CANDLE LIGHT FOR UNILAG VICE CHANCELLOR PROF BABATUNDE SOFOLUWE

As reported by: OYEDE SAHEED a.ka. Chief Humanbeing 400Level Student Of Insurance University of Lagos. 08060210424 chiefhumanbeing@gmail.com

The authorities of the university of Lagos has come out to clarify the circumstances surrounding the sudden death of its vice-chancellor, professor Adetokunbo Bbabatunde Sofoluwe who passed on at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) in the early hours of Saturday May 12, 2012. According to a press release from the information unit, public affairs department of the vice chancellors’ office, the press release became necessary in order to clarify issues surrounding the sudden death of the university’s 10th vice chancellor at a time that the university is preparing to celebrate her Golden Jubilee. The press release read in part “According to hospital sources, professor A.B Sofoluwe suffered a Heart Attack while in his office at the Department of Computer Science but managed to call his doctor from the Medical Centre who came to his rescue and brought him to the Medical Centre in an ambulance and subsequently transferred him to LUTH where he was diagnosed as having Myocardial Infarction. He was resuscitated before being transferred to the High Dependency Unit in Ward E8 of LUTH. Unfortunately, he suffered a second Heart Attack and all efforts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful. Post mortem examination has since been carried out and this has confirmed the cause of death to be of Cardiac Origin.” Meanwhile all the Faculty Presidents have concluded plans to hold a Candle Light procession in honour of the departed Vice- Chancellor Professor Babatunde Sofoluwe. In a meeting held with the principal officers of the university on Sunday May 13 at the council chambers chaired by the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Management services) professor R.A Bello with the Faculty presidents, the Students’ Leaders resolved to hold a candle Light procession on the Tuesday 15th of May to honour the late Vice-Chancellor. According to the Faculty president of Social Sciences comrade Onanuga Adewale, students are expected to converge at the Senate Building by 6pm for the candle light procession schedule to commence from the Senate Building through Jaja Hall to the Medical centre and Ransome Kuti Road. The procession is expected to terminate at the Senate Building where prayers will be offered for the repose of the soul of the departed vice chancellor. Those present at the meeting include the Chief Security Officer of the School and the Registrar who also doubles as the Secretary of Council Oluwarotimi Sodimu ESQ The university has also set up a high powered Burial Committee headed by the Deputy Vice-chancellor (Academic and Research) Professor Babajide Alo to work out the burial arrangements. While the university authorities have declared Monday, May 14 to Wednesday, May 16, 2012 as the mourning period. To this end, all statutory meetings and other university activities at its three campuses (Akoka, Idi – Araba including ISL and Staff School) will not hold throughout this period.

THE MILLENIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS: CAN NIGERIA MEET THE GOALS IN 2015?









By
Otive Igbuzor, PhD
ActionAid International Nigeria
Plot 590 Cadastral Zone,
Central Business Area, Abuja, Nigeria.
Tel: 09/2348480 & 3
E-mail: Otive.Igbuzor@actionaid.org
otiveigbuzor@yahoo.co.uk










A PAPER PRESENTED AT A SYMPOSIUM ON MILLENIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS AND NIGERIA: ISSUES, CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS ORGANISED BY THE INSTITUTE OF CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS OF NIGERIA (ICAN), ABUJA DISTRICT ON 27TH JULY, 2006 AT SHERATON HOTEL AND TOWERS, ABUJA.







1. INTRODUCTION
The problem of development has 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 good change manifested in increased capacity of people to have control over material assets, intellectual resources and ideology; and 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. This is why some people have argued 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 live survive on less that US $1 per day. Wealth is concentrated in the hand of a few people. The UNDP 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 48 least developed countries. Similarly, the 1000 richest people in the world have personal wealth greater than 500 million people in the least developed countries.[i]

Nigeria, which was one of the richest 50 countries in the early 1970s, has retrogressed to become one of the 25 poorest countries at the threshold of the twenty first century. 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. 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. 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). 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 excluded. Nigeria is among the 20 countries in the world with the widest gap between the rich and the poor. The Gini index measures the extent to which the distribution of income (or in some cases consumption expenditure) among individuals or households within an economy deviates from a perfectly equal distribution. A Gini index of zero represents perfect equality while an index of 100 implies perfect inequality. Nigeria has one of the highest Gini index in the world. The Gini index for Nigeria is 50.6. This compares poorly with other countries such as India (37.8), Jamaica (37.9), Mauritania (37.3) and Rwanda (28.9).

2. THE MDGs
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 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.
The eight main targets, using 1990 as a baseline, are:

Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2015 target Halve proportion of people living on less than $1 a day, and those suffering hunger
Achieve Universal Basic Education
2015 target Achieve universal primary completion
Promote Gender equality
2005/2015 target Eliminate gender disparities in primary and secondary education enrolment by 2005, and achieve equity at all levels by 2015
Reduce Child Mortality
2015 target Reduce by two thirds the child mortality rate
Improve maternal health
2015 target Reduce by three quarters the proportion of women dying in childbirth
Combat AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases
2015 target Halt and begin to reverse the incidence of HIV-AIDS, malaria and other major diseases
Ensure environmental sustainability
Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reverse the loss of environmental resources
2015 target reduce by half the proportion of people without access to clean drinking water and basic sanitation
By 2020 achieve a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers
Develop a Global Partnership for Development
There are no measurables, but goal 8 commits north and south to working together to achieve an open, rule-based trading and financial system, more generous aid to countries committed to poverty reduction, and relief for the debt problems of developing countries. It draws attention to the problems of the least developed countries and of landlocked countries and small island developing states, which have greater difficulty competing in the global economy.


It is important to point out that there are limitations of utilizing the MDGs as a framework for delivering or measuring development.[ii] 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 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.

Despite the limitations mentioned above, it is necessary for us 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 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.

