of the disease—that
is, how many new people contract it each year. Incidence data is more difficult
to collect than prevalence data, but it is a better measure of the current rate of
spread of the disease. UNAIDS uses the prevalence rate of HIV among 15-24
year-old pregnant women as a proxy for the incidence rate. At older ages, the
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HIV prevalence does not reflect the newly infected population because of the
long duration of the disease. But since younger peoples‘ infections probably
occurred recently, prevalence in young people is a proxy for the incidence rate.
Because of this correlation, one would expect behavioral changes in the
population to be reflected by a change in the prevalence rate of young people
earlier than they would be reflected in the prevalence of the total population
(UNAIDS, 2002:56).
The final indicator identified by the UN to measure HIV is the number of
children orphaned due to HIV/AIDS. Due to the time it takes for AIDS to
progress, the current number of orphans reflects past prevalence rates in the
population. It will be very difficult to make progress in this indicator because
any changes that are made to reduce the spread of HIV will not be seen as a
reduction of the orphan population for nearly a decade. At the same time, it is
important to monitor the number of orphans because their numbers are
indicative of the stress that HIV/AIDS places on communities.
(7) Ensure environmental sustainability
- Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies
and programmes; reverse loss of environmental resources.
- Reduce biodiversity loss, achieving, by 2010, a significant reduction in
the rate of loss.
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- Halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to
safe drinking water and basic sanitation.
- By 2020, to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at
least 100 million slum-dwellers.
The sustainable development sub-goal is the first of the MDGs without a
numerical target. Instead, it reads ―integrate principles of sustainable
development into country policies and programs and reverse the loss of
environmental resources.‖ The UN identified six indicators to monitor
sustainable development and resource extraction. These six indicators cluster
around three themes: climate change (atmosphere), energy use, and
biodiversity.
(a) Land area covered by forest;
(b) energy use per $1 gross domestic product (GDP);
(c) carbon dioxide emissions per capita;
(d) tonnes of CFCs consumed;
(e) proportion of population using solid fuels are all related to climate change.
Energy use per dollar GDP and proportion of population using solid fuels also
relate to energy use; and,
(f) the ratio of protected land to total surface area attempts to assess
biodiversity.
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Another way of thinking about environmental sustainability is by looking
at ecological footprints. This concept computes the total number of acres
needed to sustain the food consumption patterns, living situation, transportation
choices, and waste generation of people in a given country. The methodology
can underestimate human impact because it uses conservative estimates, leaves
out some human activities, and excludes activities that systematically erode the
regenerative processes of nature (Wackernagel, 2002:3). Since these
inaccuracies tend to underestimate human impact, the ecological footprint is a
useful concept for minimally understanding how much area is needed to support
particular lifestyles. Environmental health issues, including access to safe water
and sanitation, are also a key part of the MDG environmental sustainability
goal. A numerical target was set for safe water—halving the proportion of the
population without safe water. The language for sanitation was more vague,
promising ―significant improvement‖ in the lives of urban slum dwellers. The
UN will use the proportion of people without access to safe water and
sanitation, disaggregated into rural and urban areas to measure these goals. To
further monitor life in slums, the UN will also examine the proportion of
households with access to secure tenure. Secure tenure is an important issue for
people in urban areas because it protects them from eviction.
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(8) Develop a global partnership for development
- Develop further an open trading and financial system that is rule-based,
predictable and non-discriminatory. Includes a commitment to good
governance, development and poverty reduction—nationally and
internationally.
- Address the special needs of the least developed countries. This includes
tariff and quota free access for their exports; enhanced programme of
debt relief for heavily indebted poor countries; and cancellation of
official bilateral debt; and more generous official development assistance
for countries committed to poverty reduction.
- Address the special needs of landlocked and Small Island developing
States.
- Deal comprehensively with the debt problems of developing countries
through national and international measures in order to make debt
sustainable in the long term.
- In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to
affordable essential drugs in developing countries.
- In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new
technologies, especially information and communications (UNDP, 2002).
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This goal has six sub-goals, more than any other MDG. Five sub-goals
reflect different aspects of a global partnership for development; they discuss
official development assistance, market access, debt, access to essential drugs,
and access to communications technology. The final sub-goal addresses
productive work for youth and does not really fit into this category but will be
discussed at the end of this section.
The indicators chosen by the UN for the sub-goal addressing Official
Development Assistance (ODA) are:
(a) Net ODA as a percentage of donor‘s Gross National Income (GNI);
(b) Proportion of bilateral ODA donated to basic social services;
(c) Proportion of ODA that is untied, and the proportion of ODA received in
(d) Landlocked; and,
(e) Small Island Developing States as a percent of their GNIs.
There has been a goal in the international community since the New
International Economic Order in 1974 that industrialized nations should give
0.7% of their GNI as development assistance each year (United Nations, 1974:
Sec. II). Although the number has been quoted many times since then, it was
not included as a numerical target within the MDGs. Total ODA is important,
but its distribution is often uneven as geo-strategically important countries
receive disproportionately large sums of aid. Measuring ODA both to all
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developing countries and to Least Developed Countries (LDCs) can help
monitor the distribution of ODA, perhaps increasing the funds sent to LDCs.
The United Nations is also measuring the percent of ODA available to
improve basic social services. The international community has defined a goal
of allocating 20% of ODA to basic social services though few countries achieve
this target (UNDP, 1998). The third way of looking at ODA is to examine the
percent of bilateral ODA that is untied. Tied ODA limits recipient countries in
how they can use the money—sometimes the restrictions allow for its use only
in certain sectors, other times they mandate that companies from the donor
country execute contracts resulting from the ODA funds (Murphy, 1984: 79).
By increasing untied aid, recipient countries are free to use the money where it
is most needed and in the most cost-effective way possible. Finally, the last two
indicators for ODA look particularly at the volume of aid given to Small Island
Developing States and landlocked countries (types of countries that have
particular difficulties to overcome). The market access sub-goal seeks to
increase developing countries‘ access to markets in industrialized countries.
The indicators measure:
(a) The proportion of total developed country imports from developing
countries and LDCs that are admitted free from duties;
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(b) The average tariffs imposed by developed countries on agricultural and
textile products from developing countries;
(c) An agricultural support estimate for OECD countries; and,
(d) The proportion of ODA allocated to build trade capacity.
The first and second indicators will identify how much market
penetration developing countries and LDCs have achieved and set a baseline
from which their markets share should increase over time. Focusing on tariffs
and support for agricultural and textiles imports is particularly important
because these are the industries in which developing countries have the greatest
competitive advantage. If subsidies and tariffs supporting textiles and
agriculture were removed then many developing countries could really benefit
from the increase in trade. Although these indicators were identified by the UN,
data is not yet collected for them (UN Statistics Division, 2002).
Finally, the last indicator of market access proposes to measure the
proportion of ODA that is targeted to help build trade capacity. This is
particularly important with the continuing Doha Round of World Trade
Organization (WTO) negotiations. An overwhelming array of issues in the
current negotiations and a dearth of highly qualified personnel to push forward
their agenda have hampered many developing countries in the WTO. An
increase in trade capacity would help many small or poor countries to better
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prepare their delegates for negotiations. The third sub-goal for building a global
partnership for development is that of sustainable debt. The UN wants to reduce
the burden of debt on extremely poor or indebted countries to a level where
they can reasonable pay off their creditors without sacrificing social services.
To measure this, the UN uses the World Bank and International Monetary
Fund‘s Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) program, which provides debt
relief from public and private creditors. The first indicator counts the total
number of countries that have reached their HIPC ―decision points‖ and their
HIPC ―completion points.‖ A country reaches its decision point when it
qualifies for debt relief (World Bank, 2002). The completion point is when the
country‘s debt has been reduced, restructured, and temporarily funded by IMF
and World Bank loans (World Bank, 2002). In addition to monitoring the
number of countries, the UN also measures the total dollar value of debt
canceled under the HIPC initiative.
Another indicator measures the proportion of ODA that can be used by
poor countries as a form of debt relief. This helps policymakers track how debt
has been reduced through different sources. Also, there are worries that some
bilateral creditors will switch from giving development aid to debt relief with
no net increase of funds. Such a transfer that would not provide additional
assistance to people in HIPCs (IMF, 2001). Measuring the proportion of ODA
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that can be used for debt relief over time would help monitor such a trend. The
final indicator for debt sustainability is the total debt service of a country as a
proportion of the value of their goods and services exports. Debt service is the
amount that a country must pay in a particular period to cover the interest rates
on their debt. Under the HIPC initiative, 150% is considered to be a sustainable
debt-to-exports ratio (World Bank, 2002).
Ratios greater than 150% indicate
situations in which the money being earned through exports cannot cover the
amount that the country owes. Thus much about the sustainability of a country‘s
debt can be ascertained from just this information.
The next sub-goal is to provide access to affordable essential drugs in
developing countries. This is particularly important for people suffering from
HIV/AIDS because while there are effective treatments available in the
developed world, they are so costly that people in developing countries cannot
afford them (UNAIDS, 2002). At the same time this goal is different because it
cannot be achieved without the involvement of the private sector. Some
pharmaceutical companies have sold discounted antiretroviral medications to
developing countries, but there is no system currently set up to help the poor
maintain access to these necessary medications.
The World Trade Organization
is debating issues associated with patents and medications, but has not yet
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negotiated a general agreement addressing access to antiretroviral medication
(WTO, 2002).
The United Nations also wants to make the benefits of new technologies
available to people in the developing world. The indicators to measure this are
telephone lines and cellular subscribers per one thousand people. To measure
computer use, the UN wants to look at personal computers per one hundred
people and Internet users per one hundred people. Another useful indicator is
Internet users per Internet host. Internet hosts are the companies that provide
Internet access. As they get increasingly crowded, the speed of connection
decreases making it difficult to maintain the reliable service necessary to
support Internet-based businesses.
Although these are important measures of access to technology and to
communication with individuals and institutions from far away, these indicators
do not measure the real potential of communications technology. An ideal
indicator would try to measure the extent to which Internet access is available in
communities (WEF, 2002:9). It is especially important to get Internet access in
schools so that children can become comfortable with computers and grow up
with new technologies. These types of data are not yet available, but perhaps
the United Nations could start collecting such information.
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Returning to the outlier in this category, the UN proposes to look at
unemployment rates of 15-24 year olds to measure progress in finding
productive work for youth. Finding productive work for youth is crucial both
because it reinforces the importance of completing a course of education and
because young people can be a source of civil strife if they are unable to find
productive work.
2.2 POVERTY REDUCTION PROGRAMMES OF THE
MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS
In a bid to achieve the Millennium Development Goals in particular, and the
Millennium Declaration in general, the United Nations came up with a road
map. According to a Report presented by the United Nations Secretary-General
to the Fifty-Sixth Session of the General Assembly on September 6, 2001,
The road map towards the implementation of the
United Nations Millennium Declaration contains an
integrated and comprehensive overview of the current
situation. It outlines potential strategies for action that
are designed to meet the goals and commitments
made by the 147 Heads of State and Government, and
189 Member States in total, who adopted the
Millennium Declaration.
The report addresses fully each and every one of the
goals and commitments contained in the Millennium
Declaration, suggest paths to follow and shares
information on ―best practices‖. It draws on the work
of Governments, the entire United Nations system,
including the Bretton Woods institutions and the
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World Trade Organization, intergovernmental
organizations, international organizations, regional
organizations and civil society (UN Document, 2001).
It should be noted that basically, the United Nations outlined the eight
development goals as a developmental policy guide to member-states. Much of
the work of the United Nations is to monitor the progress of these goals. Thus;
The millennium development goals are mutually
supportive and require multi-sectoral programmes
that tackle each of the goals simultaneously.
Countries should ensure that poverty reduction
strategies increase the focus on the poorest and most
vulnerable through an appropriate choice of
economic and social policies. Human rights should
be at the centre of peace, security and development
programmes. In addition, it is necessary to broaden
partnerships between all stakeholders, such as civil
society and the private sector.
The road map to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals,
therefore, outlines what is expected of United Nations member states
concerning each of these goals.
On the goal of eradicating extreme hunger and poverty, the Report stated
that in order to significantly reduce poverty and promote development, it is
essential to achieve sustained and broad-based economic growth. The
millennium development goals clearly highlighted some of the priority areas
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that must be addressed to eliminate extreme poverty. These goals include
commitments made by developed nations, such as increased Official
Development Assistance (ODA) and improved market access for exports from
developing countries. Again, it is imperative that the millennium development
goals be transformed into national goals and serve to increase the coherence and
consistency of national policies and programmes. They must also help reduce
the gap between what needs to be done and what is actually being done.
2.3 INCIDENCE OF POVERTY IN NIGERIA
It is a very fundamental paradox in Nigeria that about two –thirds of the
Nigerian population are poor despite living in a country with vast potential
wealth (NEEDS, 2005: xiii). Poverty is pervasive in Nigeria in particular and
Africa in general. In Sudan, particularly in the Dafur area, the level of poverty
is so high that million of women, children and men have been subjected to
extreme precarious existence. In the Central Republic of Congo, young men and
women work as slaves in mines in exchange for daily bread (Ifeanacho et al,
2009:1).
The World Bank (1990:26) defines poverty as the inability to attain
minimal standard of living. Poverty is a multifaceted concept, which manifests
itself in different forms depending on the nature and extent of human
112
deprivation. Poverty can be absolute or relative. In absolute terms, poverty
suggests insufficient or the total lack of basic necessities like food, housing and
medical cares. It embraces the inadequacy of education and environmental
services, consumer goods, recreational opportunities, neighbourhood amenities
and transport facilities. In relative terms, people are said to be poor when their
incomes fall radically below the community average (World Bank 2000). This
implies that such people cannot have what the larger society regard as the
minimum necessity for a decent living. Thus the World Bank defines the poor
as follows:
(a) Individuals and households lacking access to basic services, political
contacts and other forms of support;
(b) Households whose nutritional needs are not met adequately;
(c) Ethnic minorities who are marginalized, deprived and persecuted
economically, socially, morally, and politically; and,
(d) Individuals and households below the poverty line whose incomes are
insufficient to provide for their basic needs (World Bank, 2001).
Here poverty is measured as incomes that fall below the amount of money
needed for a minimally adequate supply of basic material resources like food,
clothing and shelter. Poverty, ignorance and disease mutually reinforce each
other.
113
In his discussion on poverty, Offiong (2001:96) noted that poverty is a
form of economic deprivation and disease is closely associated with it. Both
bring physical discomfort and prevent children as well as adults from reaching
their physical and mental potential. Those who cannot afford to eat well to
provide protection against disease and productive labour invariably suffer in
some other ways as well.
Olaniya and Bankole (2005:1) in a research paper submitted to the
African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) adopted Ogwumike (2002)‘s
position that there is no concise way of defining the concept of poverty, as it is
a multi-dimensional issue which affects many aspects of human condition
ranging from physical to moral and psychological. They went on to assert that
as a result, different forms of conceiving poverty have emerged over the years.
Hence some analysts have used the convention of regarding poverty as a
function of insufficient income levels for securing basic goods and services
Poverty has also been viewed as inability of individuals to subsist and to
produce for themselves as well as inability to command resources to achieve
these (Sen, 1981; Amis and Rakodi, 1994). Some researchers have denoted
poverty with the inability to meet basic nutritional needs (Dreze and Sen, 1990
etc). Others such as Musgrave and Ferber (1976) have used the levels of
consumption and expenditures to qualify the poor, while some like Singer
114
(1975) view poverty in part, as a function of education and /or health: life
expectancy at birth, child mortality, etc. Other development analysts see
poverty in very broad terms such as being unable to meet ―basic needs‖ –
physical (food, health care, education, shelter, etc.) and non-physical
(participation, identity, etc) requirement for a ―meaningful life‖ (Streeten, 1979;
Blackwood and Lynch, 1994).
The common practice is to conceptualize poverty in absolute or relative
terms (Fields, 2000). Absolute poverty is the lack of adequate resources to
obtain and consume a certain bundle of goods and services deemed basic. Such
a bundle of goods and services would contain an objective minimum of basic
necessities such as food; shelter and clothing. In this regard, absolute poverty
characterized by low calorie intake, poor housing conditions, inadequate health
facilities, poor quality of educational facilities, low life expectancy, high infant
mortality, low income, unemployment and under-employment. Using
consumption as the base line, any household that spends more than a specified
maximum of its income on basic needs such as food, housing, health care etc
are considered as poor. According to Gordon et al (2003:18), poverty is also
regarded as a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human
needs, including food, safe water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education
115
and information. It depends not only on income but also on access to social
services.
