Stakeholders in the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals, MDGs across the country began the process of validating and adopting the Nigeria 2015 MDGs End-Point Report, which will be presented as the final report on the country’s implementation of the framework.
A statement signed by the Media Consultant to the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on MDGs, Desmond Utomwen stated that the report chronicled the gains recorded in the implementation of the 15-year development framework as well as challenges and gaps requiring attentions in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which will be adopted in September by world leaders as the replacement for the MDGs.
Speaking at the validation and adoption of the report, the Director/Secretary of Programme, OSSAP-MDGs, Mr. Ochapa Ogenyi, said Nigeria has recorded appreciation progress in the implementation of the goals.
“It is indeed gratifying to note that Nigeria has recorded appreciable progress in the implementation of the MDGs particularly in the area of universal primary enrolment, gender parity in education, reduction in the spread of HIV/AIDs, maternal and child mortality as well as prevalence of hunger,” he said.
The MDGs Report presented the end-point status of the various MDGs key milestones and achievements, notable policy drivers of successes, main challenges and key lessons learnt at both the National and Sub-National levels.
Ochapa noted that the final draft of the Nigeria MDGs Endpoint Report, 2015, which is being validated, is as a result of the collective efforts of all of all the stakeholders involved in the implementation of the MDGs.
“Let me reiterate that efforts were made to ensure that the report contains accurate, reliable and up to date data benchmarking Nigeria’s progress on most of the 60 indicators.” Ochapa stated.
The Deputy National Program Manager of the UK aid Governance program, State Partnership for Accountability, Responsiveness and Capability (SPARC), Hadiza Elayo, said the unfinished business of the MDGs will be addressed by the tougher goals set by the SDGs.
“The next development agenda has toughened the fight against not just poverty but a broad spectrum of issues as can be seen by the 17 Sustainable development goals, 169 targets and over 500 indicators,” she said.
In his remark, the United Nations Development Programme, UNDP Country Director, Pa Lamin Beyai applauded the efforts of OSSAP-MDGs and indeed the entire country in beating the global deadline on the MDGs.
Pa Lamin Beyai stated: “We have learnt some useful lessons over the past 15 years: wide variations in progress not just across the goals and targets but also across the 36 states, and the FCT; in the six geo-political zones; and in some regions, women and youth are lagging in most of the targets.”
“We have also learnt that, in certain instances, a commendable job has been done; Nigeria has managed to make good progress in its polio interventions; implemented a largely successful Conditional Grants Scheme, CGS aimed at reducing poverty while at the same time promoting the achievement of other MDGs, such as education and health-related MDGs. Pa Lamin Beyai added.