3. THE SITUATION IN NIGERIA
The situation of MDG in Nigeria can be seen from two main sources: the Nigeria MDG report 2004 and the Nigeria MDG report 2005. We can also assess the situation from MDG office especially the Debt Relief Gains as provided in the 2006 annual budget. The 2004 report which was Nigeria’s first report on the MDGs states that “based on available information it is unlikely that the country will be able to meet most of the goals by 2015 especially the goals related to eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, reducing child and maternal mortality and combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases”[iii] It further states that “for most of the other goals (i.e apart from goal 1) up- to- date data exists which shows that if the current trend continues, it will be difficult for the country to achieve the MDG targets by 2015”.[iv]

The Nigeria Millennium Development Goals 2005 report is the second in the series of annual reports on the MDGs in Nigeria. The report which addressed the eight MDGs highlights the current status and trends of each of the MDGs, the challenges and opportunities in attaining the goal, the promising initiatives that are creating a supportive environment and priorities for development assistance. The report concluded that:
There is high potential to attain some of the Millennium Development Targets namely,
· Achieving universal primary education
· Ensuring environmental stability
· Developing a global partnership for development

Given the current policy environment and strong political will, there is also the likelihood of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger.
However, based on available information, there is the need for sustained efforts to ensure that the country meets the following goals by year 2015:
· Achieving gender equality and women empowerment
· Reducing child mortality
· Improving maternal health; and
· Combating HIV/AIDs, malaria and other diseases[v]
The conclusion of the MDG 2005 report is very remarkable and gives hope that there is possibility for achieving all the MDGs in Nigeria with sustained effort. This conclusion is quite different from the conclusions reached by the first report in 2004. It is intriguing that without providing the basis and reason for the dramatic change, the 2005 states that there is high potential to achieve 3 of the goals (Goals 2,7 and 8) likelihood to achieve one with strong political will(Goal 1) and the need for sustained efforts to ensure that the country meets the remaining four goals(Goals 3,4,5, and 6).

The details of the situation in Nigeria as captured in the 2005 MDG report with regard to each of the goals is shown below:
Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
(2015 target Halve proportion of people living on less than $1 a day, and those suffering hunger): The current rate of reduction in poverty is too slow to meet the targets set for 2015. if the current rate of poverty reduction is maintained, poverty incidence would reduce to 43 percent as opposed to 21.4 percent by 2015.
Achieve Universal Basic Education
(2015 target Achieve universal primary completion): The efficiency of primary education has improved over the years, as the primary six completion rate increased steadily from 65 percent in 1998 to 83 percent in 2001. It however declined in 2002 only to shoot up to 94 percent in 2003.
Literacy level in the country has steadily and gradually deteriorated, especially within the 15 -24 years group. By 1999, the overall literacy rate had declined to 64.1 percent from 71.9 percent in 1991. The trend was in the same direction for male and female members of the 15-24 years age bracket. Among the male, the rate declined from 81.35 percent in 1991 to 69.8 percent in 1999. The decline among the female was from 62.49 percent to 59.3 percent during the same period.
Promote Gender equality
(2005/2015 target Eliminate gender disparities in primary and secondary education enrolment by 2005, and achieve equity at all levels by 2015): At the primary school level, enrolment has been consistently higher for boys (56 percent) than for girls (44 percent).
Reduce Child Mortality
(2015 target Reduce by two thirds the child mortality rate): Infant mortality rate was 91 per 1000 live births in 1990 which later declined to 75 in 1999 but became worse in 2003. It rose to 100 per 1000 live births in 2003.
Improve maternal health
(2015 target Reduce by three quarters the proportion of women dying in childbirth): The 1999 multiple indicator cluster survey reported a maternal mortality rate of 704 per 100,000 live births. The maternal mortality is more than twice as high in the rural areas. The report did not give comparative statistics.
Combat AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases
(2015 target Halt and begin to reverse the incidence of HIV-AIDS, malaria and other major diseases): Since the identification of the first HIV/AIDS case in mid 1980s, the HIV prevalence rate has continually been on the increase from 1.8 to 5.8 percent in the period between 1991 and 2001. In 2003, the rate decreased to 5.0 percent and in 2005, it decreased to 4.4 percent.
Ensure environmental sustainability
(Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reverse the loss of environmental resources
2015 target reduce by half the proportion of people without access to clean drinking water and basic sanitation
By 2020 achieve a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers): The country is endowed with abundant environmental resources. However, high population growth rate and increasing demand for these resources threaten environmental sustainability. The environmental situation is challenged by myriad of problems, which impact negatively on the utilization of the resources for development and poverty alleviation.
Develop a Global Partnership for Development
(Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reverse the loss of environmental resources
2015 target reduce by half the proportion of people without access to clean drinking water and basic sanitation
By 2020 achieve a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers): The level of Official Development Assistance is increasing but still very low. The problem of market access for products of developing countries including Nigeria still persists.

A review of the Nigeria Millennium Development Goals 2005 report will reveal a number of problems. We shall focus on only three of them. First, there is the challenge of accurate, reliable, credible and believable statistics. The draft of the first Nigeria MDG progress report prepared by NISER stated that at the primary school level “by 2002, the gender ratio was 1:04 in favour of girls’[vi]. This was seriously criticized by CSOs as not reflecting reality. When the final report came out, it stated that “at the primary school level, the gender ratio increased from 0.76 in 1990 to 0.78 in 1995 and 0.96 in 2000”[vii] The statistics had changed. In the past two and a half decade, statistics in Nigeria have always indicated increasing levels of poverty over the past two and a half decades from 28.1% in 1980 to 65.6% in 1996 (MDG Report ,2004). In the early 2000s, there were many estimates that poverty rate was above 70%. But President Obasanjo has always insisted without any study that the poverty level was much lower. Expectedly, when the NPC conducted a survey in 2004, the poverty level was put at 54.4%. Before this report was released the 2004 MDG report stated that “it is unlikely that the country will be able to meet most of the goals by 2015 especially the goals related to eradicating extreme poverty and hunger”. After the release of the report, the 2005 MDG report stated that “given the current policy environment and strong political will, there is also the likelihood of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger’ p.viii.