In relative terms, poverty is conceptualized in terms of the standard of
living that prevails in a given society. Thus, relative poverty exists where
households within a given country have per capita income of less than one-third
of the average per capita of such country (World Bank, 1997). Relative poverty
would occur where certain sections of a society do not have adequate income to
enable them have access to some basic needs being enjoyed by other sections of
such society. Poverty can also be subjective. Subjective poverty concept
requires the individuals (including the poor) to specify what they consider to be
a minimally adequate standard of living or an income or expenditure level they
personally considered to be absolute minimal (Ogwumike, 2002). There is also
material poverty, which is taken to imply lack of ownership and control of
physical assets such as land and animal husbandry (UNDP, 1997). This is
similar to the concept of exchange entitlement and capabilities propounded by
Sen (1981) and Dreze and Sen (1990). Other concepts of poverty that have
evolved over time include transitory and chronic poverty. Transitory poverty is
temporary, transient and short-term in nature while chronic poverty is a long-
term, persistent poverty, the causes of which are structural (Haddad and
Ahmed, 2003).
116
The 2003 National Millennium Development Goal Report indicates that
the poverty situation in Nigeria has been on the increase in both rural and urban
areas over the period 1980 to 1996. Rural poverty increased from 22% to
69.8%, while urban poverty increased from 17.6% to 55.2% over the period.
The poverty situation in Nigeria is precarious not only in income poverty but
also in terms of food poverty. On income poverty, the report noted a worsening
income inequality while on food poverty it stated that the proportion of
underweight children stood at 30.7% in 1999. The figure for rural food poverty
stood at 34.1% while that of the urban food poverty was 21.7% in 1999 (United
Nations MDG Report 2003).
The fact that Nigeria is blessed with abundant natural resources has not
helped matters. According to the National Economic Empowerment and
Development Strategy (NEEDS, 2004):
Though revenues from crude oil have been increasing
over the past decades, our people have been falling
deeper into poverty. In 1980, an estimated 27 percent
of Nigerians lived in poverty. By 1999, about 70
percent of the population had income of less than $1 a
day- and the figure has risen since then.
It is on record that in countries like Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Indonesia, United
Arab Emirates and Kuwait (which are all members of Organization of
117
Petroleum Exporting Countries), per capita income averages $2,000 and more.
Nigeria‘s $250 per capita income not only
seem odd, it is also worrisome to both local and international development
analysts (TELL, AUGUST 22, 2005:25).
There is no doubt that poverty has become an accepted reality of living in
Nigeria. The poverty here is absolute because there is no form of social security
in place. There is no safety net of any sort. Thus there is no level of poverty
beyond which any Nigerian cannot degenerate. Worse still, there is no form of
health insurance that is available to the poor. Nigeria compares unfavourably
with many African countries that do not possess half of her natural resources in
poverty terms (Ifeanacho et al, 2009:7).
118
Table 2.1: The incidence of poverty in the Developing World
Country Survey year Incidence of poverty %
Algeria 1995 <2
Bangladesh 2000 36
Botswana 1993 24
Brazil 1998 10
Cameroon 1996 33
Cote d Ivoire 1995 12
China 2000 16
Egypt 2000 3
Ghana 1999 45
India 1999-2000 35
Indonesia 2000 7
Jamaica 2000 <2
Niger 1995 61
Nigeria 1997 70
Senegal 1995 26
United Republic of Tanzania 1993 20
(Source: U.N. 2003 Report on the World’s Social Situation cited in
Ifeanacho et al 2009).
Even though the survey dates are not the same, it is worrisome that
countries like Ghana, Niger and Senegal have lower incidents of poverty than
119
Nigeria. Nigeria remains the 26th poorest nation on earth. The country is also
rated 158 out of 182 on the United Nations Human Development Index of
Social Indicators. The tables below present some indicators of human poverty
in Nigeria.
120
Table 2.2: Nigeria’s Human Development Index 2007
HDI value
Life expectancy
at birth
(years)
Adult literacy
rate
(% ages 15
and above)
Combined
gross
enrolment
ratio
(%)
GDP per capita
(PPP US$)
1. Norway
(0.971) 1. Japan (82.7)
1. Georgia
(100.0)
1. Australia
(114.2)
1. Liechtenstein
(85,382)
156. Lesotho
(0.514) 165. Mali (48.1)
110. Lao
People's
Democratic
Republic (72.7)
148. Bhutan
(54.1)
139. Djibouti
(2,061)
157. Uganda
(0.514)
166.
Mozambique
(47.8)
111. Tanzania
(United
Republic of)
(72.3)
149. Togo
(53.9)
140. Kyrgyzstan
(2,006)
158.Nigeria
(0.511)
167. Nigeria
(47.7)
112. Nigeria
(72.0)
150. Nigeria
(53.0)
141. Nigeria
(1,969)
159. Togo
(0.499)
168. Congo
(Democratic
Republic of the)
(47.6)
113. Malawi
(71.8)
151. Benin
(52.4)
142. Mauritania
(1,927)
160. Malawi
(0.493)
169. Guinea-
Bissau (47.5)
114.
Madagascar
(70.7)
152.
Cameroon
(52.3)
143. Cambodia
(1,802)
121
182. Niger
(0.340)
176. Afghanistan
(43.6)
151. Mali
(26.2)
177. Djibouti
(25.5)
181. Congo
(Democratic
Republic of the)
(298)
(Source: United Nations Human Development Report 2009)
The Table above, refers to 2007, highlights the very large gaps in well-
being and life chances that continue to divide our increasingly interconnected
world. The HDI for Nigeria is 0.511, which gives the country a rank of 158th
out of 182 countries with data. On life expectancy at birth, Nigeria ranks 167
with 47.7% while the adult literacy rate of those between 15 years and above is
72.0% which places Nigeria on the 112th position on the list. On the combined
gross enrollment ratio, Nigeria has 53% and ranks 150th
behind Togo and
Bhutan while Nigeria‘s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Dollars using the
Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) is 1,969, placing Nigeria on the 141st position
on the log.
Table 1.3 below presents some selected indicators of human poverty in
Nigeria. The Human Development Index (HDI) measures the average progress
of a country in human development. The Human Poverty Index (HPI-1) focuses
on the proportion of people below certain threshold levels in each of the
dimensions of the human development index - living a long and healthy life,
122
having access to education, and a decent standard of living. By looking beyond
income deprivation, the HPI-1 represents a multi-dimensional alternative to the
$1.25 a day (PPP US$) poverty measure (UNDP, 2009).
Nigeria has a HPI-1 value of 36.2% and ranks 114th among 135 countries for
which the index has been calculated.
The HPI-1 measures severe deprivation in health by the proportion of
people who are not expected to survive to age 40. Education is measured by the
adult illiteracy rate. And a decent standard of living is measured by the
unweighted average of people not using an improved water source and the
proportion of children under age 5 who are underweight for their age (UNDP,
2009). Table 1.3 shows the values for these variables for Nigeria and compares
them to other countries.
Table 2.3: Selected indicators of human poverty for Nigeria
Human
Poverty
Index (HPI-
1)
Probability of
not surviving
to age 40 (%)
Adult
illiteracy rate
(%ages 15
and above)
People not
using
improved
water source
(%)
Children
underweight
for age (%
aged under 5)
1. Czech
Republic
1. Hong Kong,
China (SAR)
1. Georgia
(0.0) 1. Barbados (0) 1. Croatia (1)
123
(1.5) (1.4)
112.
Bangladesh
(36.1)
144. Congo
(Democratic
Republic of
the) (37.3)
110. Lao
People's
Democratic
Republic
(27.3)
140. Chad (52) 109. Indonesia
(28)
113.
Madagascar
(36.1)
145. Guinea-
Bissau (37.4)
111. Tanzania
(United
Republic of)
(27.7)
141. Fiji (53)
110. Central
African
Republic (29)
114. Nigeria
(36.2)
146. Nigeria
(37.4)
112. Nigeria
(28.0)
142. Nigeria
(53)
111. Nigeria
(29)
115.
Mauritania
(36.2)
147. Angola
(38.5)
113. Malawi
(28.2)
143.
Madagascar
(53)
112. Djibouti
(29)
116. Burundi
(36.4)
148. Central
African
Republic (39.6)
114.
Madagascar
(29.3)
144. Congo
(Democratic
Republic of
the) (54)
113. Sri Lanka
(29)
135.
Afghanistan
(59.8)
153. Lesotho
(47.4)
151. Mali
(73.8)
150.
Afghanistan
(78)
138. Bangladesh
(48)
(Source: United Nations Human Development Report 2009)
124
Table 2.4: The GDI compared to the HDI – a measure of gender disparity
GDI as % of
HDI
Life expectancy
at birth(years)
2004
Adult literacy rate
(% ages 15 and
older) 2004
Combined primary,
secondary and tertiary
gross enrolment
ratio2004
Female as %
male Female as % male Female as % male
1. Mongolia
(100.0%)
1. Russian
Federation
(121.7%)
1. Lesotho
(122.5%) 1. Cuba (121.0%)
128. Lebanon
(97.7%)
181. Zambia
(102.3%)
107. Ghana
(81.3%)
153. Lao People's
Democratic Republic
(83.8%)
129. Oman
(97.7%)
182. Cameroon
(102.2%)
108. Uganda
(80.1%) 154. Tajikistan (83.7%)
130. Nigeria
(97.7%)
183. Nigeria
(102.1%)
109. Nigeria
(80.0%)
155. Nigeria
(83.0%)
131. Kuwait
(97.4%)
184. Uganda
(102.0%)
110. Tunisia
(79.9%)
156. Equatorial Guinea
(81.8%)
132. Austria
(97.4%)
185. Nepal
(101.9%)
111. Congo
(79.2%) 157. Ethiopia (81.6%)
155.
Afghanistan
(88.0%)
190. Swaziland
(98.0%)
145. Afghanistan
(29.2%)
175. Afghanistan
(55.6%)
(Source: United Nations Human Development Report 2009)
125
As much as the HDI measures average achievements in a country, it does
not incorporate the degree of gender imbalance in these achievements. The
Gender-related Development Index (GDI), introduced for the first time in
Human Development Report 1995, measures achievements in the same
dimensions using the same indicators as the HDI but captures inequalities in
achievement between women and men. It is simply the HDI adjusted downward
for gender inequality. The greater the gender disparity in basic human
development, the lower is a country's GDI relative to its HDI (UNDP, 2009).
Nigeria's GDI value, 0.499 should be compared to its HDI value of 0.511. Its
GDI value is 97.7% of its HDI value. Out of the 155 countries with both HDI
and GDI values, 129 countries have a better ratio than Nigeria's.
Table 1.4 above shows how Nigeria‘s ratio of GDI to HDI compares to other
countries, and also shows its values for selected underlying indicators in the
calculation of the GDI.
In its 2009 Learning Brief, the Global Call Against Poverty (GCAP)
stated that a review of the various MDGs implementation processes across
Nigeria suggests that poverty remains an endemic problem. It is rather
unfortunate and paradoxical that despite huge human and natural resources that
Nigeria is endowed with, Nigerians are still suffering from poverty, hunger and
126
diseases. With per capita income falling significantly to about $300 between
1990 and 2000, but rising to US$752 in 2007, 53.6% of Nigeria‘s over 140
million population are still living below poverty line indexed as persons earning
below one US Dollar per day according to the World Bank. This figure is akin
with a marginal difference to government‘s figure of 54.4% (76,161,972) of
Nigerians that are relatively poor and 35% that are extremely poor (Nigeria
2006 Millennium Development Goals Report and National Bureau of Statistics
Abuja 2008). In fact, as 53.6% Nigerians are living in poverty, about 78% of
them (APRM Country Review Report 2008) are living in rural areas while
about 67% are women (World Bank 2005).
On the issue of improved water supply, UNICEF Joint Monitoring
Programme (JMP) contends that of the 211 million without access to improved
sanitation in West Africa, 104 million are living in Nigeria. Again, from 1990
to 2006, only 4% of Nigerians gained access to improved sanitation while in
2008 only 30% of Nigerians have access to improved sanitation. It means that
70% of Nigerians are without improved sanitation. Nigeria is off target to meet
the MDG target for sanitation by 2015. At current rate of investment and
activities, it is estimated that Nigeria will achieve the MDG sanitation goal in
2138 (GCAP, 2009). From 1990 to 2006 the percentage of Nigerians with
127
access to safe drinking water dropped by 3%. Access to safe drinking water is
thus a mirage as 72 million Nigerians have no access to it.
The implications for these staggering figures are myriad: diarrhoeal
resulting from ingesting of unsafe water and poor sanitary conditions is the
second highest killer of children in Nigeria killing on the average 410 children
every day driving the high incidence of child mortality (GCAP, 2009). The
attendant problem associated with lack of access to safe sanitation locks the
over 70% of Nigerians living on less than $1 a day in a circle of poverty and is
also not just a major obstacle to achieving the other MDG targets, but also
compounds the issue of poverty.
Corroborating the claim that 65% of population lack access to food
necessary for healthy life, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water
Resources agrees that Nigeria ranks 20th on the Global Hunger Index (GHI)
(The Nation May 31, 2008). Land tenure system in Nigeria has hampered rather
than complement the poverty situation. Majority of farmers do not own land for
farming and other purposes that will contribute to poverty eradication. In some
parts of Nigeria, land ownership is worse for women farmers who cannot own
land except on the consent of their husbands. Food security is not guaranteed
due to lack of land, poor storage and poor government support to genuine
farmers.
128
Generally speaking, one might conveniently conclude that poverty in
Nigeria has declined from over 70% that it was few years ago to about 54%
now. However, people still continue to suffer pronounced deprivation even as
the implementation of National Economic Empowerment Development
Strategy (NEEDS) reforms continue as large number of poor Nigerians are
trapped in chronic, long-term poverty that is transmitted from generation to
generation (APRM Country Review Report 2008).
In thirty years, Nigeria generated an estimated $320 billion from oil
revenues, invested in infrastructures and service provision without a
commensurate boost in the real sector. A whooping sum of US$16 billion
dollars was wantonly spent on power sector between 1999 and 2007 without a
corresponding result. Thousands of Nigerians involved in small and medium
scale business enterprises are thrown into poverty due to epileptic, erratic (and
more often than not, non-functioning) power supply from the Power Holding
Company of Nigeria (PHCN) – the sole authority that is vested with the
statutory function of supplying electricity. This is closely related to one other
outstanding issue which fuels poverty - unemployment. Nigeria is ranked 139
of 196 countries with the highest unemployment rate with the percentage of 4.9
(CIA World Factbook, 2009).
129
From the foregoing, it could be seen that the implementation of the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) has not reduced the incidence of
poverty in Nigeria. This conclusion drawn based on the available data at hand
thus validates the hypothesis which states that the implementation of the
Millennium Development Goals have not reduced the incidence of poverty in
Nigeria.
130
CHAPTER THREE
POLITICAL CORRUPTION AND POLICY IMPLEMENTATION
The report of the African Peer Review Mechanism on Nigeria released recently
indicates that about 70 per cent of Nigerians (about 98 million) are poor. This,
the report states, translates into six per cent of all poor people in the world. The
report attributes the scourge to corruption in political and economic spheres,
describing it as ―the greatest and most troubling challenge facing the nation.‖
The APRM report also says too much power is concentrated on the central
government, inhibiting ―true federalism.‖ It lists the country‘s inability to
effectively implement policies and laws, weak political will and lack of
accountability in the public sector as the major challenges to the nation‘s
development.
Presenting the report in Abuja, the Chairperson of the APRM Panel of
Eminent Persons, Prof. Adebayo Adedeji, said ―ineffective implementation of
policies and laws: frequent policy reversals have also been a hindrance to the
enthronement of good governance. This is attributed to weak political will and
lack of accountability mechanisms in the public sector. Nigeria also faces the
challenges of reversing some values and attitudinal practices, particularly
during the later part of its military history.‖
131
No doubt, poverty is the direct consequence of inept and grossly
irresponsible leadership in the country. Being a major exporter of crude, Nigeria
has no reason to be among the poorest countries in the world. The unacceptable
reality, however, is that the people‘s quality of life is witnessing a rapid nose-
dive, resulting in declining access to electricity, clean water, education, medical
and other essential services. Ten years into democratic rule, Nigeria remains
one of the most corrupt countries in the world. It is generally reckoned that
corruption and mismanagement gulp about 40% of Nigeria‘s $20 billion annual
oil income (http://www.articlesbase.com/politics-articles/leadership-crisis-and-
failures-in-nigeria-614119.html).
In Transparency International‘s Corruption Perception Index 2009,
Nigeria obtained a score of 2.5 out of a possible 10 points, placed in 130th
position out of the 180 countries ranked on the global scale, emerged 27th out
of the surveyed 47 nations in sub-Saharan Africa, and 33rd out of the 53
countries in Africa (Transparency International, 2009).
The UNICEF reckons that one Nigerian woman dies every 10 minutes
due to complication of pregnancy and childbirth, while over 500 newborns die
daily (http://www.unicef.org/factoftheweek/index_39707.html). An
unacceptably high under-five mortality rate remains a problem. The awful data,
132
the Health Minister, Professor Babatunde Osotimehin, says, places Nigeria in
the unenviable position of being the second largest contributor to under-five and
maternal death in the world. ―After 49 years of managing its own affairs, the
Nigerian economy has failed to keep pace with rapid growth in population,
increasing expectations and the development of performance peer countries,‖
the UNDP Human Development Report for Nigeria 2008-2009 states.
At the root of the nation‘s backwardness is a worsening crisis of
leadership. Owing to a flawed electoral process, those that should not be close
to the seat of power have rigged themselves to the driving seats of national
development (Sheyin, 2007). The nation therefore requires a comprehensive
electoral reform in order to put committed and competent persons in leadership
positions.
This chapter will, therefore, assess the implementation of the Millennium
Development Goals in Nigeria and the role political leadership has played in the
implementation. Again, the implication of policy failure on sustainable
development in Nigeria will also be x-rayed.
133
3.1 Implementation of the Millennium Development Goals in Nigeria: An
Assessment
In a bid to achieve the eight development goals contained in the millennium
declaration, the Federal Government of Nigeria set up an MDG Office. The
MDG Office is presently under the supervision of the Office of the Senior
Special Assistant to the President on MDGs, Hajiya Amina J. Ibrahim, OFR.
The Millennium Declaration of 2000 gave to the world a global compact
for development against which every member of the global community is
expected to deliver as a matter of necessity. The eight elements of the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) thus constitute the benchmarks for all
nations to aim at fulfilling by 2015. Thus President Umaru Musa Yar‘Adua
GCFR (2008: V) in his Foreword to the Mid-Point Assessment of the
Millennium Development Goals in Nigeria 2000-2007 observed that:
At the beginning of this 15-year agenda setting, the
hopes were high and commitment strong. Half way
through the timeline, many countries are off-track while
some struggle to maintain the past successes they had
achieved. If, as a nation, we are to meet the MDGs by
2015, much will still have to be done by all three tiers
of government in genuine and robust partnership with
our international partners, the civil society and the
private sector.
Two points are clear from the above, viz: that some countries have
veered off the track while others are trying to consolidate their achievements
134
and that much more are yet to be done if the goals are to be met come 2015. An
assessment of the implementation of the goals will determine to which category
Nigeria belong.
Following the Millennium Declaration of 2000, Nigeria began the
systematic implementation of several policies and programmes to help it attain
the different targets set for the MDGs by 2015. Over the years, stakeholders
have modified a few targets and refocused them to reflect local peculiarities as
well as target more specific and measurable problems. The eight development
goals will be analyzed below with a view to outlining the challenges, strategies
as well as progress made so far in its implementation.
Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger.
This goal has three targets which are to halve, between 1990 and 2015,
the proportion of people whose income is less than one dollar a day; achieve
full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and
young people; and, halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people
who suffer from hunger.
Thus the Federal Government of Nigeria in its considered opinion stated
that Agriculture, which is the largest contributor to the country‘s Gross
Domestic Product (GDP), is very central to achieving this goal (FGN, 2008:9).
135
To do this, the Agricultural sector must be revamped for effective performance.
Thus the Federal Government of Nigeria acknowledged that there are some
challenges are militating against effective performance of the sector. These
included addressing the dominance of aged people in agriculture, promoting the
use of, and increasing access to, modern implements. Others are promoting
strong industrial processing technology and linkages, encouraging agriculture
sector-market linkages, promoting stable costs of production and stabilizing the
constantly declining purchasing power of farmers.
The specific strategies mapped out to address these challenges include:
- Instituting policies and ongoing programmes aimed at addressing this
goal. These include youth empowerment, conditional cash transfer, conditional
grants to state governments and the Presidential Initiatives on various
agricultural commodities and micro finance. Nonetheless, other pro-poor
programmes should be restructured, reinforced, sustained and deepened for
maximum impact. It is also necessary to put in a robust framework that will
enable a post evaluation of the programmes to improve quality and encourage
rapid scale up where results are delivered.
- Quickening improvements in infrastructure, services and human resource
capacity, particularly in the rural areas. Besides, government at all levels
must step up efforts to improve rural physical infrastructure (roads, rail,
136
electricity, water, telecommunications, irrigation, markets, etc) with clear
roles and responsibilities for each tier of government and the private
sector.
- Strengthening industrial processing technology, market linkages and
increased public investment in the agricultural sector to boost employment in
and income from agriculture, which is the main occupation of the largest
proportion of poor households
- Increasing investments in agriculture and promoting modern equipment
and technology transfer to attract the younger generation into the sector.
- Providing more efficient and wider social safety nets with particular
focus on the core poor and vulnerable groups, such as AIDS orphans,
widows, the needy and women with VVF.
- Strengthening social security intervention programme for aging members
of the society by establishing community-based care scheme for the
elderly.
- Empowering all the agencies and parastatals under the Ministry of
Agriculture operationally, technically and financially to deliver on their
mandates more efficiently and effectively.
- Improving urgently all the coordination, monitoring and evaluation of
poverty eradication efforts in the country (FGN 2008:2-3).
137
Given the above strategies, the proportion of the population living in
relative poverty was expected to have fallen to 28.78 per cent in 2007, if the
MDG target is to be met in 2015. However, among every ten Nigerians in that
year, five were still living in poverty (National Bureau of Statistics Abuja,
2006). An analysis of poverty incidence by sectors indicated that poverty was
more pronounced in the rural areas than in the urban. Similarly, while poverty
was more pronounced among farmers and larger households headed by persons
with lower levels of education, income inequality was more pronounced in
urban centres. Unemployment rate in Nigeria rose from about 12 out of 100
working age people in 1999 to 18 in 2005 with the rate of youth unemployment
rising in the urban areas than in the rural (National Planning Commission, 2004,
2005 & 2006).
Goal 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education
This goal has one major target of ensuring that, by 2015, children
everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of
primary schooling. The Educational sector in Nigeria is faced with numerous
problems. The critical ones include addressing inequality in terms of gender,
geographic zones, states and local governments; quality of learning outcomes;
coping with enrolment explosion in primary schools; inadequate capacity of
teachers and ministries to implement educational policies; and infrastructural
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decay in schools, especially the dearth of teaching and learning materials.
Quality assurance mechanisms are also poor due to weak inspectorate and
regulatory divisions of the Ministry of Education at all levels of government.
Improving, sustaining and consolidating operational modality and efficiency of
the Universal Basic Education (UBE) programme has also become an issue in
advancing progress on this goal (FGN, 2008: 4-5).
Specific strategies designed to facilitate the achievement of this goal are as
follows:
- Increased budgetary allocation at state and local government levels to
carry out the UBE programme as originally envisaged;
- Development of basic education curriculum which must not alienate the
learners from the community instead, it should integrate them by
preparing them for the world of work and to contribute to national
integration;
- Recruitment and promotion of teachers based on merit, teachers‘ salaries
should be enhanced and productivity based, and training of teachers
should be regularized in order to improve the quality of teachers;
- Greater and special attention should be paid to the education of
physically challenged children;
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- Minimum governance, management and accountability arrangements in
schools should be institutionalized and enforced in a way that promotes
operational efficiency and effectiveness. Parent-teachers association
should be fully involved in the management and supervision of schools;
- Regular tracking of budgetary allocations to schools by independent
monitoring groups should be institutionalized and the results published.
The country is on the road to achieving the goal of universal primary
education by 2015. Net enrolment ratio in primary education has consistently
increased. From about 8 in every 10 eligible children in 2004, it increased to 9
in 2007 as a result of the implementation of Universal Basic Education (UBE)
programme (FGN, 2008:6). This was complemented with the upsurge in the
establishment of private primary schools. Literacy rate has also continued to
increase; the urban areas have, however, fared better relative to the rural areas.
Primary Six completion rate however declined from 8 pupils out of 10 in 2004
to 7 in 2007 (FGN,2008:7). The literacy rate of 15-24-year-olds also rose from
6 out of 10 students to 8 during the same period (National Bureau of Statistics,
2005). In all these indicators females lag behind males and more seriously in
primary completion rate.
The significant achievements recorded here can be attributed to several
factors. This ranges from the launch of free and compulsory Universal Basic
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Education in 2004 and its subsequent vigorous implementation in many states
of the federation (whose focus is the first nine years of basic schooling) and the
comprehensive educational reform in 2006 (including education sector analysis
and 10-year education sector plan). The implementation of debt relief gains in
the sector led to the in-service training of 145,000 teachers and the recruitment
of 45,000 new teachers across the country in addition to the provision of
primary school facilities (classrooms, toilets, instructional materials). Moreover,
the Girls Education Project (GEP), a joint government effort supported by
UNICEF/DFID, has been scaled up with the debt relief resources over the past
three years (Federal Government of Nigeria, 2008: 5).
Goal 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women
Addressing the root cause of gender inequality remains a cardinal issue in
making progress on this goal. Some of the factors include social, economic,
tradition and culture, religion, patriarchy and low education. Of significant
importance is early child marriage and child-labour. Poverty was also identified
as a key driver of gender inequality. Other identified constraints were weak
mechanism for monitoring the implementation of gender-related programmes;
weak integration of gender and women empowerment into various development
programmes especially at state and local government levels; poor budgetary
allocations to the educational sector; inefficient use of budgetary allocations;
141
employment prospects for girls as well as women; and apathy to women in
politics.
In order to overcome the above challenges, the Federal Government of
Nigeria outlined the following strategies:
Passage and full implementation of Child Rights Laws in all States of the
country;
Encouragement of greater use of the National Child Policy and
Guidelines;
Provision of an enabling environment (e.g., grants) to attract more child
care projects from the Civil Society Organizations;
Promotion of girl-child enrolment, retention, completion and high
performance in school;
Capacity building, training and advocacy for women in politics;
Mainstreaming of gender issues into relevant development programmes
and Policies; and,
Demonstrating more commitment to the policy that prescribes at least 30
per cent of public positions for women on merit by government.
Progress towards this goal is improving gradually but inequality continues to
subsist in various aspects of life of men and women in Nigeria. For instance, the
proportion of girls enrolled in primary, secondary and tertiary education is still
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lower than that of boys (about 8 girls to every 10 boys), but there is a positive
trend in girls‘ enrolment for all levels of education. For primary school
enrolment, there was sustained increase in girls‘ enrolment from 2000 to 2007,
while in the secondary schools, a steady increase in girl‘s enrolment was
observed from 2005 when about 9 girls to every 10 boys were in school
(National Bureau of Statistics, 2005).
Women are still grossly under-represented at the highest decision making
levels, such as the National Assembly. Although there has been some
improvement (from 3 women to 100 men in 2000 to about 8 women to 100 men
in 2007), the rate of improvement is considered very slow in relation to the 30
women to every 100 men recommended by the Beijing Platform for Action
which has been adopted as the national policy.
The policy environment has been improving with increased advocacy on
Acceleration of Girls‘ Child Education in Nigeria (SAGEN), Child Friendly
Initiative, mainstreaming into state and local government development
strategies, Female Functional Literacy for Health (FFLH) Project, etc. Since
1999, the Federal Government has started to balance gender in top-level
decision making. This has started to yield positive results at the state level too.
As at 2007, there were six female deputy governors (e.g. in Anambra, Ogun,
Osun and Plateau states) compared to only 2 in 2003, while the number of
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women Speakers at the State Houses of Assembly had also increased (FGN,
2008:7).
Goal Four: Goal 4: Reduce Child Mortality
The goal of reducing child mortality in Nigeria by the year 2015 has been
compounded by a number of challenges. In its Mid-Point Assessment of the
implementation of the Millennium Development Goals, the Federal
Government of Nigeria listed some of those challenges as follows:
Poor health-seeking behaviour compounded by
cultural and sometimes religious beliefs is still a key
challenge. Poor funding and weak management of
public health resources have also continued to pose
another serious challenge. This has led largely to lack
of skilled and motivated medical staff and hospitals
without drugs and equipment. The problems of
transportation and epileptic power supply affect the
proper movement of medical equipment and
preservation of vaccines and other consumables.
These are serious challenges particularly in the
riverine areas. This is compounded by limited referral
system between primary and secondary health
facilities as well as the existence fake drugs in spite of
the appreciable efforts of the federal government to
curb the menace (FGN, 2008:8).
To tackle these challenges, certain strategies were mapped out. These
include the institution of a more focused approach to rejuvenate all existing
primary healthcare institutions through the collaborative efforts of federal, state
and local governments; the establishment of a more comprehensive strategy for
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monitoring health care delivery needs to be fashioned out with adequate
involvement of key stakeholders; increased campaign against unfavourable
religious and cultural beliefs that have adverse effects on accessing health
facilities, such as willful release of children for immunization and taking blood
sample and the encouragement of the adoption of safe health-seeking and
healthy living practices.
Others are the improvement in health sector funding in line with
international practices; the encouragement of the immunization programme to
go beyond the current campaign approach with ad hoc support for routine
immunization; creation of incentives for attracting medical personnel into the
rural areas; encouraging the international development partners to scale up
technical and financial support to primary health care in aid of the new Health
Bill and the Health Investment Plan amongst others.
Thus far, statistical data from World Health Organization, UNICEF, and
National Bureau of Statistics among others point to the fact that limited
progress has been recorded on this goal. According to the Federal Ministry of
Health, infant mortality rate actually rose from 81 per 1000 live births in year
2000 to 110 per 1000 live births in 2005/06, which is farther away from the
global target of 30 per 1000 live births in 2015. Besides, the target percentage
of one year-olds fully immunized is expected to be total; so far, the proportion
145
only increased from 32.8 per cent in 2000 to 60 per cent in 2007 (UNICEF,
2007). This is about 50 per cent increase over a period of eight years. This slow
pace has accounted for the increase in avoidable diseases such as polio. For
instance, polio cases rose from 201 in 2007 to 651 cases in 2008. With this,
Nigeria has 86 per cent of the total number of polio cases in the world.
Under-5 mortality rate also increased from 184 per 1000 live births in
2000 to 201 per 1000 live births in 2007 (National Planning Commission,
2008). This trend may continue if critical steps are not taken to address the
situation. This is in spite of the introduction of Integrated Management of
Childhood Illness (IMCI) Strategy, Integrated Maternal Newborn and Child
Health Strategy (IMNCHS), Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response
(IDSR), intensive capacity building for health workers and Community
Resource Persons (CORPs) and the Integrated Child Survival and Development
Strategic Framework and Plan of Action (2005-2009) to guide implementation
of child survival interventions by government at all levels. The Federal
Government claims that through the implementation of debt relief gains in this
area, 166 new primary health care centres were built and 207 rehabilitated
across the country in 2006 alone (FGN, 2008:8).
146
Goal 5: Improve Maternal Health
As much as poor state of the health infrastructure in the country is a
direct contributory factor to the observed poor maternal health outcomes, two
layers of challenges are stand out. The first one is the issue of how to address
the long-standing cultural, social, political and economic factors that have
contributed to precarious maternal health in Nigeria. The second challenge is
how to effectively address the following: inadequate skilled manpower in state
hospitals and primary health centres, poor motivation system, inadequate
funding, poor management of health sector resources, weak transparency and
accountability framework in the sector. Others are aversion to Caesarean
section and unaffordable costs of antenatal care, delivery care and postnatal
care. Basic essential obstetrics care is also not available in most facilities and
many doctors and health workers are reluctant to serve in rural areas (FGN,
2008:10).
To address these problems faced by the health sector, the following
strategies were mapped out (in addition to the strategies mentioned in Goal 4
above):
Effective implementation of Safe Motherhood Programme and the
insistence on
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this as a precondition for accessing DRG spent on health issues at the
state level;
Full implementation of universal access to reproductive health across the
three tiers of government;
Articulation and implementation of the National Maternal New Born
Child;
Strategy and the creation of demand for public health facility-based
reproductive health services by scaling up the provision of free delivery
of facilities, free essential Obstetrics & Gynaecology care and use pre-
natal clinic to give away ITNs in all federal, state and private not-for-
profit health facilities;
Development and application of behavioural change strategy on
reproductive and basic health;
Promotion of strong health referral systems in the country and the
strengthening of coordinating mechanisms at the local level;
Continuous capacity improvement of health institutions, including hiring
adequate and qualified health personnel, regular training of health
personnel, rehabilitation of existing institutions and provision of basic
equipment;
148
Development of effective consultative, cooperative and coordination
mechanism/ strategy across key stakeholders starting from federal-state-
LGA cooperation and coordination; government-private-CSOs
cooperation and coordination; and government-CSOs-development
partners cooperation and coordination mechanisms. Beneficiaries‘
involvement is also required.
Despite the implementation of these strategies, the reduction of maternal
mortality still represents a major challenge for Nigeria. Midway to the target
date for achieving the MDGs, the Maternal Mortality Rate should be 440 per
100,000 live births (UNICEF, 2008). The reality, however, shows that in the
rural areas, it was 828 deaths per 100,000 live births, and 531 deaths per
100,000 live births in urban areas. Disparity was very wide on zonal basis.
Approximately two-thirds of all Nigerian women and three-quarters of the rural
women deliver outside of health facilities and without medically-skilled
attendants present (UNICEF, 2008). The factors responsible for this include
poor attitudes to antenatal and postnatal care and low quality of health care
delivery as well as poor attitudes to reproductive health.