The second problem with the report is that it is development assistance focused. The 2005 MDG report highlights the status of the MDGs, the challenges, opportunities and priorities for development assistance. This is not surprising for development strategy planning in Nigeria has been essentially external focused. According to the Nigerian draft interim poverty reduction strategy paper prepared in November, 2001 (the precursor of NEEDS),
Nigeria has embarked on preparing its own PRSP as a requirement for concessional assistance from its development partners abroad, including the World Bank, the IMF, the bilateral donors and other sources of such assistance. Given the importance of the subject and the tight timetable, the Nigerian authorities fully recognize the need to move forward expeditiously to the timely completion of the countries PRSP of which this interim PRSP (IPRSP) is the preliminary step.[viii]
The final drawback of the report that we will like to point out is that the report did not indicate the policies and practices that need to change to attain the goals. Meanwhile, scholars and agencies have documented what needs to be done to tackle poverty and achieve the MDGs. In this review, we shall outline the recommendations of three agencies: the World Bank, UNDP and ActionAid International. The World Bank in its 2001 report titled Attacking poverty points out that “physical capital was not enough, and that at least as important were health and education” and proposed a strategy for attacking poverty in three ways[ix]:
1. Promoting opportunity
§ Encouraging effective private investment
§ Expanding into international markets
§ Building the assets of poor people
§ Addressing asset inequalities across gender, ethnic, racial and social divides
§ Getting infrastructure and knowledge to poor area-rural and urban
2. Facilitating Empowerment
§ Laying the political and legal basis for inclusive development
§ Creating public administration that foster growth and equity
§ Promoting inclusive decentralization and community development
§ Promoting gender equity
§ Tracking social barriers
3. Enhancing Security
§ Formulating a modular approach to helping poor people manage risk
§ Developing national programs to prevent, prepare for, and respond to macro shocks-financial and natural
§ Designing national systems of social risk management that are also pro-growth
§ Addressing civil conflict
§ Tackling the HIV/AIDS Epidemic

The UNDP in its Human Development report of 2003 titled Millennium Development Goals: A Compact Among Nations to end Human Poverty pointed out that to achieve the MDGs require policy responses to structural constraints on several fronts along with stepped up external support.[x] The report recommended six policy clusters to help countries break out of their poverty traps:
1. Invest early and ambitiously in basic education and health while fostering gender equity. These are preconditions to sustained economic growth. Growth in turn can generate employment and raise incomes- feeding back into further gains in education and health gains.
2. Increase the productivity of small farmers in unfavourable environments- that is, the majority of the world’s hungry people. A reliable estimate is that 70 percent of the world’s poorest people live in rural areas and depend on agriculture.
3. Improve basic infrastructure- such as ports, roads, power and communications- to reduce the costs of doing business and overcome geographic barriers.
4. Develop an industrial development policy that nurtures entrepreneurial activity and helps diversify the economy away from dependence on primary commodity exports- with an active role for small scale and medium size enterprises.
5. Promote democratic governance and human rights to remove discrimination, secure social justice and promote well being of all people.
6. Ensure environmental sustainability and sound urban management so that development improvements are long term.

ActionAid International in its report titled Changing Course: Alternative Approaches to Achieve Millennium Development Goals and Fight HIV/AIDs shows that there is a yawning gap between MGD needs and spending realities in poor countries and that macroeconomic policies enforced by the IMF block poor countries from being able to spend more on education, health and economic development.[xi] The report argued that for the MDGs to be achieved, the world must start to change course now and adopt at local, national and international levels alternative economic policies that allow for much higher long-term public investments in health, education and development.

6. CAN NIGERIA MEET THE GOALS?
The question of whether Nigeria can or cannot meet the MDGs is a crucial one that should agitate the minds of politicians, government bureaucrats, civil society activists and development workers. In our view, there is no straightforward answer. It can be answered either in the negative or the affirmative. The NEEDS document clearly states that “if present trend continues, the country is not likely to meet the Millennium Development Goals.”[xii] On the other hand, the 2005 report gives the conditions for meeting the goals: strong political will and sustained efforts. Perhaps, a better way to frame the question is what can Nigeria do to meet the MDGs in 2015?. In our view, Nigeria has sufficient resources to meet the MDGs in 2015. But for this to happen, as argued above, the country will have to change course in the conceptualization and implementation of policies and programmes to achieve the MDGs.

One good initiative in Nigeria designed to meet the MDGs is the Oversight of Public Expenditure in Nigeria (OPEN) set up to monitor the Debt Relief Gain(DRG). Two issues make this initiative unique. The first is the leadership of the process which has been participatory, open, transparent and all inclusive with participation of private sector and civil society. The second and perhaps most important is that systems have been put in place to track resources. This is perhaps the model that should become the norm in every ministry, department and agency at all levels of government.

It must be however be recognized that development is a complex issue and goes beyond allocation of Debt Relief Gains to some MDG Ministries. A scholar once argued that development requires growth and structural change, some measure of distributive equity, modernization in social and cultural attitudes, a degree of political transformation and stability, an improvement in health and education so that population growth stabilizes, and an increase in urban living and employment.[xiii] In our view, social transformation will require good change and progress in the following areas:
Transparency and accountability: Several analysis of the challenges of development in Nigeria has identified lack of transparency and accountability as a major obstacle. Accountants in Nigeria have a great role to play in this regard. They must change the way auditing is done from financial auditing of certifying payments and receipts to systems auditing and examining the whole concept of value for money. Otherwise, accountants and auditors will just be certifying corruption.
Tackling institutional constraints: To deliver services to the people require effective and efficient institutions that follow due process and standards.
Pro-Poor Growth: It is clear that there has been economic growth in Nigeria in the last few years above 5 percent. But economic growth alone cannot lead to achievement of the MDGs unless the growth is pro-poor. As President Obasanjo said, “We must not continue to stress the pursuit of a high growth rate in statistical terms and fail to reduce the social and economic deprivation of a substantial number and group of our people. We must not absolutely pursue wealth and growth at the expense of inner well being, joy, satisfaction, fulfillment and contentment of human beings.”[xiv]
Structural Change: To achieve the MDGs in Nigeria, there is the need to change the structure of the economy in such a way that the economy is not dependent on only one product but diversified economy and expanding the industrial sector.
Distributive Equity: Deliberate efforts and policies must be put in place to redistribute income. The MDGs will be meet if the poor and excluded in society are empowered to meet their basic needs.
Social and cultural Re-orientation: There is the need for social and cultural re-orientation to meet some of the goals. For instance, the goals on women and girls require a new kind of mindset to achieve them.
Political Transformation: The political system and the way it engenders commitment, participation and patriotism by the people contributes immensely to national cohesion, peace and stability and development.
Human Development: Development implies the fulfillment of basic human needs including those for education and health.
Urban Development: The growth of urbanization is definitely increasing and there will probably be more people in urban areas than rural areas by 2015. There must be urban development process that is inclusive and not based on dislocation of slum dwellers without alternatives.
Employment: Employment is the surest way of achieving the MDGs because individuals will receive income and will contribute to the economy.
Transformation of Power Relations: Whenever power is concentrated in the hands of a few, they will utilise such powers to accumulate wealth. To achieve the MDGs will require transformation of power relations and challenge of patriarchy.
Partnership with development partners: It has been documented that in order to make adequate progress towards achieving the MDGs, Nigeria will require additional external financing averaging about US $6.4 billion annually between 2005 and 2008.[xv] Even if the resources in the country are used effectively there will still be challenges in meeting the MDGs. Meanwhile, Nigeria is seriously underaided. Nigeria receives only US $2 per capita in ODA compared to the average for Africa of US $28 per capita. In addition, meeting the MDGs will require partnership between government, the public sector and the private sector. In particular, it will require transformists from the public sector, civil society, media and private sector to build a critical movement of people advocating for and implementing change.