Overall, the Federal Government of Nigeria in its mid-point assessment of
the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals in Nigeria
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acknowledged that progress towards the attainment of the target is slow (FGN,
2008:11).
Goal 6: Combat HIV and AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases
Meeting the targets for Goal 6 is still threatened by partial
implementation of the Action
Plans in some states, lack of harmonization of the State Action Plan with the
state budget cycle, and inadequate capacity building and technical support for
implementation of the operational plan for HIV & AIDS. Concerning the Roll
Back Malaria initiative in Nigeria, the main challenges faced include restricted
acceptability and use of bed nets, inadequate focus of Roll-Back Malaria
(RBM) programme on vector control and environmental health, anti-malaria
drug resistance and poor implementation of other vital activities such as training
as well as behavioural and communication change (Ibid p. 13). In all,
addressing the increasing cost of health care deserves attention.
Some of the basic strategies for achieving Goal 6 are:
Implementation of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA),
especially the five-year National Strategic Framework for Action (2005-2009),
which is guiding the national response to HIV & AIDS, and the National Policy
on HIV & AIDS in the workplace; equipping all the institutional and human
capacity involved in the management of Roll Back Malaria programme in order
150
to scale up its activities and resources and enforce transparency and
accountability in the management of such resources as well as developing an
integrated approach for engaging development partners in addressing HIV,
malaria and TB for better results and impact amongst others.
Remarkable progress has been made on HIV & AIDS since 2003.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (2005), the prevalence rate of
HIV & AIDS dropped from about 5 in every 100 Nigerians in 2003 to about 4
in 2005 thus reflecting a downward trend in HIV & AIDS prevalence. Among
pregnant women aged 15-49 years, this has also declined over the last few years
(from 6 out of every 100 pregnant women aged 15-49 years in 2001 to5 in 2003
and 4 in 2005), the Bureau noted. The same trend has been observed among
young pregnant women aged 15-24 years (a drop from 5 in 2003 to 4 in 2005
for every 100 women in this category).
The decline notwithstanding, there is disparity across various regions and
states. The Federal Ministry of Health estimates the number of AIDS orphans to
be 1.97 million, which mark them as a major vulnerable group in the country.
Since HIV prevalence in the younger age bracket (15-24 years) is generally
accepted to be indicative of the level of HIV incidence, this development
suggests a modest decline in the number of new infections in the country (FGN,
2008:16).
151
Also, a reduction has been recorded in the number of reported cases of
malaria and tuberculosis. According to the National Programme on
Immunization, the prevalence rate of malaria declined from 2,024 per 100,000
in 2000 to 1,158 in 2004. The Roll Back Malaria Initiative contributed to the
success. This notwithstanding, the National Primary Health Care Development
Agency reports that malaria accounted for 60 per cent of out-patients, 30 per
cent of hospital patients and an annual average of 300,000 deaths, including 11
per cent of maternal mortality. Its highest incidence was found in children and
pregnant women.
– a pointer for policy targeting. Substantial resources were lost to malaria in the
form of treatment, prevention and productivity loss (FGN, 2008:9).
Tuberculosis (TB) which remains a public health problem in the country also
declined from 16 per 100,000 in 2000 to 7 per 100,000 in 2004, as at 2006
(UNICEF,2007). The mere positive detection rate of 27 per cent in 2005 fell
short of the 70 per cent global standard (United Nations Populations Fund,
2009).
Goal 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability
Nigeria‘s environmental challenges are numerous and reflect different
vegetation and topographic spread. Some of these environmental challenges
include:
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…oil pollution, gas flare, ocean surge, erosion and
flooding, deforestation, desertification, water pollution
and poor sanitation. The increasing wave of oil pipeline
vandalism, blowing up of flow stations and exploration
activities all contribute to oil pollution in the oil
producing areas (FGN, 2008).
Others include the growing problem of urban air pollution due to increasing
number of highly polluting vehicles, weak institutional framework for
environmental management (especially at the state and local government
levels), while appropriate framework for the participation of the private sector
in environmental conservation and management is still lacking. Slow rate of
introduction and adoption of efficient and environment-friendly technologies in
waste management, inadequate power generation, as well as poor air pollution
control in industries remain important risk factors.
The growth rate of population, especially in urban centres, outstripped
the growth of water and sanitation facilities. This is partly the result of
inadequate investment in water and sanitation infrastructure. Inadequate
coordination among federal, state and local governments in the provision of
water and sanitation is also a challenge. Poverty makes people to use
environmental resource as an economic coping strategy in a way that depletes
the natural resource base.
153
Other challenges are poor application and adoption of affordable and
adaptable technologies for water supply, poor housing financing and delivery
systems that has persistently excluded the poor and high cost of land which also
compounds access of the poor to land. Another issue is inadequate attention to
scaling up desert reclamation and afforestation programmes in spite of some
successful interventions at the local level.
The specific strategies mapped out by the government to tackle these challenges
include:
Continuous integration of sustainable development ideals into national,
state and local development plans and strategies, and committed
implementation of such plans, including the Niger Delta Development
(NDD) Plan of Action/New Ministry for the Niger Delta;
Involvement of the community in securing oil installations across the oil
producing communities;
Adoption of a more effective mechanism for controlling logging,
deforestation and marine fishing and committed implementation of
afforestation and desert acclamation programmes;
Establishment of sanitation inspection officers at local government areas
to enforce local sanitation laws and community cleanliness;
154
Implementation of a growing investment in water and sanitation
infrastructure and related services by not less than 10 per cent annually at
the federal, state and local government levels as well as the adoption of
public-private partnership in the provision of such infrastructure;
Scaling up of urban renewal projects of the federal and state governments
as well as the refocusing of public and private housing financing and
delivery systems to include the poor;
Reduction of cost of building materials by promoting increased domestic
production through local competition; and
Integration of technical and financial support from development partners
to environmental agencies for institutional and human capacities to
strengthen the sourcing, maintenance, analysis and dissemination of
environmental statistics.
Limited progress has been recorded on this goal. For instance, the proportion
of land area covered by forests is said to have fallen from 14.6 per cent in 2000
to 12.6 per cent in 2007 against the target of 20 per cent by 2015 according to
the Federal Ministry of Environment. This is largely attributable to lack of
serious commitment to the various afforestation programmes. Gas flaring has
also continued to constitute environmental menace in the oil producing areas,
even though the proportion of gas flared fell from 53.0 per cent in 2000 to 34.0
155
per cent in 2007 (National Bureau of Statistics). Progress towards ending gas
flaring has been encouraging, particularly as the 2008 deadline given to oil
producing companies draws near. With respect to potable water, the proportion
of people with access to safe drinking water gradually rose from 54.0 per cent
in 2000 to 60.0 per cent in 2005/2006 (Federal Ministry of Agriculture and
Water Resources). The proportion of population with access to basic sanitation
also dropped from 42.9 per cent in 2000 to 38 per cent in recent times (Nigerian
Institute of Social and Economic Research).
The poor progress in achieving access to basic sanitation is partly a result of
the expansion and development of squatter settlements and slums. Many
neighbourhoods lack basic sanitation facilities and this trend is likely to
continue unless painstaking efforts are made in this direction.
Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development
For Nigeria to benefit maximally from globalization, significant
improvement in its competitiveness is necessary. This can be done through the
improvement in access to basic infrastructure (such as transport, energy, water,
and social infrastructure – health and education), improved security of life and
property and reducing the cost of doing business in the country. Others include
promoting Nigeria‘s goods, especially making its agricultural products
accessible to Western markets through the removal of trade barriers and
156
agricultural subsidies on developed countries‘ products. There is also a need to
encourage all states to reinforce their debt management mechanisms to forestall
a relapse into an unsustainable debt regime which could weaken the country‘s
fiscal position and threaten the attainment of the MDGs (FGN, 2008:15).
Some of the specific strategies to achieve this goal include the need to:
Integrate external and domestic debt management strategies to effectively
fund development projects at the federal, state and local government
levels;
Attract more FDIs through guided capital account reform and FDI policy
to optimize its development relevance;
Create a conducive political and economic environment to attract more
development assistance;
Implement ODA policy within the context of the Paris Declaration by
promoting effective donor coordination and harmonization to ensure
mutual accountability between national institutions and development
partners;
Develop appropriate debt sustainability analysis for domestic and foreign
debts and set benchmarks and mechanisms for early warning;
Implement the provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act and the Public
157
Procurement Act at the federal level and mount a strong advocacy for
their adoption at the state and local government levels;
Enforce high-quality ICT in urban and rural areas and develop a
framework that ensures high tele-density, enforce service providers to be
efficient and responsive to consumers and protect consumers‘ rights;
Enforce the local content policy in the extractive industries in a way that
promotes local job and wealth creation in the upstream and downstream
subsectors of the oil industry; and,
Implement the economic diplomacy component in the country‘s foreign
policy in a way that promotes strategic engagement at the regional and
international arena.
The progress made by the country in this area could be seen in the fact that it
is actively participating in a number of regional initiatives such as the African
Union (AU) and the New Partnership for Africa‘s Development (NEPAD). The
country also belongs to a number of bilateral and multilateral trade pacts such
as Nigerians using the internet rose from 0.68 in every 1000 persons in 2000 to
38.1 in 2005 (UNDP). Even at that, internet access is still very low in the
country relative to other similar countries (FGN, 2008:15).
The Table 4.1 below presents the status of the implementation of the MDGs
in Nigeria at a glance.
158
159
(Source: Mid-Point Assessment of the Millennium Development Goals in
Nigeria 2000-7)
160
3.4 Political Leadership and Implementation of the Millennium
Development Goals
Political leadership is a ruler that guides the people to achieve development
visions or goals. It is critical to a country‘s development (Eneh, 2007).
A development project is a subset of a programme, which is a long-term
development plan (five, ten years). A project is an activity sometimes within a
programme directed towards the achievement of given objectives (Onah, 2006).
To avoid failure arising from deviation and human error element, and to
ensure the realization of project objectives, monitoring and evaluation are
undertaken. It involves coordination and efficient use of resources for the
attainment of stated objectives. Monitoring assesses the quantity as well as the
quality of the activities and output. It is mostly concerned with the delivery
process. The exercise leads to the discovery of difficulties that were not
foreseen before the commencement of the work. Amendments may thus be
recommended. Monitoring precedes evaluation, and is used to ensure progress
towards expected outcomes. Evaluation usually comes at the end of a project or
programme. There could be midterm evaluation to know the impact of a
programme on the people (Jhingan, 2007).
161
According to Wikipedia, Leadership may refer to ―Those entities that
perform one or more acts of leading,‖ ―ability to affect human behaviour so as
to accomplish a mission,‖ and ―influencing a group of people to move towards
its goal setting or goal achievement.
Thus, Obi (2003) contended that the political leadership of modern states has a
primary objective of improving the quality of life of their people. This they
attempt to realize through putting in place economic and social programs that
will address the needs of their people. For developing economies, the objective
is usually to improve living standards and have as many of their people as
possible placed above and beyond the poverty line. For already developed
economies, the political leadership endeavors to sustain the level of
development already attained while striving to improve in those areas in which
the Human Development Index (HDI) indicates a need for improvement. The
issue of human development, therefore, is of critical concern since it can be
perceived as a measure of how well the ship of state is steered in identifying
and meeting the needs of its people. It is also an indication of the level of
participation of the people in governance in terms of articulating their needs and
in developing policies and programs for improved living standards.
One of such policies which have been translated into programmes is the
United Nations Millennium Development Goals. Constitutional responsibility
162
for implementation on almost all the goals rest with the states and local
governments in Nigeria‘s federal structure, however in spite of remarkable
strides at federal level, appreciation of the requirements for meeting these goals,
as well as institutional capacity remain relatively low at these levels of
government. Poor governance and integration of the MDGs into national
development strategies have also been a challenge while other challenges
include a weak monitoring mechanism for the MDGs and low stakeholder
involvement (private sector and Civil Society Organizations). Most,
importantly, however, is the fact that political leadership is at the root of
Nigeria‘s lack-lustre approach to the implementation of policies. The MDGs are
no exception.
In reaction to a report, Aniekpon (2008) challenged Nigerian leaders,
rulers and political big wigs to think of where Nigeria was heading for if an
individual could burn a whopping sum of N270 million and gather only the ash
for a fetish deal, in a country of grinding poverty where many homes cannot
solve even problems that may require just one hundred naira.. The Nigerian
economy does not reflect the actualization of any of the beautiful, mouth-
watering development visions, annual budgetary speeches, short- or long-term
plans, or perspective plans. Even the laws of the land are often decorative, as
travesty of justice takes the scene. Nigeria‘s civilian and military governments
163
deliver low economic growth and increasing poverty since the 1970s (Eneh,
2007). Agricultural productivity keeps declining. Manufacturing capacity
utilization declined from 56.6% in 2003 to 53.3% in 2006. Manufacturing value
added has declined steadily from 10% GDP in 1983 to 3% in 2006 (Obidigbo,
2008). The World Bank estimated that 50% of the federal roads have
deteriorated in the last six years to the extent that it costs more to send goods
from Lagos to Maiduguri than to send them to Europe. Due to the poor
conditions of the roads, 33,600 people died in road accidents from year 2001 to
2005, while 34,200 people sustained various degrees of injuries during the
period.
It is an irony that although there is an overdose of natural water in
Nigeria, citizens groan daily under the weight of lack of safe domestic water.
The average urban resident, who cannot afford to sink a borehole, resort to
fetching water for domestic purposes from shallow wells or from streams up to
3-hour walking distances away (Njoku, 2006). At the current estimated 5.3%
rate, urbanization in Nigeria is among the highest in the world, occasioning
overcrowding and its attendant socio-economic problems, including
environmental degradation (United Nations System in Nigeria, 2001 and Eneh,
2007b). Out of the 130 thousand graduates churned out from the Nigerian
tertiary educational institutions annually, only 13,000 (10%) of them get
164
employment, leaving 90% roaming the streets seeking opportunities for
legitimate jobs or social vices (Gyamfi, 2006).
Graduate unemployment has invariably led to sophisticated crimes and
social vices of alarming dimensions, leading to palpable security conundrum,
manifested in youth restiveness, cultism in schools, unprecedented wave of
armed robbery, drug addiction and the attendant mental derangement, etc. Lack
of jobs is pushing increasing number of Nigerian youth into the commercial
motor-cycle transport business, where a regrettably large number of them
encounter road mishaps on daily basis (Eneh, 2008).
The incidence of street children, hazardous and exploitative child labour,
child unemployment, poor nutrition and health, commercial sexual exploitation,
girl prostitution, sexually transmitted diseases, juvenile abortion and
wastage/spilling of human lives/blood, teenage motherhood and child
abandonment and dumping on the street, stunting and wasting (among under-
five children), child begging, youth drug addiction, delinquency and crimes
with the danger of the children becoming hardened criminals, and various other
vicious means of livelihood, as well as various harmful traditional practices
against women remain nagging symptoms of underdevelopment and deepening
poverty in Nigeria (Eneh, 2007).
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As Agbase (2008 a and b) noted, Nigeria remains the most populous
black nation in the world, rich in human and vast mineral, natural and
agricultural resources, with great scholars and dazzling footballers, and has the
most vibrant, irresponsible and iconoclastic press in Africa, nay the third world.
It mints more billionaires in a year than all other African countries put together
can come close to in a decade. Its democracy is a government of contracts and
contractors by the few and for the few while the people wallow in poverty and
misery in the midst of plenty. Abu (2008) opines that corruption is Nigeria‘s
number one enemy. It is responsible for nearly all the pains that we now
experience as a nation and as individual Nigerians. Corruption has crippled our
economy, ruined our roads, health and educational institutions. It has put so
much money in the pockets of a few privileged people and rendered the vast
majority of the people poor. The level of impoverishment is getting more acute
and the pains of the ever growing legion of the poor have become very
unbearable.
Anya (2008) asserts that there is poor development because Nigeria‘s
political leadership has failed to work for social and economic transformation of
the society. There is too high level of hypocrisy, insincerity and lack of integrity
in the practice of our politics. Proffering a solution, Nwosu (2008), urges the
policy makers and implementers in the democratic Nigeria to pay attention to
166
the battered, dehumanized, deprived and neglected Nigerian citizenry.
Democracy without improved quality of life for the generality of the citizenry is
useless, nonsensical, empty, unsustainable and an unforgiveable insult to the
people‘s intelligence. More than 95% of the 140 million Nigerians are
continually traumatized and dying of extreme poverty and hunger, while a 5%
privileged few have by fair or foul means ―cornered‖ and monopolized
Nigeria‘s economic, political, health and socio-cultural ―common wealth.‖
Okeleke (2008) posits that one of the problems is the federal character
principle, which is applied in the employment and distribution of facilities. This
has relegated meritocracy to the background and enthroned mediocrity,
complacency and inefficiency in the public sector management. Hence, since
Nigeria‘s political leadership has over the years proven that it has been blinded
by the lucrative privileges associated with holding public office, it becomes
only logical to conclude that it constitutes an impediment to the implementation
of the Millennium Development Goals.