CONCLUSION
The problem of development is a global challenge and the MDGs is a response by world leaders. There are limitations to utilizing the MDGs as a framework for delivering or measuring development. But they provide a platform to engage the development process. The situation in Nigeria indicates that there are challenges in meeting the goals by 2015. For Nigeria to meet the goals in 2015, there is the need to formulate and implement policies that will promote transparency and accountability; overcome institutional constraints; promote pro-poor growth; bring about structural change; enhance distributive equity; engender social and cultural re-orientation; engineer political transformation; promote human development; practice inclusive urban development; generate employment and transform power relations.


President Yar'adua
In Nigeria, there is an age long debate over whether A Credible policy process exists to redress Nigeria’s dismal state and pace of development. Those who ague in the negative point to failures in the social sector, the unrelenting power and energy crises, high inflation rate, low standards of living, corruption in public office and lack of continuity in government policies and programmes by successive administrations. It is timely now to revisit this debate in light of Nigeria’s committed stance to accomplishing the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG) by 2015, which includes the eradication of poverty and homelessness.Critics’ also draw attention to what they describe as an absence of a supportive or enabling policy environment .This is illustrated by the lack of political will and commitment at all levels of government; non-participatory approaches to policy formulation; the disconnect between policies and the people’s needs or between policies and the government programmes; poor alignment between economic policy and budget; a poor legal and regulatory environment; weak coordination between government programmers; poor operational guideline; and lack of transparency, all of which hampers efficient policy implementation and service delivery. Nothing short of rectifying these perceptions and posting measurable development outcome will serve as an effective rebuttal.
As with others worldwide, Nigeria’s policy making process involves complex decision making. Ideally a government policy will invoke a comprehensive course of action to address an issue of public interest. Policy and development analysts in Nigeria have acknowledged and bemoan the tendency of successive Nigeria government to churn out policies without clear development objectives or frameworks for implementations. Dr. Toinpre Azibakainya Apiribo, a development consultant, defines policy as consisting of a plan of action designed to achieve specific development objective within a set time frame that is made possible through a commitment of funds, an implementation framework, and specific guidelines. Policies may also be direct or indirect, explicit or otherwise, and may well consist of a course of inaction.
Nigeria’s most elaborate attempt at evolving a development policy in the last