3.5 Implications of Policy Failure on Sustainable Development
Policy is the highest ,level of statecraft, embodying both the objectives of
the state and the means of attaining them, and involving the coordinated
application of all the elements of national power, the interconnected variables
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of grand strategy, including the administrative, demographic, diplomatic,
economic, geographical, ideological, historical, military-strategic, political,
psychological, scientific and technological, socio-cultural, etc., to advance and
protect the national interest (Igwe, 2002:328).
On its part, the Wikipedia free Encyclopedia sees policy as typically a
deliberate plan of action to guide decisions and achieve rational outcome(s).
However, the term may also be used to denote what is actually done, even
though it is unplanned.
The term may apply to government, private sector organizations and groups,
and individuals. Presidential executive orders, corporate privacy policies, and
parliamentary rules of order are all examples of policy. Policy differs from rules
or law. While law can compel or prohibit behaviors (e.g. a law requiring the
payment of taxes on income), policy merely guides actions toward those that
are most likely to achieve a desired outcome.
As much as policy has both intended and unintended effects, policies are
known to more often than not affect sustainable development. Recently, it has
become common to witness successive policy development and balancing
between real need and growth, on the one hand, and sustainable development
168
policy reform practices, in blending domestic and external expectations
preferences, on the other. Thus, Onakuse and Lenihan (2007:42) remarked that
the government of Nigeria has never been in short
supply of policies/programmes or reforms aimed at
alleviating the failing economy and livelihood
insecurity over the past four decades, but never at
anytime have they been successful.
Continuing, they asserted that policy/programmes such as the Structural
Adjustment Programme (SAP), Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), The
National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS), State
Economic Empowerment and Development Strategies (SEEDS), and other
specific reforms associated with poverty alleviation and sustainable
development as interventionist over the years, have failed to deliver the
expected results needed to deal a substantial impact on poverty and livelihood
insecurity. The major flaws in these policy reforms and programmes, developed
over the years, as intervention for poverty reduction and livelihood security,
hinges on corruption, politics, and other vices such as lack of continuity, a weak
private sector to augment such policy/programmes, an absence or lack of due
process, and ethnic and political divides in the body polity of Nigerian
economic development.
Policies/programmes in Nigeria are fraught with pitfalls, such as the
absence of consistent enabling framework/regulations on infrastructure finance
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and funding of small and medium enterprises, especially transportation-rail
networks and power supply, that support any development effort that delivers
multiplier effects on other sectors within the country, weak institutions/market
infrastructure to regulate business activities and enforce contracts and
commercial transactions, issues relating to transparency and good corporate
governance, poor accountability, and perennial misappropriation of public
funds added to an unpredictable political and social environment.
The alarming fact remains that most policies and programmes in Nigeria
are deliberate policy or programme choices based on political mechanisms,
oversight, neglect, and usually lacking in necessary information. Recognising
that the purpose of policy is to affect desired objectives, such as sustainable
livelihoods and development, the political quagmire both at the national and
state government continues to stunt reforms and programmes through political
divides and corrupt activities. With development hindsight, the Nigerian
economy has been in comatose despite its enormous potentials for growth and
development. Policies and programmes developed in Nigeria over the years,
despite being supported by military regimes and current democratic
dispensation, often serve as drain pipes for corrupt activities and regional/ethnic
conflicts (Onakuse and Lenihan, 2007:45).
170
Although the country is endowed with a sizeable natural resource base,
oil and gas generate about 90% of foreign exchange earnings, which constitutes
75% of government revenues, it contributes about 30% of GDP but employs
only about 3% of the labour force (MAN, 2006).
The 3% contribution to employment is relatively poor compared with a
low per capita income and a ranking quite low according to its Human
Development Index (UNDP, 2005).
The plethora of policy changes and reforms over the years have further
created the fragmentation of: the political structure, the efficacy of money as a
clincher in politics, and allocation of resources for development across the
different regions in Nigeria. Also, national reforms in Nigeria are wide and cut
across many fields, from political to social, educational and economic etc.
Therefore, translating these economic reforms into growth and prosperity for
the majority of the people, including well thought-out social spending to
distribute the gains of economic growth and ensure that growth benefits the
poor, has been a major challenge. These challenges prompt questions such as;
who does participate in making and implementing these policy choices?
However, it becomes evident that the policy choice goes beyond the usual
question of public finance and the overall cost/benefits of such programmes.
171
A deep disconnection between the government and the social structures
that enable sustainable development is a challenge for Nigeria's government in
the face of mounting livelihood insecurity and other critical pains and sacrifices
that result from these reforms, rather than focusing more on the quality and
characters of economic growth, on the one hand, and rate of growth on the
other. For example, the costs associated with private energy generation account
for close to a third of overall operations costs for most manufacturing
enterprises in Nigeria (MAN, 2006). The poor state of other basic infrastructure
further imposes high costs of production on domestic manufacturers, such as
transportation and distribution networks, government tax, and continued
investment in capacity building.
Much of the current policy debate blames poor governance and
corruption for poverty and livelihood insecurity (Booth, 2005). Despite the
economic theories and reforms propounded by different governments over the
years, sustainable development in the country remains dismal. The current
democratic dispensation, in the past eight years, has continuously promised
citizens reform in the power sector, resulting in regular, if not uninterrupted
power supply, to boost the economy and to facilitate opportunities in both
industry and society. The huge investment of capital in the power sector
vanished into corrupt hands resulting in monumental failure, as shown on the
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survey conducted by the National Association of Chambers of Commerce,
Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA, 2006).
Again, the theoretical and practical justifications for government policy
programmes and reforms are basically to service the political mercenaries
crucial for political party's perpetuation, mostly for the next election. The
forgoing arguments have undoubtedly validated our hypothesis which stated
that there is a link between political corruption and the failure by the Nigerian
government to implement the Millennium Development Goals.
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CHAPTER FOUR
DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Nigeria is inundated with captivating development visions, policies and
plans. However, corruption-induced failure of implementation of development
projects on the part of the political leaders can be said to be responsible for
underdevelopment in the country. In spite of numerous and sound development
visions, policies and programmes articulated in colourful and expensive
development plans, poverty still persist and Nigeria continues to maintain an
unenviable position as a member of the group of 77 (G-77) poorest countries in
the world. Hence as Jega (2007:275) rightly noted, the conceptualization and
management of poverty alleviation/eradication programs in Nigeria leaves
much to be desired.
This chapter will, therefore, take a look at development initiatives in
Nigeria starting with the National Development Plans to the present 7-Point
Agenda with a view to finding out whether the development of a global
partnership for development will strengthen Nigeria‘s weak economic and
political structure.
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4.1 The National Development Plans
One major indices for the assessment of the success or failure of any
administration is the
level of the economic growth, vis-à-vis its impact on the generality of the
citizens. Nigeria is not an exception. Thus, successive leaders have propounded
several economic policies, some ambitious, others out of tune with reality, yet
none has been able to get us out of the woods. Visionless and corrupt leadership
have been the bane of our economic
development.
If the pre-colonial development plans could be excused because it was
hatched by the colonialists, those of post-colonial Nigeria fared no better.
Between 1962 and 1985, Nigeria had a surfeit of four national development
plans. The first was between 1962 and 1968, the second between 1970 and
1974, the third between 1975 and 1980 while the fourth came between 1981
and 1985 (Tamuno, 2000:145-153).
The main plank of the first post-colonial National Development Plan was
on the use of resources to enhance production and economic growth. It even
envisaged a capital expenditure of N2.2 billion. Its failure was predicated on the
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fact that social and regional development received only 24.4 per cent while the
economic sector got 67.8 per cent. That was during the Tafawa Balewa and
Nnamdi Azikiwe parliamentary administration.
The Second Development Plan was launched soon after the civil war, and
therefore focused on both reconstruction and rehabilitation. It was aimed at
creating a just and egalitarian society by reducing inequality it the distribution
of income wealth. Out of the N3.2 billion envisaged capital expenditure, 53.1
per cent was allocated to the economic sector with 26.6 per cent going for social
and regional development.
The Yakubu Gowon-led administration made some modest impact on the
economy but lacked the foresight to industrialize the country during the oil-
boom era.
Of course, the Third Development Plan was more ambitious and grand in
concept and scope. The plan made serious effort to use revenue from oil exports
to achieve radical economic transformation. In fact, the expected estimate of
N30 billion was later raised to N53.6 billion. And it also laid much emphasis on
those sectors which affected the lives of ordinary Nigerians such as housing,
healthcare delivery, water supply, education, rural electrification and
community development.
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Why then did this plan, which raised the people's expectations
tremendously, fail again? The expected GDP of 9 per cent crashed to 5 per cent
because the revenue earnings from oil exports dropped. There was increase in
the number of states from 12 to 19 in 1976. Like the first national plan, this one
failed because it did not encourage private investment and it neglected the
grassroots. The level of agricultural and industrial productivity dropped
significantly all due to over-dependence on government contracts and political
patronage. Simply put, there was no emphasis placed on increased productivity.
That was during the Murtala Mohammed and Olusegun Obasanjo's regimes.
The Fourth Development Plan (1981-84) was not much different from the
third. The failure of all the aforementioned plans to meet the people's
aspirations could be traced to several factors. These include frequent revisions
in projected expenditure, overemphasis on public investment, distortions in plan
implementation, official corruption, poor coordination, inconsistencies and
over-dependence on oil.
Summing up the experiences of Nigeria with regards to the formulation
and implementation of National Development Plans, Ofoeze (2000:19) stated
that:
… notwithstanding these numerous NDPs, Nigeria
is still very far away from the take-off stage of
economic, social and political development as
manifested by the persistent mass poverty,
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malnutrition, high rate of infant and adult mortality,
acute hunger, mass unemployment, persistent
galloping inflation, unfavourable balance of
payments and trade, general economic
disarticulation and lack of complementarity among
the different sectors of the economy, high level of
corruption and other social vices as well as political
instability.
Hence, the principal cause of the failure of these National Development
Plans to lead to the desired economic development of the country is primarily
because of the extreme politicization of economic development planning and
the plans themselves, he concluded. This is because rather than predicating
economic planning and the plans themselves on the relevant , concrete, critical
and objective economic facts and factors and variables, development
planning/plans in Nigeria over the years have been based on extraneous non-
economic facts and variables.
4.2 Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP)
According to Ekpoh (1992:27), the need for adjustment programmes arises
when there is an imbalance between aggregate demand and aggregate supply
within an economy, which results in a worsening balance of payments position.
Adjustment programmes in Third World countries are supported by the IMF
and World Bank.
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He outlined the principal elements of an adjustment programme include:
- Adopting measures to increase internal production and widen the supply
base of an economy
- Currency adjustment (devaluation)
- Rationalization and restructuring of tariff structures
- Trade and payments liberalization
- Drastic reduction of public expenditure
- Wage restraint
- The removal of subsidies
- Privatization of public sector enterprises
- Increases in domestic interest rates
- Removal of administrative controls, to rely heavily on market forces.
The objectives of adjustment involve:
restoring a sustainable balance between aggregate demand and
aggregate supply;
expanding the production of tradeables;
removal of balance of payments constraints.
The proponents of adjustment programmes believe that if all the elements in the
package are implemented, a depressed economy would be put on a path of
sustained non-inflational growth in the medium term.
179
In the 1980s, several African economies including Nigeria witnessed
serious economic disruptions which resulted in collapsed currencies and
external debt repayment problems. This environment sent these troubled
countries to seek help from international organizations who required economic
reforms as a precondition for financial help (Geo-Jaja and Mangum, 2001). The
adoption of structural adjustment was a part of the broader attempt to reduce the
direct control of the economy by regulatory authorities. As Bandiera et al.
(1999), note that the wave of liberalization in many developing countries in the
1980s was characterized by more attention given to market forces in allocating
credit through freely determined interest rates.
In the early 1980s, there was a severe pressure on Nigeria‘s balance of
payments. The situation was further complicated by increased debt service
burden, a crash in the international oil market, deterioration in economic
conditions, and accumulated trade arrears. The impact on the economy was
devastating because it worsened the unemployment level in the face of acute
shortage of inputs necessary to sustain a satisfactory industrial production
(Central Bank of Nigeria, 1986). In 1986, the
Nigerian government embarked on a Structural Adjustment Program (SAP), in
order to correct the aforementioned economic ills. The program was classified
into three categories: improvement of the financial structure; improvement of
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monetary management; and reform to strengthen capital movements and the
foreign exchange market (Oresotu, 1992).
The Babangida government, which came to power in August 1985 at a
time of depressed oil prices, undertook its structural adjustment program
between 1986 and 1988. In September 1986, the government introduced a
second-tier foreign exchange market (SFEM), sold on auction for a near
equilibrium price and used for export earnings and import trade requirements.
Under SFEM, the naira depreciated 66 percent to N1=US$0.64 (N1.56=US$1),
and declined further in value through July 1987, when the first and second tiers
were merged. When adopting the SFEM, Nigeria abolished the ex-factory price
controls set by the Prices, Productivity, and Incomes Board, as well as the 30
percent import surcharge and import licensing system. It reduced its import
prohibition list substantially and promoted exports through fiscal and credit
incentives and by allowing those selling abroad to retain foreign currency.
Meanwhile, the naira continued depreciating, especially after the
relaxation of fiscal policy early in 1988. The effect of the SFEM in breaking
bottlenecks, together with the slowing of food price increases, dampened
inflation in 1986, but the easing of domestic restrictions in 1988 reignited it.
Real interest rates were negative, and capital flight and speculative imports
resumed. In 1989 the government again unified foreign exchange markets,
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depreciating--but not stabilizing--the naira and reducing the external deficit.
Manufacturing firms increased their reliance on local inputs and raw materials,
firms depending on domestic resources grew rapidly, and capacity utilization
rose, although it was still below 50 percent. Concurrently, non-oil exports grew
from US$200 million in 1986 to US$1,000 million in 1988. This amount,
however, represented only 13 percent of export value at the level of the 1970s,
and cash crops like cocoa dominated the export market. Large firms benefited
from the foreign exchange auction and enjoyed higher capacity use than smaller
ones. Despite dramatically reduced labor costs, domestic industrial firms
undertook little investment or technological improvements.
Structural adjustment was accompanied by falling real wages, the
redistribution of income from urban to rural areas, and reduced health,
education, and social spending. The decrease in spending on social programs
contributed to often vociferous domestic unrest, such as Muslim-Christian riots
in Kaduna State in March 1987, urban rioting in April 1988 in response to
reduced gasoline subsidies, student-led violence in opposition to government
economic policies in May and June 1989, and the second coup attempt against
General Babangida in April 1990.
Thus, Ogbimi (2009) contends that it is the incorrect perception of a
problem can lead to the development of poor theories to solve it. This explains
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why, a decades after implementing Structural Adjustment Programs (SAP)
advanced by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), many
African countries have still not made measurable progress. Africa is much
worse off today than it was a decade ago because African economists and the
world bodies have a poor perception of the African economic problem and so
designed SAP—a program which cannot stimulate growth. This woeful failure
of SAP in Nigeria led to the designing of several other economic development
packages.
4.3 Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP)
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Poverty Reduction
Strategy Papers (PRSP) are prepared by the member countries through a
participatory process involving domestic stakeholders as well as external
development partners, including the World Bank and International Monetary
Fund.
Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP) are prepared by the member
countries through a participatory process involving domestic stakeholders as
well as external development partners, including the World Bank and
International Monetary Fund. Updated every three years with annual progress
reports, PRSPs describe the country's macroeconomic, structural and social
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policies and programs over a three year or longer horizon to promote broad-
based growth and reduce poverty, as well as associated external financing needs
and major sources of financing. Interim PRSPs (I-PRSPs) summarize the
current knowledge and analysis of a country's poverty situation, describe the
existing poverty reduction strategy, and lay out the process for producing a fully
developed PRSP in a participatory fashion.
In the same vein, World Health Organization (WHO) noted that the
stated aim of the PRSP is to present a coherent strategy that helps poor
countries to experience faster sustainable growth and achieve a substantial
reduction in poverty. If successful, PRSPs could provide improved national
coordination and higher levels of resources for comprehensive poverty
reduction activities. As PRSPs prioritize spending that reduces poverty, the
health sector is expected to benefit.
PRSPs replace the World Bank's Policy Framework Paper. Countries
must produce a PRSP to qualify for multilateral debt relief under the HIPC
(Highly-Indebted Poor Countries) initiative or to access concessional lending
through the International Monetary Fund's Poverty Reduction and Growth
Facility (previously called the Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility). The
PRSP approach came as a response to the criticism of Structural Adjustment
Programmes (SAPs) and the success of anti-debt campaigns. It is regarded by
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many as an important departure from the previous top-down approaches of the
World Bank and as a shift away from the neo-liberal Washington consensus.
PRSPs describe macroeconomic, structural, and social policies and
programmes to promote economic growth and reduce poverty, as well as
associated external financing needs and major sources of financing. The process
of developing a PRSP starts with a country-based diagnosis of poverty. It then
defines the poverty reduction outcomes a country wishes to achieve and the key
public actions needed.
Ideally, the PRSPs should be conceived and authored by the government,
which will outline its own development priorities and the strategies needed to
achieve them. The process shows a greater emphasis on ownership,
transparency and participation than previous approaches. The PRSP approach,
initiated by the IMF and the World Bank in 1999, results in a comprehensive
country-based strategy for poverty reduction. The introduction of PRSPs was a
recognition by the IMF and the World Bank of the importance of ownership as
well as the need for a greater focus on poverty reduction. PRSPs aim to provide
the crucial link between national public actions, donor support, and the
development outcomes needed to meet the United Nations‘ Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs), which are centered on halving poverty between
1990 and 2015.
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In Nigeria, the National Economic Empowerment Development Strategy
(NEEDS) emerged out of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper.
4.4 National Economic Empowerment Development Strategy (NEEDS)
With the return of democratic rule in 1999, President Obasanjo‘s
administration launched a series of economic reforms designed to address the
structural and institutional weaknesses of the Nigerian economy. The economic
reform plan includes acceleration of privatization, deregulation and
liberalization of key sectors of the economy, fiscal and monetary reforms,
infrastructural development, greater transparency and accountability, as well as
anti-corruption measures as key elements of good economic governance. In
March 2004, these policies were encapsulated in an all-embracing home-grown
economic program known as the National Economic Empowerment and
Development Strategy (NEEDS).
Adoghame (2007:7) opines that the NEEDS initiative, modeled on the
IMF‘s Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility, is aimed at achieving
macroeconomic stability, poverty alleviation, wealth creation, and employment
generation. It equally redefines the role of both the private sector and the public
sector within the Nigerian economy. In the words of the then Minister of
Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (2005), the objectives of the reform package
186
are to ―reduce poverty and create wealth by relying on the private
sector to grow the economy and provide jobs and on the public sector, to
provide an enabling environment for development‖
According to the NEEDS document (2005:25):
NEEDS is a development strategy that consolidates
the gains achieved over the last four years, unlocks
Nigeria‘s dormant potential, and provides the base for
sustained development.
The government expects that NEEDS will create seven million new jobs
by 2007, diversify the economy, boost non-energy export, increase industrial
capacity utilization and improve agricultural productivity.
Corroborating the above, Aigbokhan (2008:3) noted that economic
reform in Nigeria was taken to a higher platform with the launching in mid –
2004 of NEEDS. The package recognizes the fact that for economic reform to
be successful it must be anchored on institutional reform, hence the latter forms
a key component of NEEDS. This marks a notable departure from earlier
reform efforts.
Like earlier reform packages, the strategy considers economic growth as
crucial to poverty reduction. A real gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate
of between 5 and 7 percent was the target for the period 2004 to 2007, with
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non-oil GDP expected to grow at between 7.3 and 9.5 percent during the period.
This is expected to produce a 5 percent reduction in poverty incidence annually.
As outcomes of its anti-poverty initiatives, NEEDS aims to attain:
• Average per capita consumption growth of 2 percent per annum
• Creation of 7 million jobs between 2004 and 2007;
• Increase in immunization coverage to 60 percent by 2007;
• Increased access to safe drinking water to an average of 70 percent; and,
• Adult literacy rate of at least 65 percent by 2007.
Scholars are divided as to whether the implementation of NEEDS has been a
huge success or massive failure. Aigbokhan (2008:3), is of the view that
NEEDS has been a success. This contention is because fiscal policies under
NEEDS are expected to produce a total expenditure/gross domestic product
ratio which will decline from 25 percent in 2003 to 22 percent in 2007, and a
budget deficit ratio of 3 percent annually between 2004 and 2007 and some key
elements of NEEDS which has been implemented has resulted in strong
macroeconomic performance, evident in robust economic growth, lower
inflation and significantly strengthened fiscal and external positions.
Aigbokhan was, however, candid enough to equally state that despite the
progress so far, the challenges are still daunting; with the result that Nigeria
188
faces a threat of not meeting the Millennium Development Goals if further
major steps are not taken. Unemployment is still high (at 10.8% in 2003 meant
that about 6.4 million people were actively looking for jobs without getting
any). The GDP average growth rate of about 3.6 percent is still lower than the
minimum of 5 percent required to prevent poverty from worsening and the 7
percent needed to meet the MDG target of halving the incidence of poverty by
2015 (CBN, 2004).
Eneh (2008:5), on the other hand, believes that NEEDS has been a failure
so far:
…NEEDS was so well packaged to the point of
having blueprints for the State level programme (State
Economic Empowerment and Development
Strategies, SEEDS); the local government level
programme (Local Economic Empowerment and
Development Strategies, LEEDS); and the community
level programme (Community Economic
Empowerment and Development Strategy, CEEDS).
Yet, neither the first nor the second version can be distinguished from the
NEEDS, the Phase I (2004- 2007) of which has been adjudged a failure. But,
they are being given flesh and articulated as fresh vision documents. Most
policies in Nigeria are wonderful, but ultimate summersault, abandonment or
failure awaits them. Nigeria is replete with brilliant, impeccable and well
written policies. The problem is implementation. The logical and expensively
produced policies often end there as policies. Weak efforts at implementation
189
often rubbish them through corruption. Thus, NEEDS have failed to sort out our
needs, he asserted.
Basing its assessment on policy thrusts and strategies adopted and
quantifiable targets set in NEEDS document, the IMF (2007:3) stated that
generally, speaking the performance of NEEDS has been remarkable in that:
- Implementation remains on course;
- Surpassed expectations in many respects, (stable macroeconomic
environment, Civil Service reforms, Due process, Banking
Consolidation/emergence of mega banks, Privatization and
liberalization);
- Weak in a few areas (Monitoring and Evaluation and Effective
coordination);
- Not yet where we want to be (Poverty reduction, employment generation,
power supply).
TABLE 4.I: NEEDS TARGETS AND LEVEL OF ACHIEVEMENT
190
191
Sources: *Targets from NEEDS and **Actual from CBN Annual Report
and Statement of Accounts, 2006.
As indicated in Table 4.1 above, there has been tremendous and consistent
improvement in the performance of the economy since the inception of NEEDS
in 2004.
• Real GDP annual growth rate averaged 6.6% (2004-2006) as against the
annual target of 6.0%;
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• Oil sector annual growth rate averaged – 0.23% as against 0.0% targeted
(2004 – 2006);
• Non-oil sector average annual growth rate; 8.2% as against the NEEDS
target of 8.0%;
• Inflation rate (year on year) on the average is 10.03%, 2004 – 2006;
• Reduction of fiscal deficits to less than 3% of the GDP;
• Stable exchange rate (convergence of parallel and DAS exchange rates);
• External reserves grew by an annual average rate of about 230% from
US$7.68 billion in 2004 to US$43 billion at the end of 2006, as against
12.2 percent target (2003 and 2007);
• Favourable external balance as reflected in increasing value of non-oil
exports;
• Phenomenal growth in the net in-flow of foreign direct investment (FDI)
and portfolio investment, particularly in the banking and
telecommunications sectors; FDI rose from US$ 1.866b in 2004 to
US$2.3b and US$4.8b in 2005 and 2006 respectively.
• Reduction in external debt stock from over US$30 billion to less than
US$5 billion;
• Favourable rating of Nigeria by International Credit rating agencies as
―BB-‖ (Fitch rating and Standard & Poor).
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4.5 Poverty Alleviation Programme (PAP)
Poverty Alleviation Programme was set up in 2000 to urgently create
jobs for the unemployed in the face of increasing youth restiveness. The
projects participates were to stimulate economic activities and improve the
environment. The participants engaged in direct labour activities such as
patching of potholes, vegetation control along high-ways maintenance of public
building and environmental sanitation (Oyemoni, 2003). The implementation of
PAP generated public outcry and was accused of shoddiness and corruption.
Subsequently, the government had to set up a panel committee headed by Prof.
Ango Abdullahi to review the programme. Problems identified with the
programme included over centralization, over politicization, irregular payment,
uncoordinated management as well as high-level corruption (Oyemoni, 2003).
Thereafter, the committee came up with the blueprint recommending National
Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP).
4.6 National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP)
The findings and recommendations of these presidential panels coalesced in the
formation of the National Poverty Alleviation Programme (NAPEP) in January
2001. This new scheme has been structured to integrate four sectoral schemes.
194
The first is the Youth Empowerment Scheme (YES), which is concerned with
providing unemployed youth opportunities in skills acquisition, employment
and wealth generation. To achieve this, the scheme has been further subdivided
into Capacity Acquisition Programme, Mandatory Attachment Programme and
Credit Delivery Programme.
The second is the Rural Infrastructure Development Scheme (RIDS). The
objective of this scheme is to ensure the provision and development of
infrastructure needs in the areas of transport, energy water and communication
especially in rural areas. The scheme has been broken into four parts: the Rural
Transport Programme, the Rural Energy Programme, the Rural Water
Programme and the Rural Communication Programme.
The third is the Social Welfare Services Scheme (SOWESS) which aims at
ensuring the provision of basic social services including quality primary and
special education, strengthening the economic power of farmers, providing
primary health care, and so on. This third scheme consists of four broad sub-
categories which are, the Qualitative Education Programme, Primary Health
Care Programme, Farmers Empowerment Programme and Social Services
Programme.
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The last is the Natural Resources Development and Conservation Scheme
(NRDCS). The vision of this scheme is to bring about a participatory and
sustainable development of agricultural, mineral and water resources through
the following sub-divisions: Agricultural Resources Programme, Water
Resources Programme, Solid Minerals Resources Programme and Environment
Protection Programme (Okoye and Onyukwu, 2007).
The target of the National Poverty Eradication Programme is to completely
wipe out poverty from Nigeria by the year 2010. The formulators of the
programme have identified three stages to the attainment of this ambitious
target.
The first stage is the restoration of hope in the mass of poor people in
Nigeria. This involves providing basic necessities to hitherto neglected
people particularly in the rural areas.
The second stage is the restoration of economic independence and
confidence.
The final stage is wealth creation.
Thus Ajakaiye (2002:8) noted that NAPEP was ostensibly set up after a
thorough (or is it high-profile?) evaluation and assessment of successive policy
and programmatic attempts to tackle the problem of poverty in the country. A
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series of presidential and inter-ministerial committees reviewed and attempted
to harmonize poverty alleviation policies, as well as the functions and
responsibilities of a number of poverty alleviation institutions and agencies,
prior to the setting up of NAPEP. Indeed, in particular, the conceptualizers and
formulators of NAPEP are said to have drawn useful lessons from its immediate
predecessor PAP, in which N10 billion was set aside to create 200,000 jobs in
2000, but which succeeded only in creating more benefits to unintended
beneficiaries than to those worthy and deserving. As it is well known, PAP was
characterized by nepotism, corruption, over-politicization, uncoordinated
management, over-centralization, lack of proper monitoring mechanism, and so
on. It was effectively highjacked by the governing party‘s political bigwigs who
used it as a prebendal patronage dispensing mechanism in the aftermath of
electoral victory. NAPEP thus set out to pursue a multi-dimensional approach
to tackling poverty and, in the process, at least avoided what is referred to as
sectoral bias.
The Poverty Eradication Fund (PEF) which is administered by the
National Poverty Eradication Council directly funds the National Poverty
Eradication Programme. However, all poverty alleviation programmes
originally budgeted for by participating ministries will continue to be funded
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from those budgetary provisions under the supervision of NAPEC (Ugoh and
Ukpere, 2009:7).
NAPEP is also funded from contributions given to it by state and local
governments, the private sector and special deductions from the Consolidated
Fund of the Federal Government. It also gets donations from international
donor agencies such as the World Bank, the United Nations Development
Programme, the European Union, and the Department for International
Development, the Japanese International Cooperation Agency, and the German
Technical Assistance.
When NAPEP came on stream in January 2001, it was given a take-off grant of
N6 billion. This money was used to establish NAPEP structures in 36 states, the
Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and 744 local government councils.
Part of the money was also used in the NAPEP employment generation
intervention which translated to the training of 100,000 youths, attaching
50,000 unemployed graduates in various places of work, training of over 5000
people in tailoring and fashion design, and the establishment of rural telephone
networks in 125 local government areas.
Other uses to which the money was put include the delivery of the
delivery of the KEKE-NAPEP three-wheeler vehicle project involving 2000
units in all the state capitals of Nigeria, the establishment of 147 youth
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information centers across the senatorial districts, the delivery of informal
micro credit ranging from N10, 000 to N50, 000 to 10,000 beneficiaries most of
whom were women, and so on.
From January 2001, NAPEP has intervened in a number of projects. So
far about 140,000 youths have been trained in more than 190 practical hand-on
trades over a period of three months. Every trainee in this intervention project
was paid N3, 000 per month while N3, 500 was paid to each trainer. The
training programme was packaged with the understanding that that beneficiaries
would subsequently set up their own businesses in line with the skills they have
acquired. To actualize this, 5,000 beneficiaries were resettled with assorted
tailoring and fashion design equipment.
Also under the Mandatory Attachment Programme for unemployed
graduates, 40,000 beneficiaries were attached in 2001 each of whom was paid a
monthly stipend of N10, 000. The installation of equipment under the Rural
Telephone Project is currently in progress, while the KEKE-NAPEP project is
currently being vigorously implemented
(http//:www.nigeriafirst.org/napep/Nigeria.html).
The pertinent question to be asked here is that given its structure, good
intentions and enunciation of measures towards poverty reduction, can NAPEP
be able to assist Nigeria meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
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major target which is reducing poverty to half by the year 2015? Ugoh and
Ukpere (2009:12) thus asserted that:
Evidently, the NAPEP blueprint has properly
addressed the problems that hindered the previous
initiatives, but it is not sufficient conditions for
poverty reduction and to meet the MDGs. NAPEP has
some lacuna that already devalues the programme
delivery.
These scholars went ahead to outline some of the gaps which already
undermine the programme delivery of NAPEP. First, NAPEP has a very poor
targeting mechanism. NAPEP was articulated to make life more meaningful for
Nigerians. The programme is intended to involve partnering in micro-finance
for women and youth empowerment. It also collaborates with states and local
governments, the private sectors, religious bodies and non-governmental
organizations (NGOS) to reduce unemployment by creating jobs. However,
apart from its renting of tri-cycles to young Nigerians for transport business,
there have not been serious and identifiable efforts at empowering the
beneficiaries with enduring skills. Also, there have not been observable
attempts at embarking on extensive farm settlements and elaborate agricultural
programmes. As a result, it has lost focus and direction.
Secondly, there is a failure by NAPEP to focus on the poor. NAPEP was
designed to circumvent many of the problems of poverty alleviation. However,
there has been some lacuna that devalues the programme delivery. In fact, one
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significant flaw in NAPEP is lack of focus on community education. This is one
area where adult education could have come as community education which is
one of the important foci of education for poverty alleviation. Ironically, the
role of adult and non formal education in poverty alleviation had not been fully
appreciated by the designers of the programme. This can be seen as a
fundamental oversight.
Third is the issue of programme inconsistency. Political and policy
interference have undermine the institution‘s credibility and effectiveness. In
other words, their instability have resulted in frequent policy changes and
inconsistent implementation which turn out to prevent continuous progress.
Also, NAPEP top-ranking officers are political appointees and therefore subject
to political loyalties to those who appointed them. Thus, it is still the usual top
down approach and not bottom-up approach as emphasized in the design of the
programme.
Mention should also be made of the fact that corruption has bedeviled
various anti-poverty programmes of government including NAPEP. The
manifestations and problems associated with corruption in Nigeria are multi-
dimensional. Among these are project substitution, misrepresentation of project
finances, diversion of resources, conversion of public funds to private uses, etc
(Okoye and Onyukwu, 2007). As observed, lack of accountability and
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transparency made the programmes to serve as conduit pipes for draining
national resources. Thus, the effect of corruption is both direct and indirect on
poverty increase.
The role of poor policy implementation also deserves mention. The
severe budgetary and governance inadequacies gravely impacted on the full
implementation of the programmes. It has in effect resulted in facilities either
not being completed or broken down and abandoned. Furthermore,
inappropriate programme and lack of involvement of beneficiaries in the
formulation and implementation had resulted in the unsuccessful
implementation of the programmes. Again, given the fact that more women
than men are poor; the programme has not made tangible effort to address this
imbalance in the society.
4.7 Seven Point Agenda
On assumption of office on May 29, 2007, President Musa Umaru
Yar‘Adua met a nation with vital infrastructure such as roads, power, water etc
in comatose state, while key sectors such as manufacturing, agriculture,
education and transportation were floundering. It was against this background
that the president unveiled a seven-point agenda which he hoped would put
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back the economy on track. The agenda was to be the platform on which his
administration would spring off.
In his inaugural speech, Yar‘Adua had said: ―Our goal now is to build on
the greatest accomplishments of the past few years. Relying on the seven point
agenda that formed the basis of our contract with voters during the recent
campaigns, we will concentrate on rebuilding our physical infrastructure and
human capital in order to take our country forward.‖
He enumerated the seven point agenda as power and energy; food
security and agriculture; wealth creation and employment, mass transportation,
land reforms; security; qualitative and functional education and pursuance of
the rule of law.