Amina Ibrahim
10 years has focused on poverty eradication, starting in 1999 with the Obasanjo administrations inauguration of a Presidential panel on Streamlining and Rationalization of Poverty Alleviation Institutions and Agencies. Triggered by the rising national poverty index, the panel was commissioned to investigate why previous programmes on poverty alleviation had failed and to recommend remedial strategies. The panel’s work culminated in the establishment of the National Poverty Eradication Programmes (NAPEP) as the monitoring and coordinating agency for the Federal government’s poverty eradication activities. NAPEP also had the responsibility of ensuring complementation and collaboration between all government agencies and departments working on poverty alleviation programmes.
At the presentation of the 2000 budget, former President Olusegun Obasanjo articulated as key elements of His administration’s poverty eradication policy, the creation of a Medium Term Poverty Reduction Plan and Poverty Reduction fund. The adoption of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) at the Millennium Summit in September 2000 presented President Obasanjo’s administration with a set of eight development objectives that have since become the basis for planning and measuring poverty eradication strategies, Additionally the goals required specific time bound commitments to policy making and public financing to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; to achieve universal primary education; to promote gender equality and to empower women; to reduce child mortality; to improve maternal health; to combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases; to ensure environmental sustainability; and to develop a global partnership for development by 2015.They required a new and tractable approach to engagement, alongside a new set of development targets, indicators and measurement indices.
Developing a Poverty Reduction Strategy was essential to meeting these goals. In fact, back in 1999, the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Found had tied future concessional assistance to the preparation of a Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, PRSP, which was also to be the basis for granting debt relief .when Nigeria did not fall within the category of Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) for which debt relief was considered, there was no denying the nation’s need for concessional assistance and debt relief. Her debt burden, which annually required about 5% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to service, was clearly unsustainable and accounted for more than 14% of Africa’s total debts. as at 2002, Nigeria debts was 93% of its GDP. The poverty index was low and biting.
“The adoption of the millennium development goals (MDG) at the millennium summit in September 2000 presented president Obasanjo’s administration with a set of eight development objectives that have since become the basis for planning and measuring poverty eradication strategies”
But Nigeria’s response to the need of poverty reduction strategy was hesitant and Obasanjo ‘s administration did not set up the requisite machinery for developing a strategy until the Nigeria donor community spoke out in 2000. Nigeria consequently embarked upon the process in 2001, in part also as a basis for concessional assistance and to strengthen its case for debt relief. This culminated in the adoption of the interim poverty reduction strategy paper and later, the adoption of the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy, NEEDS, IN 2003 as Nigeria’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper.
As a midterm plan, NEEDS was to underpin Nigeria’s march towards socio-economic reform and poverty reduction for next 3 Years. It had as its defining objective the improvement of standards of living through a process of reforms aimed at empowering the people, engendering a private sector driven economy and instituting public sector reforms. At the heart of this was the achievement of macroeconomic stability, the provision of infrastructures to redress basic deficiencies in the economy such as lack of freshwater for household and agricultural uses, an unreliable power sector, decaying infrastructure and corruption. As a development ideology, NEEDS engage a coordinated programme of reforms and development involving the various tiers of government in Nigeria, with the states following closely with their own state Economic Empowerment Strategy (SEEDS). SEEDS complemented NEEDS and strengthened inter-governmental policy coordination. In time these efforts were followed by MDG awareness in 2006.
Recent reports have exposed the myth of relying on the GDP as a measure of growth. Between 2004 and 2006, three reports were issued on Nigeria’s MDG programme while the 2004 reports questioned whether Nigeria could attain the MDGs by 2015; the 2005 report indicated potential attainment of universal education and environmental stability, in addition to the establishment of a global partnership for development. The 2005 report further highlighted the potential for eradicating extreme poverty if the government demonstrates a political commitment to creating and sustaining an enabling environment.
The 2006 report reiterated the 2005 findings while noting daunting challenges to achieving health MDGs. it also cited as a critical barrier to achieving the MDGs, the lack of updated data on most of the indicators, in addition to limited funding for data generation and management. Recently, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on the MDGs painted a rather murky portrait of Nigeria’s march towards the MDGs when she said , “Nigeria is off-track and has not laid the real foundation yet for achieving it.” (Thisday Newspaper, April 17 2009) A somewhat tempered view was presented just a few days later at the first 2009 quarterly review of the MDGs by the presidential committee on the MDGs, which was chaired by President Musa Yar’ Adua. Barring drastic measures adopted by government and other stakeholders, achievement was said to be unlikely with regard to 3 of the goals child mortality, improving maternal health, and ending extreme poverty and hunger. The disclosure prompted the President to direct the committee to present a Year by Year scenario and plan setting the necessary guidelines to ensure that more MDGs targets are realized by 2015. (Thisday Newspaper 22, 2009). Based on all available reports, Nigeria may achieve 4 or 5 of the MDGs by 2015 if the current level of engagement is at least sustained. However, some of its most potent challenges relate to very critical MDG goals, and failure to reverse dismal trends relating to them may well undermine Nigeria’s prospects even with the more promising goals. In addition, Nigeria must not stop working to increase and capitalize on the gains already achieved. For example, although Nigeria has a universal primary education programme, some 10 million children of school age are still unable to attend and 400,000 teachers still are needed to achieve the ratio of one teacher to 40 students.
“As a midterm plan, NEEDS was to underpin Nigeria’s much toward socio-economic reform and poverty reduction for the next 3 Years.”
NEEDS has also faced criticisms for contributing to the current state of Nigeria’s MGD programme. While many agreed the NEEDS was workable, the responsibility of implementation fell to a government with weak institutional structures and that has long grappled with dismal records in policy adherence and implementation. Sofo C.A.Ali-Akpajiak and Toni Pyke berated the government’s poor commitment to policy consistency and implementation in their book titled Measuring Poverty in Nigeria, writing “Poverty alleviation is still a myth because the process of policy formulation and implementation does not include a full range of civil society representatives, because programmes are not cost effective and because the institutional structure established to manage various programmes are inefficient and unaccountable.”
As if confirming public apprehensions about the lack of consistency and continuity of government policies in Nigeria, the President Yar’Adua administration came in with its own Seven Point Agenda, earmarking power and energy, Food security and agriculture, wealth creation and employment, mass transportation, land reform, security, qualitative and functional education, and Niger Delta as focal themes of his administration’s effort to fast-track Nigeria’s development process. Although the agenda is strikingly incisive in its identification of critical areas for reform, it lacks an implementation strategy. Unlike NEEDS, the Seven Point Agenda did not evolve through a broadly consultative and comprehensive process. This approach left the development processes in abeyance and without effective coordination in the vital early months of the Yar’Adua Administration. This may account in part for the slow take-off of the administration, and the bleak portrait recently depicted by the Senior Special Assistant to the on MDGs. In recognition of the need for a road map, the administration lately commenced the process of aligning NEEDS II with the Seven Point Agenda. This resulted in a National Development Agenda, which is expected to be the first medium term plan for implementing Vision 2020. This measure came late in the life of the administration with implications that annual budgets implemented by the administration may not have evinced a sound development Objective. It is nevertheless an opportune measure that may determine whether Nigeria comes close to achieving the MGDs by 2015. In this regard, the President’s directive for a Year- by-Year plan is very pertinent.
2009
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--- On Tue, 3/15/11, ade sunkanmi <oyesad2000@yahoo.com> wrote:
From: ade sunkanmi <oyesad2000@yahoo.com>Subject: Fw: mdg originalTo: chiefhumanbeing@gmail.comDate: Tuesday, March 15, 2011, 7:01 AM
Nigeria’s shot at the MDGs goalpost
Saturday, 16 October 2010 00:00 Habeeb I. Pindiga, who was in New York
Last month, around 140 world leaders met at the United Nations in New York to review progress and renew efforts on the Millennium Development Goals, which are aimed at reducing poverty, disease, hunger and inequality.
After three days of deliberations, the leaders adopted what they called a global action plan, in which they admitted that progress “falls far short of what is needed” and reaffirmed “our resolve to work together for the promotion of the economic and social advancement of all peoples.”
The September summit was a follow-up, ten years on, on the Millennium Declaration made by the world leaders in 2000. The declaration was reformulated into eight targets that came to be known as the MDGs namely, to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; achieve universal primary education; promote gender equality and empower women; reduce child mortality; improve maternal health; combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; ensure environmental sustainability; and develop a global partnership for development.
Five years to the deadline, where does Nigeria stand? At the summit, the country sent a huge delegation and made presentations showcasing the success recorded so far, the challenges being encountered and the blueprint for the remaining time.
According to documents circulated by Nigerian officials, progress towards five MDGs has been average, but less satisfactory towards the three other targets (poverty, maternal health and environment).
On tackling poverty and hunger, the documents said five out of every ten Nigerians still live in poverty though poverty has been reduced since 2000. They added that to achieve this target, there is need to, among others, accelerate growth of the economy, address infrastructure gaps and ensure pro-poor economic policies.
Regarding the target on universal primary education, the documents said significant progress has been made in net enrolment, where nine out of 10 eligible children are now in school.
But the quality of education remains poor, the completion rates low and the girl-child is still at a disadvantage in parts of the country. Part of what is needed is to focus more on teacher training, supply of instructional materials and offer of incentives to parents to ensure they allow their wards complete their primary education. The documents said improvements have been made in gender parity, as “for every ten boys in school, there are nine girls, but female economic and political empowerment remains elusive.”
On child health, National Population Commission records show a reduction in the under-5 mortality, from 201 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2003 to 157 in 2008. Infant mortality reduced from 100 per 1,000 live births in 2003 to 75 in 2008.
Progress has been slow in tackling maternal mortality, which stood at 545 deaths per 100,000 births in 2008, down from 800 in 2003.
On combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, the documents said there is average progress. Prevalence of HIV/AIDS dropped from 5 per cent in 2001 to under 4 per cent in 2008. The proportion of the population accessing antiretroviral drugs increased from 16.7 per cent in 2007 to 34.4 per cent in 2010.
Though malaria infection rates have dropped, malaria still accounts for an average of 300,000 deaths in the country every year. But polio cases have reduced to an all-time low.
There is no significant improvement on access to safe water and sanitation, while other environmental challenges such as erosion, coastal flooding and climate change are growing.
Also, no much progress has been recorded on global partnership for development as benefits of debt relief have not been matched by an increase in aid, while trade and access to markets remain unequal.
President Goodluck Jonathan, in a message to the opening session of the UN summit on September 20, said, “For every MDG there is a positive story to tell, albeit with variation within goals and indicators.” He added that Nigeria would achieve the targets on the reduction of child mortality and universal primary education, but faced difficulties in the areas of global partnership for development, maternal mortality and environment.
The data and the speeches Nigerian officials presented in New York imply that government believes things are improving.
But back home in Nigeria, people say they do not see what is being touted as achievements. Where there is anything like progress, that progress is only skin-deep.
For instance, what is the use of increased primary school enrolment when the quality of teaching is dipping? And how about those pupils who will not even stay on to complete their education? In places where cottage hospitals have sprouted, of what value are they when they lack equipment and qualified medical personnel?
At one of the forums in New York, a participant reminded Nigerian officials that the perception at home is there is no tangible progress on the development goals.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on MDGs, Hajiya Amina Az-Zubair, told Weekly Trust some of the things people expect the MDGs office to tackle are not really for her office alone. For instance, she said, teacher-training is largely the responsibility of states and local governments “but we can’t leave them do it alone.”
She added: “This is not just about the MDGs office. Goal No. 1 (halving poverty and hunger) is heavily reliant on the investment that this administration will make in the area of infrastructure. It will create employment, it will give access to credit through the various loans that we are talking about with the CBN and that is going to be extremely important for us.”
What happens now after the sweet-talking in New York? “We are preparing a budget for 2011...we have to look at key deliverables in the next five years,” Hajiya Amina said.
She said though there are going to be priorities, “I am not leaving any MDG behind because when you do that you leave people behind. So all of them must come, but there will be more investment in some than in the others. And that is because there are more urgencies in some than in the others.
“Clearly the health goals are a major priority. But if I look at my education goals, while the target may be met by getting everybody in school, what is the quality of the education we are going to give those children? So we have to invest more specifically in the area of teachers.”
On how the international community reacted to Nigeria’s level of implementation of the MDGs, Hajiya Amina said, “It’s very clear to me that the feedback tells us that we are on the right track. The feedback says that we are prepared; that the programmes we are doing are innovational; they are scalable; they are meeting their targets; and so that means I know now where the next five years’ urgency comes; the impetus of it, where do you put in the financing, the strategy.
“The other thing that came out of this is that... now we have an opportunity to talk to the Chinese on the health programme. We have another opportunity to talk to some of the larger NGOs—the Water Aid people, who are now coming to say we want to engage your people.”
Some of the issues raised at the summit were that the rich countries were not redeeming their financial pledges towards the MDGs. Hajiya Amina said “it’s very clear that the international community was put on the spot in terms of not meeting their commitment. I think they were much more responsive now to acknowledging that, and we need to take advantage of it in going forward in the next three to four months.”
On how the summit rated Africa on implementation of the development goals, she said, “it was clear that Africa has made the most progress in commitment and effort. Not just the facts and figures and the data, but commitment and effort. That has to be redoubled. Africa itself has to break down the barriers within Africa, build the bridges to the East, those partnerships to India to China and really concentrate on just meeting the existing commitments but with a sense of urgency.”
Among the challenges Hajiya Amina said she will try to tackle as she takes the last lap towards the MDGs is remoulding the perception of people regarding the job of her office.
But how far can this go given the widespread cynicism?
For now, it looks very much like at the end of the deadline in 2015 Nigerian officials will return to the United Nations with impressive presentations on “success”, while a skeptical population back home insists that poverty and disease are reigning supreme.
(The trip to New York was sponsored by the Office of the Presidential Assistant on Millennium Development Goals)