Yar‘Adua added that his administration would focus ―on accelerating economic
and other reforms in a way that makes a concrete and visible difference to
ordinary people.‖
Without doubt, these are the kernel of what has come to be known as the
president‘s economic blueprint.
However, the question many are asking is whether the famed seven-point
agenda is capable of lifting the economy from the doldrums. The Presidential
Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar‘Adua, enunciated a seven-point agenda to tackle the
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numerous problems facing The Nigerian economy. These, according to
Nigeria‘s High Commission in London, include:
Transport Sector
Transportation is one of the four (4) sectors prioritized in the Seven Point
Agenda as a result of its cross-cutting implications for the development of the
Nigerian economy. The thrust of the transport policy is the attainment of
efficient inter-modal system that would effectively link the different means of
transportation. Not only would this bring down the cost of doing business, it
will also enhance the growth of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country.
Power and Energy
Power and energy are two other sub-sectors prioritized under the Seven-
Point-Agenda. Federal Government infrastructure reforms in this sector will
lead to the development of sufficient and adequate power supply to ensure
Nigeria‘s ability to develop as a modern economy and an industrial nation by
the year 2020. In addition, the section on electricity traces the causes of the
poor performance of the industry. Quintessentially, the issues and challenges
facing the sector include the following:
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(a) Technology-related problems – Inadequate electricity production and supply
infrastructure, inadequate gas supply, dearth of investment and funding,
inappropriate pricing, management and ownership, and conflicting goals and
objectives; and
(b) Reform – related challenges – Inappropriate implementation and co-
ordination of initiatives and Government programme, inappropriate industry
structure, ineffective regulation although nascent, and consequences of reform.
c) Failure to provide adequate and reliable electricity justifies the evolution of
initiatives to transform the industry. Central to this transformation strategy are:
- Articulating initiatives to aggressively attract private investors;
- Clearly defining roles for private and public sector involvement in power
generation, transmission and distribution;
- Improving transmission and distribution networks to support generation
capacity; and
- Increasing power generation capacity through the diversification and
installation of gas distribution grids and replacement of the existing plants,
amongst others.
Consistent with President Yar‘Adua‘s critical infrastructure policy, a joint
venture fund of 628.875 billion Naira for the power sector has been agreed by
Federal Government with all States Government. The Federal Government had
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earlier set aside 288.223 billion Naira in the 2008 Supplementary Budget to
provide its share of power expenditure. Additional intervention, proposed in the
2009 budget toward addressing the challenges of critical power infrastructure
include the conclusion of Mambilla hydro-electric power generation project and
other generation, transmission and distribution projects. To succeed with plans
for addressing problems in the power sector and to, specifically guarantee the
achievement of the goal of 6000MW for power generation in 2009, the
Government has set aside over 200 billion Naira in the 2009 Budget for
implementing gas projects, aimed at acquiring capacity to deliver 1.2bn scf of
gas to domestic market. The projects associated with the above allocation
include:
National Domestic Gas Projects, Trans-Sahara Gas Pipeline Project, Calabar-
Umuahia-Ajaokuta Gas Pipeline; Ajaokuta-Abuja-Kano Gas Pipeline; Gas
Supply Pipeline to PHCN Delta IV; Gas pipeline to power plants including:
Omotosho, Papalanto and Alaoji.
Again, allocations in the budget to other priority infrastructure areas are
clearly indicative of Government resort to the medium term development
framework as platform for achieving long term development objectives, which
Nigeria‘s Vision 2020 represents.
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Food Security
Agriculture contributes 42% of Nigeria‘s GDP and engages over 65% of
the country‘s workforce. The sector is constrained by enormous challenges and
is characterized by low output, inefficient and antiquated production tools and
infrastructure. Approximately, 66% of the country‘s total land mass of 92.377
million hectares is suitable for agricultural production but about half of that
unfortunately is not cultivated. The technological inadequacies in
standardization and quality control have stunted natural farm produce,
rendering it uncompetitive in local and international markets.
Non-affordability of modern production inputs and equipment, low
access to credit/finance and poor infrastructure all combine to make local
production uncompetitive. Poor funding which led to total collapse of research
and extension services in the sector is to be overcome through the effective
deployment of the Natural Resources Fund. Ineffective regulatory framework
for enforcing grades and standards for farm produce which have made farm
output growth difficult are also being addressed.
In the reforms, Government will ensure optimal performance of
agriculture. When left to market forces and pitched against the more efficient,
and often highly subsidized external competition, as well as when faced with
the vagaries of natural uncertainties, the average, resource-poor, and small-
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holder Nigerian farmer will find it difficult to compete in local and international
markets. Critical areas for intervention will include strengthening agribusiness
through institution of profitability and price support mechanism, land tenure
changes, aggressive development and supply of new land, strengthening of
farmer support groups through commercial farmers, improvement of rural
access infrastructure, and resuscitation of the River Basin Development
Authorities (RBDAs). Central to these strategies, is the urgent need for the
introduction, on the supply side, of the Commercial Farmer to professionalize
agribusiness in Nigeria. Additional land for cultivation and idle irrigation
facilities around our dammed water bodies provide excellent opportunities to
increase farm output and employment prospects in the rural areas.
The National Economic Council (NEC) under the chairmanship of the
Vice President, His Excellency Goodluck Jonathan has just approved the
mobilization of a 200 billion Naira bond for the development of commercial
agriculture in the country. The bond which would be floated by the Federal
Government is to provide credit facilities to commercial farmers. It would be
managed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) at no more than 10% interest
on the loans to be subsided by the CBN. This is intended to enhance food
security in the country while creating three million jobs in the next 3 years.
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On the demand side, the reintroduction of the Commodity Boards and
their licensed Buying Agents is being considered to boost the marketing
prospects of our farm produce. Also, the new National Policy on Agriculture
launched by the previous Administration shall be made to, among other things,
strengthen national food security, increase production and local processing of
agricultural raw materials, and increase employment generation opportunities in
the food sector.
Government has already embarked on the preparation of a comprehensive
National Food Sector Plan (NFSP). The plan, when completed will be detailed,
implementable and result-oriented and will be the tool for realizing the
desirable goals of the interventions envisaged above. The NFSP will be the
product of collaboration between all significant stakeholders in the Food Sector.
The Development Plan for the food sector will have definite implementation
timelines classified as; short-term activities (2008-2010); medium-term
activities (2010-2015); and long term activities (2015-2020). Food security
wise, Federal Government‘s proposed expenditures in the Agriculture sector as
outlined below is aimed at raising the sector‘s contribution to higher levels in
2009 and beyond. Outgoing projects and targets over the next 3 years include:
(i) Counterpart funding for FADAMA III,
(ii) IFAD and ADB projects etc;
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(iii) Rehabilitation and construction of dams;
(iv) Rehabilitation and expansion of irrigation infrastructure, Irrigation of
12,000 hectares of arable land and optimization of 220,000 ha of irrigated land;
(v) Increasing land under cultivation by 5% in the next season and 15% over a
period of 3 years;
(vi) Increase in yields by 50-250% of different crops and 20% increase in
production of targeted commodity crops; 35% increase in domestic agribusiness
and 15% increase in export of selected commodities;
(vii) Increase in fish production by 230% from 650,000 metric tonnes to 1.5m
metric tonnes p.a.; 40% increase in availability of rural infrastructure (road,
energy, water and housing);
(viii) Increase in the agriculture sector‘s contribution to GDP by at least 8%.
National Security, Niger Delta and Energy Security
Security of life and property represents one of the most important
constitutional duties of any Government. Security, the maintenance of law and
order are the foundation on which the success of all initiatives of Government,
in ensuring good governance, is anchored. The primary challenges of national
security revolve around the ability of the Government to discharge its
responsibilities to the governed; a challenge made more daunting by the current
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economic down-turn. Under no other form of government have the challenges
of national security been more enervating and potently sensitive than in a
democracy. Lack of security, particularly, in the Niger Delta is capable of
threatening the stability of the polity and the safety of economic and social
sectors of society. It can also discourage foreign direct investment while
undermining national economic growth and the Vision 20:2020. The
collaboration of all security organizations in the country under the Joint Task
Force has been a major step in combating militancy and other crimes in the
Niger Delta. The ability to communicate effectively within and between the
various security services is therefore being enhanced. Government is also
reviewing the NYSC Act in order to provide a legal framework for youth
corpers in crime prevention and community policing. This will be achieved as
Nigerians invest heavily in security, and also, properly reward those who put
their lives (in the line of fire) to ensure the safety of lives, investments and other
properties.
The community must be directly involved in designing and claiming
ownership of programs aimed at reducing crimes. To complement this,
Government is actively exploring avenues of cooperation with the International
Community and law enforcement agencies across the world to provide
assistance to the country‘s law enforcement agencies.
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Dependence on the oil and gas industry weakens the other sectors the
economy and narrows the country‘s economic base because the sector is both
extraverted as well as being capital intensive. The Federal Government
encourages dialogue with stakeholders and has increased derivation on oil and
gas revenue due to the region from 3 per cent to 13 per cent. Government also
established the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) by an Act of
the National Assembly in the 2000. The NDDC is currently funded by the
Federal Government and the oil companies. The NDDC has received an
aggregate of N241.584 billion from 2001-2006. Without doubt, the involvement
of the NDDC in community development projects, including the construction of
basic infrastructure would produce some salutary effects on the security
situation and the political climate in the Niger Delta.
Under the proposed big-push approach to develop the region, the
following would surely provide the needed ‗quick-wins‘:
(i) Faithful implementation of the Niger Delta Master Plan through periodic
national budgeting process;
(ii) Mainstreaming small business development initiatives;
(iii) Enforcement of the local content policy in the oil and gas sectors;
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(iv) A regional gas grid alongside an effective intermodal transport system to
enable industrialisation and development of the Niger Delta on Public Private
Partnership (PPP) basis;
(v) Establishment of the Federal Ministry of the Niger Delta, with an indigene
as the pioneer Minister;
(vi) Better accountable and coordinated deployment of the Derivation Funds,
NDDC and other long term funds into the right capital projects is an
opportunity to be exploited.
(vii) Establishment of the Technical Committee on the Niger Delta to
recommend the way forward.
(viii) Continued dialogue with all stakeholders (Local & International) and
deployment of wide ranging measures.
Toward implementation of the Administration‘s Niger Delta Agendum,
provisions were also been made in the 2009 Budget for new road projects such
as the Warri-Kaima Road; East-West Road (Section I) Warri-Kaima; East-West
Road (Section II) Warri-Port Harcourt, East-West (Section III) Port Harcourt –
Eket, East-West Road (Section IV) Eket-Oron; Erosion Control Projects;
Idumuje Unor Erosion Control Project, Delta State; Foresty Projects;
Conservation and Development of Coastal Ecosystem (Guinea Current Large
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Marine Ecosystem) Gclime (Rivers & Bayelsa State); Youth Training
Development Centre in the Niger Delta.
Education and Human Capital Development
The provision of health, education and functional social safety nets are
absolutely essential to achieving desirable human capital outcomes and
addressing some negative trends in this sector. One of the options would be to
domesticate the sectoral transformation in order to model globally acceptable
health transformation around the country‘s unique national culture and
institutions. Structural transformation will emphasize the strengthening of the
management capacity of the National Primary Health Care Development
Agency (NPHDA), to co-ordinate Primary Health Care (PHC) policy and the
re-establishment or enthronement of the health referral system in every state. It
also requires improving human resources for tackling maternal and child
mortality, and mobilizing additional resources to address funding gaps for
health sector programmes. In addition, all public funded health agencies would
align their expenditure with key priorities that address basic health services,
with effective pro-poor services at secondary and tertiary levels.
The introduction of the National Health Insurance Scheme is a welcome
policy initiative in this regard in terms of increased access to health facilities.
The challenges of HIV/AIDS and other communicable childhood diseases such
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as polio are also being addressed through the adoption of multi-layered
programmes and activities across the country. It is noteworthy that HIV/AIDS
prevalence rate in the country has fallen from 5.8% in 2001 to 3.6% in 2008 as
a result of various government interventions to control the spread of this
pandemic.
In the education sector, literacy level in the country is inherently
unsteady. Less than 60% of primary-aged children attend school; estimated
40% or 7 million primary school aged children are also not in school.
Considering the strategic importance of education in human development, a
three-pronged coordinated approach is needed, namely:, making Universal
Basic Education (UBE) Programme more truly universal and result oriented,
with intense monitoring; strengthening of secondary education by focusing on
sciences and technology; and raising the standards of tertiary education.
Government intervention measures are addressing the pivotal role of the public
service and the newly established Public Service Institute, Abuja, in the
implementation of the Seven Point Agenda. The issues of vocational education,
women‘s empowerment, teacher - student, classroom - student, science teacher-
student and other critical problems are also being squarely addressed at the
three levels of governance.
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Land Tenure Reforms and Home Ownership
Nigeria has a huge housing deficit, evidenced by low levels of the real
estate sector and mortgage credits to the sector, accounting for less than 1% and
0.5% of GDP respectively. This is what led to the evolution of the current
National Policy on Urban Development and Housing that provides for a private
sector-led housing policy with the government providing the enabling operating
environment. The paucity of long term funds has been the bane of housing
finance in Nigeria and the banking sector has consistently demonstrated its
aversion to financing home ownership. Our legal and regulatory environment
including laws inhibiting efficient land transaction, are being reformed,
including the adoption of monetary and fiscal measures more conducive to
sustainable housing finance. Furthermore, the existence of weak primary
mortgage structures with attended weak capitalization, poor corporate
governance and technical skill deficiencies have worsened the situation.
The Federal Government‘s immediate solution to land administration
problems, therefore centre on amending the Land Use Act. The main thrust of
the recent Executive Bill in this regard is to restrict the requirement for
Governor‘s consent in land transactions to assignments only. The amendments
will render such consent unnecessary for mortgages, subleases and other land
transfers in order to make transactions in land less cumbersome, thereby
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facilitating higher economic growth. The presentation of the bill to the National
Assembly marks the commencement of the implementation of the Yar‘Adua
Administration‘s strategic agenda to overcome some of the major legal and
logistical constraints to capital accumulation in Nigeria. The bill once adopted
will facilitate increased investment in agriculture and strengthen the mortgage
industry.
The second plan, though not in that Executive Bill, is the establishment
of specialized courts to determine the terms and timing of
challenge/contestation of foreclosures. Thirdly, the computerization of all land
related records at all levels. Fourthly, the need to persuade State Governments
to convert their Housing Corporations into land companies with mandate to
develop new towns in the states. Fifthly, reorganizing the Federal Housing
Authority (FHA) to provide mortgage insurance for affordable housing. Sixthly,
passage of foreclosure and securitization laws. Finally, sustaining the Federal
Mortgage Bank of Nigeria as a secondary mortgage institution refinancing
mortgage loan originators through the capital market and the provision for legal
protection of lenders against bankruptcy to attract investors in housing
financing.
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Wealth Creation
More than two thirds of Nigerians are poor. The incidence of poverty has
been increasing at a significant rate since independence. By virtue of African‘s
undue reliance on revenue from non renewable sources such as oil, Nigeria has
yet to develop industrially. On-going reform is focused on wealth creation
through diversified production, especially in the agricultural and solid mineral
sectors.
The specific areas of Government intervention to create enabling
environment for wealth creation is as follows:
(a) Leadership and Governance: Government will continue with greater vigour,
to provide the enabling the environment for private sector led wealth creation
drive. The institutionalization of sound leadership and good governance is a
prerequisite for an environment that allows wealth creation;
(b) Skills development for productivity: Federal Government is already
concentrating on providing functional vocational training to job seekers and
also encouraging the training of the existing labour force to meet the demands
of industry. The curricula and course content in our universities, polytechnics
and technical colleges are being re-orientated to the current needs of industries
and to meet the challenges of a modern economy;
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(c) Promoting a ‗Formalized Self Employment‘ Sector: Artisans, farmers,
market women, traders and proprietors of small and medium-scale enterprises
(SMEs) are being assisted to formalize their businesses and to acquire
entrepreneurial skills;
(d) Facilitating access to credit: The entrepreneurial spirit of the poor are being
significantly enhanced through the provision of financing in the form of micro
credit. Government agrees that the formalization of informal business and land
reform system are key to access to credit by the poor;
(e) Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs): NGOs are facilitating wealth
creation through their various nation-wide capacity-building programmes.
Government is already partnering with NGOs and religious groups to execute
wealth creation strategies that focus on the empowerment of the poor through
various capacity-building initiatives;
(f) Nigerians in Diaspora: The Federal Government is already involving
Nigerians in Diaspora through the Nigerians In Diaspora Organization (NIDO),
in promoting wealth creation, by their funding of specific projects of
preference, (directly or through the capital market) or the provision of technical
and managerial skills which they possess in abundance. To this effect, recently
the Global Database of Nigerians in Diaspora was launched in London by the
Foreign Minister, His Excellency, Ojo Maduekwe, CFR;
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(g) Massive retraining of graduates to accelerate the production health workers,
teachers and ICT specialists (www.nigeriafirst.org).
All the above 7-Point Agenda which has been the defining factor in the
thrust of President Umaru Musa Yar‘adua are yet to record any major success;
except perhaps in terms of the Amnesty granted to the rampaging militants in
the Niger-Delta. This has quelled the spate of destruction of oil installations.
However, it should be noted that the militants have at various times threatened
to resume hostilities in the Niger-Delta having accused the government of
reneging on the agreed terms of the truce.
Another area in which the 7-Point Agenda has recorded massive failure is
in the area of power and energy. As at the inception of this regime in 2007,
power supply was at 6,000 megawatts which the government promised to
declare an emergency on. What we have seen so far is a power production level
of 2,700 megawatts; way below what was obtainable prior to the declaration of
a state of emergency on the sector. This is contradictory and a mark of
progressive degeneration. This assertion stems from the fact that government‘s
actions and inactions tend to stultify the growth and sustenance of small and
medium scale enterprises thus undermining government‘ wealth creation and
employment drive.
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4.8 Reasons for Failure of Global Development Initiatives
Developmental strategies in Africa have been inspired by two main
sources and can be classified into exogenous-liberal policies and endogenous-
African alternatives. All the strategies that have been enunciated and adopted in
Africa have been stimulated by a corresponding ideological interpretation of the
African crisis (Aderemi; 2002:1).
The exogenous strategies were informed by neo-classical economic
theories and always invariably (before 1989), conceived with the intention of
containing or checkmating communism by, denouncing communism as an
economic doctrine, the soviet autarky planning model and socialism as a
political doctrine.
One of the interpretations of the developmental impasse in the South
from a western perspective was summarized by the Harrod-Dommar model.
According to this analysis, the problem was cyclical, a catch 22 situation, poor
incomes from exports were resulting in low savings, leading to low investments
resulting again in poor earnings. International trade they opined, was
detrimental to new states for several reasons: First the exchange between
primary products and manufactures was increasingly deteriorating; secondly,
international trade was fluid and subject to several unpredictable variables; free
trade makes the economies of the peripheral members to respond to stimuli in
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the core countries to the detriment of domestic exigencies therefore, making the
developing economy susceptible and long term planning impossible.
Schneider (1999:38) attributes the failure of global development
initiatives in Nigeria to the prevalent class structure. To him, the class structure
of most countries in Africa is such that those who control the resources and
trade - primarily government officials, tribal leaders, and foreign multinational
corporations - benefit from the existing system and thus have little incentive to
change. Meanwhile, in addition to being desperately poor and thereby having
few resources to invest, African peasants living at the subsistence level are
extremely risk averse, since any fluctuation in food output or income could
mean starvation. Freeing up markets therefore has not led to major changes in
behavior, nor have modern technologies been adopted in African agriculture,
even when they are suited to the local ecology.
Despite several attempts of government, donor agencies, NGOs and other
related bodies at alleviating through development initiatives, the scourge is still
much apparent in the country. Several reasons account for this scenario.
First, development initiatives and policies of successive government as more
often than not specified by international institutions and donor agencies have
always remained a mere political slogan or statement. Government at the
Federal, State and Local Government levels in Nigeria have always introduced
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one form of poverty alleviation programme to better the lots of the people, but,
no sooner had these policies are formulated and lunched with fun-fare than they
are abandoned. Again, the implementation aspect of the policies have been
weak as people who manage the programmes at one level or the other continue
to pursue their own personal benefits at the expense of the government.
The Department for International Development (DFID), according to
Ogunleye (2006:141), has identified three factors as the bedrock of poverty in
Nigeria. They include;
Macro-economic mismanagement, on the part of successive military and
civilian governments, corruption and misuse of oil windfalls. The agency traced
Nigeria‘s, poor economic performance to the failure to productively manage its
oil windfall either to improve social infrastructure or encourage non-oil sector
economic activities. This statement is corroborated by yet another share of
N240b by the Federal, State and Local Government which always end up being
unaccounted for.
According to the report, Nigeria is the World's 13th largest oil producer
and the 6th largest in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
(OPEC), she has estimated proven reserves of 32 billion barrel which should be
sufficient for 37 years at the current rate of production. Nigerian gas reserves
when fully exploited will place it in the World's top 10 gas producers. It is
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estimated that gas reserves are 174 trillion cubic feet and will last for 110 years
at current rates of production. The anticipated diversification of Nigeria's
economy as a result of Gas productions and exportations will end up a ruse
because; it will not end Nigeria's dependence on extractive industries for the
generation of foreign exchange and government revenue.
Another reason for the failure of global development initiatives in
Nigeria is because of the unavailability of reliable population data as a
benchmark for proper planning. A census figure released by the National
Population Commission at the end of every head count has always been a
subject of controversy. They are always marred with irregularities because both
population officials and the people to be counted always display their level of
untruthfulness for ulterior motives. There is no provision in the Nigerian system
that allows whoever cares to know the number of the unemployed, the
underemployed and even the dependants. With all these in place, there could
not be improved quality of life of the citizenry.
Mention should also be made of the neglect of agriculture. Before the
discovery of oil in the Niger Delta in 1956, agriculture has been the mainstay of
the economy of Nigeria. More than 95% of the foreign exchange earnings of the
country come from the agricultural sector. But shortly after the discovery of oil
and more importantly from the early 70s (during the oil boom period), the
224
concern of both government and individuals for agriculture began to dwindle
because they saw the 'black gold' as an easier means of getting money. People
who are even unemployed prefer cities to going back to the land for the purpose
of agricultural practices.
4.9 Alternative Development Initiative
The best development strategy for Nigeria at this point in time is the
Residual Option. The Residual Option was proposed by Ake (1996) and
explained further by Asobie in his comparative analysis of the NEEDS
document and Ake‘s Democracy and Development in Africa.
Development, according to the Residual Option is a process by which
people create and re-create themselves and their life circumstances to realize
higher levels of civilization in accordance with their own choice and values.
Again, development is a process in which the people themselves must be
directly and intimately involved; even though it can be facilitated by the help of
others. Thus the people must not only be the end of development, they must
also be its agents and means.
The Residual Option stipulates integrated rural development constituting of
two main components as the overall development strategy. These two
components are Agricultural Strategy and Rural Industrialization.
225
Agricultural Strategy: this is a strategy that encourages farmers to be more
efficient and more productive, by making them more skillful, more
knowledgeable, more confident and giving them more access to the revenues
they need to be more efficient. This can easily be achieved through the ways:
- Moving the farmer to the centre of agricultural policy through
participation in policy dialogue among farmers and between farmers
and officials;
- Providing infrastructural supports for farming activities (improving
rural infrastructure especially roads, water supply, electricity, markets,
transport, energy, giving rural agriculture producer access to better
technologies, engaging in human resource development for farmers,
that is; continuous enhancement of their quality as a resource for
development;
- Adopting a small holder approach to agricultural development.
Agricultural policy should generate impetus to development by
concentrating resources at the base, that is, on farmers who are
overwhelmingly small holder farmers.
Rural Industrialization: Industrialization will begin as rural Industrialization –
that is, an integral part of the process of development.
226
- Industrialization would be pursued primarily on the basis of self
reliance; it will be funded mainly from the incomes of farmers; it will
be sustained by the multiplier effect of the linkages between farm and
non-farm activities.
- There will be backward linkages. New simple technologies such as
seeders or ploughs and inter-row weeders will be introduced to
replace traditional hoes, machetes and wooden paddles for threshing.
The tools will be locally manufactured.
- There will be forward linkages too, such as food processing, brewing
and packaging.
- This approach to industrialization is endogenous and self-reliant and
not driven by foreign loans, foreign investment, foreign technology
and foreign trade.
The Residual Option draws attention away from the oil sector which has
transformed Nigeria into a mono-sectoral economy. Emphasis on agriculture
and rural industrialization will stem the tide of youth unemployment which no
developmental initiative in the country has hitherto been able to address
effectively. Again, it will also stem the tide of rural-urban migration which has
tended to swell the number of slum dwellers, criminal gangs as well as
stretching the available infrastructure and other social amenities. The Residual
227
Option is indeed the key to unlock Nigeria from the shackles of
underdevelopment.
From the foregoing, it could be seen that various development initiative
implemented in Nigeria in partnership with global development agencies like
the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) have done everything
but solve Nigeria‘s developmental woes. Instead what they have done is to
effectively devalue the naira as well as expose our local industries to rapacious
competition in the name of trade liberalization. Our hypothesis which states that
the development of a global partnership for development will not strengthen
Nigeria‘s weak economic and political structure has thus been validated.
228
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
5.1 SUMMARY
The study examined the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and
Challenges of Development in Nigeria.
The following Research Questions were posited:
(1) Has the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals reduced
the incidence of poverty in Nigeria?
(2) Is there any relationship between political corruption and the failure of
the government to implement the Millennium Development goals in
Nigeria?
(3) Is the development of a global partnership for development likely to
strengthen Nigeria‘s weak economic and political structure?
The following Hypotheses were drawn from the research questions:
The study shall explore the following hypotheses:
(1) The implementation of the Millennium Development Goals has not
reduced the incidence of poverty in Nigeria.
(2) There is a link between political corruption and the failure of the
government to implement the Millennium Development Goals.
229
(3) The development of a global partnership for development will not
strengthen Nigeria‘s weak economic and political structure.
The above enabled us to subdivide the study into five chapters. Chapter
one dwelt on the introductory and methodological issues. Chapter two
examined the Millennium Development Goals and Poverty Reduction. The
third chapter focused on Political Corruption and Policy Implementation.
Chapter four dwelt on Development Initiatives and Economic Development
while chapter five is for summary and conclusion.
For a sound and objective analysis of the issue at hand, the Marxist
Theory of the State was adopted as the framework of analysis. Our data was
collected from secondary sources like books, journals, United Nations
documents, World Bank publications, government and other official
publications, internet materials, seminar papers, newspapers, magazines as well
as other related documents.
Content Analysis technique was adopted for the objective, systematic and
qualitative analysis and interpretation of data gathered in the course of this
research.
At the end of the study, the following findings were made:
(1) The implementation of the Millennium Development Goals has not
succeeded in reducing the incidence of poverty in Nigeria;
230
(2) That there is indeed a link between political corruption and the failure
by the Nigerian government to implement the Millennium
Development Goals; and,
(3) That the development of a global partnership for development has not
strengthened Nigeria‘s weak economic and political structure.
The above findings validated our hypotheses as stated in chapter one.
5.2 CONCLUSION
From the discussion so far, it could be seen that the problem of
underdevelopment is attributable to a multiplicity of factors. Some of these
factors include political corruption and lack of political will as demonstrated
through weak policy implementation. Thus contrary to the common belief that
our crisis of development has its root cause in colonialism, it could be seen that
the problem is with Nigeria‘s political leadership. Thus while the Structural
Adjustment Policy can be said to be of great benefit to the West, the same
cannot be said of the Millennium Development Goals which is pro-poor in
nature.
Perhaps, one might pause to wonder of what importance it will be to the
West if the rate of maternal mortality in Nigeria should decrease. This is a
scenario unlike what SAP projected – economic growth which in no way
231
translated to economic development. Once set on the right track, the millennium
development goals will engender human development which will in turn
translate to economic growth and development.
Failed development visions, development programmes abandoned
halfway and policy reversals are common problems that impede development in
Nigeria. They are products of corruption and political leadership ineptitude that
bedevil the country. These factors combine to mastermind underdevelopment
and a Nigerian state which has failed in spite of abundant natural and human
resources it is blessed with. Corruption in Nigeria foils good development
dreams, visions, policies and plans, and keeps development crawling.
Therefore, for any meaningful development to take place in Nigeria, corruption
must first be expunged by the political leadership who initiates, breeds and
perpetuates it.
In Nigeria, poverty situation was worsened by the rapid annual
population growth rate with the attendant feminization of gender. In general,
government has not been unaware of the poverty situation in Nigeria. However,
the government past efforts can be categorized into three main areas including
the efforts of the present civilian government of Umaru Yar‘Dua which came to
power in May, 2007. However, there are signs that there may be improvement
with time especially if corruption is eradicated.
232
Nigeria as a developing country is seriously challenged by poverty. Out of
every 10 Nigerians 7 live on less than $1 a day and the picture is getting bad by
the day (Amobi, 2008:16). On account of poverty in Nigeria, poor parents begat
poor children, thereby creating a kind of dynasty of the poor. Life expectancy is
a mere 54 years (Chukwuemeka, 2008:4). Infant mortality is 77 per 1,000 and
maternal mortality stands at 704 per 100,000 live births, which is about the
highest in the world. Only 47% of Nigerians have access to safe drinking water
(40% in rural areas, 60% in urban areas). Unemployment and underemployment
rate is put at 15% of the labour force (Amobi, 2008:17).
It is far too obvious that Nigeria with such a dismal outlook as presented
above, may not eligible to wholly embrace the imperatives of the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) which one of its main thrust and number one
objective is poverty eradication. This, however, is not peculiar to Nigeria as
ECOWAS Commission President Dr Mohammad Ibn Chambers corroborated
when he asserted that:
The prospects of achieving the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) by halving poverty by
2015 do not, at the moment look bright in West
Africa. In fact, our region is one of those that is most
unlikely to have reduced poverty by 2015 at current
average annual growth rates of 4 to 4.5% and
population average annual growth rates of 3.5%. To
significantly make impact on the pervasive and
233
excruciating poverty in our region, we need to be
growing our economies at 7% of GDP and upwards
(2005:19).
There is no gain saying the fact that effort made by the successive
regimes and administrations in Nigeria to stamp out poverty failed due to poor
plan implementation and incompatibility of policy goals. For example, Eze
(2007:12) contends that the civilian government of Olusegun Obasanjo adopted
the policy of poverty eradication and promotion of socio-economic
development and at the same time pursued a policy of retrenchment of
thousands of workers from the federal bureaucracy including the armed forces.
This can best be described as a case of progressive degeneration.
Another problem that impedes the actualization of poverty related
programmes in Nigeria argues Chukwuemeka (2008:5), is the nefarious
practices of the policy formulators. The policy makers in Nigeria have the
tendency to formulate policies and programmes with some inbuilt flexibilities
to allow them loopholes to make inordinate gains. For instance most poverty
related programmes do not get to the people at the grassroots where most of the
poor people reside. The comprador bourgeoisie hijack some of such
programmes. Essentially most of the comprador bourgeoisie are agents of the
ruling elites. The power sector is not productive and thus the enabling
environment is not guaranteed for micro businesses to thrive. The two thousand
234
seven hundred (2700) megawatts of electricity currently being generated by the
Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) is far too minimal to meet the
energy needs of the people. This is contradictory to the employment generation
drive of the government as small scale enterprises are thrown into oblivion due
to incessant power outage.
Again, government regulatory policies are oftentimes not favourable to
small-scale business holders. Such regulatory policies include: local
government tariffs, business premises tariffs, environmental agency tariffs,
among others. The nefarious activities of hoodlums who hide under the cloak of
the above mentioned agencies to intimidate and extort money from innocent
micro business owners equally deserve mention. The daunting challenges of
development in Nigeria are far from over so long as the scenario portrayed
above remains the same.
5.3 RECOMMENDATIONS
The uncomplimentary paradox of poverty in the midst of plenty in
Nigeria suggests the compelling need for a concerted pursuit of the objective of
poverty reduction and its eventual elimination. To this end, there is the need for
an agreed poverty reduction agenda that can be used by all stakeholders –
Federal Government, State Government, Local Governments, NGOs and the
235
International Donor Community. There is also the need for strong political
commitment to the poverty reduction goal, as well as a depoliticization of
poverty alleviation programmes and projects. Very importantly, in order to
make a meaningful dent on poverty it is crucial for poverty reduction
programmes and measures to be implemented within the framework of rapid
broad-based economic growth with, sound economic management and good
governance, among others.
Again, more vigour should be added to the efforts being made to sanitize
Nigeria‘s electoral system. This is in bid to guard against the coming into power
of leaders bereft of every idea of development but affluent in strategies for
primitive accumulation of private property and aggrandizement. This will
equally stem the trend of using mediocres in situations whereby nothing but
expertise is needed. Once the rightly qualified people are occupying the right
positions of authority, their expertise in policy formulation and implementation
will be all too glaring.
Similarly, for Nigeria to scale the hurdle of endemic poverty, economic
development plans and strategies should be made to get to the rural areas in
which it is said that about 70% of Nigerians reside. Related to this is the need to
provide social amenities and infrastructures like roads, electricity, pipe-borne
water, well-equipped hospitals and health centres amongst others. This will help
236
limit the extent of rural-urban drift. There is also an urgent need to lay greater
emphasis on the agricultural sector which employs a large percentage of labour.
Once this is done, Nigeria will not just be able to meet her domestic
consumption needs; it will also be able to supply abundant agricultural raw
materials to the industrial sector.
237
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