--- On Tue, 3/15/11, ade sunkanmi <oyesad2000@yahoo.com> wrote:
From: ade sunkanmi <oyesad2000@yahoo.com>Subject: mdgTo: chiefhumanbeing@gmail.comDate: Tuesday, March 15, 2011, 6:56 AM








About MDGs
What they are
Goals, targets & indicators
Core MDG documents
Other MDG-related sites
What they are
At the Millennium Summit in September 2000 the largest gathering of world leaders in history adopted the UN Millennium Declaration, committing their nations to a new global partnership to reduce extreme poverty and setting out a series of time-bound targets, with a deadline of 2015, that have become known as the Millennium Development Goals.
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are the world's time-bound and quantified targets for addressing extreme poverty in its many dimensions-income poverty, hunger, disease, lack of adequate shelter, and exclusion-while promoting gender equality, education, and environmental sustainability. They are also basic human rights-the rights of each person on the planet to health, education, shelter, and security.


Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme Hunger and Poverty

Goal 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education

Goal 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women

Goal 4: Reduce Child Mortality

Goal 5: Improve Maternal Health

Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases

Goal 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability

Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development
The world has made significant progress in achieving many of the Goals. Between 1990 and 2002 average overall incomes increased by approximately 21 percent. The number of people in extreme poverty declined by an estimated 130 million 1. Child mortality rates fell from 103 deaths per 1,000 live births a year to 88. Life expectancy rose from 63 years to nearly 65 years. An additional 8 percent of the developing world's people received access to water. And an additional 15 percent acquired access to improved sanitation services.
But progress has been far from uniform across the world-or across the Goals. There are huge disparities across and within countries. Within countries, poverty is greatest for rural areas, though urban poverty is also extensive, growing, and underreported by traditional indicators.
Sub-Saharan Africa is the epicenter of crisis, with continuing food insecurity, a rise of extreme poverty, stunningly high child and maternal mortality, and large numbers of people living in slums, and a widespread shortfall for most of the MDGs. Asia is the region with the fastest progress, but even there hundreds of millions of people remain in extreme poverty, and even fast-growing countries fail to achieve some of the non-income Goals. Other regions have mixed records, notably Latin America, the transition economies, and the Middle East and North Africa, often with slow or no progress on some of the Goals and persistent inequalities undermining progress on others.


As of Jan 1, 2007, the advisory work formerly carried out by the Millennium Project secretariat team is being continued by an MDG Support team integrated under the United Nations Development Program.
Please visit MDG Support to get the latest information.
Investing in Development: A Practical Plan to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals"Investing in Development brings together the core recommendations of the UN Millennium Project. By outlining practical investment strategies and approaches to financing them, the report presents an operational framework that will allow even the poorest countries to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015."
© Copyright 2006 Millennium Project [Historic Site] Disclaimer Sitemap



Meeting the Millennium Development Goals - Information Technology As a Tool For Development
By Chinemere Onuekwusi
Article Word Count: 1182 [View Summary] Comments (0)
As customary to my write ups, I try to reflect on sundry issues as it concerns Nigeria and the rest of the developing (sounding cynical; underdeveloped) economies. As we are still struggling to catch up with the rest of the world mostly the West on every issue that regards development of values. Laying credence to this fact can be seen in the way we use the internet, the GSM communication system and every other innovation that is Information Technology based. Now back to the issue that gave rise to this write up, the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).
The Millennium Development Goals are sets of eight point Agenda aligned by the United Nations to see it's underdeveloped members with a low Human Development Index (HDI) and low per capita income (as most of these countries live an average of a dollar a day) to become developed by the target year 2015. The motion was adopted by 149 leaders from different parts of the Globe and adopted by 189 countries in the year 2000. These agendas or goals were derived from the United Nations Millennium Declaration in view of the various problems still plaguing the developing world
The millennium Development Goals are the world's answer and targets for addressing extreme poverty in various dimensions; such as income poverty; lack of adequate shelter, hunger; and disease among others, while at the same time promoting Education, gender equality and environmental sustainability.
Now to the crux of the matter, these millennium goals looking at our peculiar situations and conditions, how can it be attained? Now we are in the age of information and as such it is inherent that we look at how we can as nations yet to be
reckoned in world economy, use the information at our disposal to make this a reality by the target year 2015. The internet, GSM Technology etc, has come to stay with us, and information technology remains the only veritable tool that can be used to usher in a new dawn where the basic human right such as the rights of each person on the planet to health, education, shelter and security as well as gender equality and empowerment of women can be attained on a platter. It has been noticed that countries like China and India inundated with population explosion but embraced the IT idea as the only veritable tool to enhance their human development, has witnessed a geometric increase in their per capita income and overall human development index, available statistics and other forms of data and economic indicators can lay credence to this fact.
Now if I may digress a bit, I'll state here that for the millennium goals to be achieved by Nigeria and the rest of the developing economies; urgent steps should be taken to implement the following: computer literacy programs beginning from kindergarten to all levels of the individual's development funding of information technology institutes by the government as well as private sector partnering with developed nations by encouraging exchange programs mostly at the tertiary institution level increased funding in medical researches and other IT based medical programs The agricultural sector should experience an increment in funding of all its programs most especially IT based researches so as to report a massive output in production for local consumption as well as export.
The menace faced by the continent as a result of hunger and poverty, HIV/AIDS pandemic, depletion of renewable energy and resources etc, can be addressed as stated below if information Technology can be enhanced in every facet of our economy and the general polity. POVERTY AND HUNGER ERADICATION: Poverty and hunger remains the biggest scourge ravaging the African continent, but with the advancement of technology, with information technology and the Internet, food produced in the United States, Canada, Europe and the Asian Tigers can be easily sent to Africa and other parts of the world where it is needed. During wars and strife, like experienced in the Nigerian/Biafran war that lasted between the periods of 1967-1970, there was a dearth of food and medical attention most especially on the Biafran side as a result of an information blockade by the Nigerian Government.
But with the improvement of Information technology, no matter where such problems are, the satellites will pick up signals and therefore do all that is required to be done to reduce the problems associated with lack of food and other supplements. As a local importer based in Nigeria or any part of the developing world, you can get hooked up with big time farmers based in Europe or the United States etc via the internet through the company's website and email address. Agricultural produce can be easily exported saving the cost that would have been originally spent on flight tickets, hotel booking and reservations, taxes etc and also eliminating the role of the middle man which greatly saves the cost of production and importation.
HIV/AIDS (PLWHA): The HIV/AIDS pandemic currently pervading the African continent with Nigeria and South Africa trailing India in that order, can be deduced from lack of adequate information, but with the recent development as regards information technology, this scourge can be well taken care of. The introduction of mobile clinics and diagnostic centers whose activities in remote and rustic areas most especially, was made possible by the information technology phenomenon, where a doctor in a far away clinic for example a doctor in John Hopkins University hospital in the United States can with the use of sophisticated gadgets diagnose and cure patients via a satellite and a modem installed both at the clinic in America and the remote location. With this development, HIV/AIDS patients or PLWHA (PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV/AIDS) and other deadly illnesses can now be managed, as the constraint caused by distance has been removed with the advancement in information Technology.
POWER AND ENERGY: As part of the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations, power and other renewable forms of energy has been understudied over the past decade or so, since fossil fuel deposits continue to deplete with replenishing, it becomes pertinent for countries whose economies are centered on it to advance and diversify their economy so as to be among the league of nations with high human development index, and if one should ask, how else can this be achieved if not by information technology. Recently a group of scientist built an automobile that can be powered by air, amazing it sounds; one of the wonders of IT. More discoveries and innovations will be made, as earlier discoveries like space science has improved virtually all sectors of the economy of Nations like the United States, Russia, and Europe in medicine telecommunication, military, etc.
From the for going, one cannot overemphasize the importance of information Technology as a tool for human and resources development, just as the industrial revolution of the 18th century that ushered in a new dawn that has remained evergreen in the annals of history, so will it create an unprecedented and indelible mark that will remain evergreen in the sands of time.
Chinemere Onuekwusi is a young Nigerian passionate about change to put the country and the continent back to world reckoning, you can read more of his articles at his blog and make your comments on any of his articles. Feel free today and hit his blog site at http://www.chinemeremz.blogspot.comchinemeremz@yahoo.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chinemere_Onuekwusi

Meeting the Millennium Development Goals - Information Technology As a Tool For Development
By Chinemere Onuekwusi
Article Word Count: 1182 [View Summary] Comments (0)
As customary to my write ups, I try to reflect on sundry issues as it concerns Nigeria and the rest of the developing (sounding cynical; underdeveloped) economies. As we are still struggling to catch up with the rest of the world mostly the West on every issue that regards development of values. Laying credence to this fact can be seen in the way we use the internet, the GSM communication system and every other innovation that is Information Technology based. Now back to the issue that gave rise to this write up, the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).
The Millennium Development Goals are sets of eight point Agenda aligned by the United Nations to see it's underdeveloped members with a low Human Development Index (HDI) and low per capita income (as most of these countries live an average of a dollar a day) to become developed by the target year 2015. The motion was adopted by 149 leaders from different parts of the Globe and adopted by 189 countries in the year 2000. These agendas or goals were derived from the United Nations Millennium Declaration in view of the various problems still plaguing the developing world
The millennium Development Goals are the world's answer and targets for addressing extreme poverty in various dimensions; such as income poverty; lack of adequate shelter, hunger; and disease among others, while at the same time promoting Education, gender equality and environmental sustainability.
Now to the crux of the matter, these millennium goals looking at our peculiar situations and conditions, how can it be attained? Now we are in the age of information and as such it is inherent that we look at how we can as nations yet to be
reckoned in world economy, use the information at our disposal to make this a reality by the target year 2015. The internet, GSM Technology etc, has come to stay with us, and information technology remains the only veritable tool that can be used to usher in a new dawn where the basic human right such as the rights of each person on the planet to health, education, shelter and security as well as gender equality and empowerment of women can be attained on a platter. It has been noticed that countries like China and India inundated with population explosion but embraced the IT idea as the only veritable tool to enhance their human development, has witnessed a geometric increase in their per capita income and overall human development index, available statistics and other forms of data and economic indicators can lay credence to this fact.
Now if I may digress a bit, I'll state here that for the millennium goals to be achieved by Nigeria and the rest of the developing economies; urgent steps should be taken to implement the following: computer literacy programs beginning from kindergarten to all levels of the individual's development funding of information technology institutes by the government as well as private sector partnering with developed nations by encouraging exchange programs mostly at the tertiary institution level increased funding in medical researches and other IT based medical programs The agricultural sector should experience an increment in funding of all its programs most especially IT based researches so as to report a massive output in production for local consumption as well as export.
The menace faced by the continent as a result of hunger and poverty, HIV/AIDS pandemic, depletion of renewable energy and resources etc, can be addressed as stated below if information Technology can be enhanced in every facet of our economy and the general polity. POVERTY AND HUNGER ERADICATION: Poverty and hunger remains the biggest scourge ravaging the African continent, but with the advancement of technology, with information technology and the Internet, food produced in the United States, Canada, Europe and the Asian Tigers can be easily sent to Africa and other parts of the world where it is needed. During wars and strife, like experienced in the Nigerian/Biafran war that lasted between the periods of 1967-1970, there was a dearth of food and medical attention most especially on the Biafran side as a result of an information blockade by the Nigerian Government.
But with the improvement of Information technology, no matter where such problems are, the satellites will pick up signals and therefore do all that is required to be done to reduce the problems associated with lack of food and other supplements. As a local importer based in Nigeria or any part of the developing world, you can get hooked up with big time farmers based in Europe or the United States etc via the internet through the company's website and email address. Agricultural produce can be easily exported saving the cost that would have been originally spent on flight tickets, hotel booking and reservations, taxes etc and also eliminating the role of the middle man which greatly saves the cost of production and importation.
HIV/AIDS (PLWHA): The HIV/AIDS pandemic currently pervading the African continent with Nigeria and South Africa trailing India in that order, can be deduced from lack of adequate information, but with the recent development as regards information technology, this scourge can be well taken care of. The introduction of mobile clinics and diagnostic centers whose activities in remote and rustic areas most especially, was made possible by the information technology phenomenon, where a doctor in a far away clinic for example a doctor in John Hopkins University hospital in the United States can with the use of sophisticated gadgets diagnose and cure patients via a satellite and a modem installed both at the clinic in America and the remote location. With this development, HIV/AIDS patients or PLWHA (PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV/AIDS) and other deadly illnesses can now be managed, as the constraint caused by distance has been removed with the advancement in information Technology.
POWER AND ENERGY: As part of the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations, power and other renewable forms of energy has been understudied over the past decade or so, since fossil fuel deposits continue to deplete with replenishing, it becomes pertinent for countries whose economies are centered on it to advance and diversify their economy so as to be among the league of nations with high human development index, and if one should ask, how else can this be achieved if not by information technology. Recently a group of scientist built an automobile that can be powered by air, amazing it sounds; one of the wonders of IT. More discoveries and innovations will be made, as earlier discoveries like space science has improved virtually all sectors of the economy of Nations like the United States, Russia, and Europe in medicine telecommunication, military, etc.
From the for going, one cannot overemphasize the importance of information Technology as a tool for human and resources development, just as the industrial revolution of the 18th century that ushered in a new dawn that has remained evergreen in the annals of history, so will it create an unprecedented and indelible mark that will remain evergreen in the sands of time.
Chinemere Onuekwusi is a young Nigerian passionate about change to put the country and the continent back to world reckoning, you can read more of his articles at his blog and make your comments on any of his articles. Feel free today and hit his blog site at http://www.chinemeremz.blogspot.comchinemeremz@yahoo.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chinemere_Onuekwusi

FOR YOUR INFORMATION

OYEDE SAHEED
a.k.a chief humanbeing
300level, department of insurance
unilag

2 in 1 write up.

STUDYING HABIT AND HOW IT AFFECTS PERFORMANCE
The seventh edition of the oxford learner’s dictionary defines an habit as a thing that you do often almost without thinking. That is, a fixed and regular way of doing things. For the purpose of this write up, I will define a reading / studying habit as a habit, manner, nature or ways that an individual adopts inorder to read, digest and use information, notes, jottings, diaries lor even lecture materials to contribute to his or her intellectual development. A Reading habit is formed over a period of time both consciously and unconsciously, in short:it is the habit that an individual has gotten used to which in his own opinion is the best method to read, assimilate, process and digest a given piece of information.

Often most students are too tired after the days lecture and they always retire to their hostels for some rest with the intention of consulting their lecture materials later, which invariably leads to the accumulation of lecture materials and the preference of one course over another often add to the problem because some students tends to read or over read one course over the other, this is mostly common where some courses are calculative in nature and others are essay, most students tends to read more of essay courses while totally ignoring mathematically related courses which ultimately affects their Grade Point Aggregate and may lead to the accumulation of extra load for the next academic session which can sometimes lead to the lowering of an individual’s morale.

Studying habits varies from one individual to another, some of them are examined below:
Library student’s Approach: some few students with a pre-determine aim are often addicted to the library, we call them faculty of library or triangular students. Their routine is hostel to library, library to church or mosque. While the library is a rich source of materials for the students, it may also turn out as a discouraging factor. Here in UNILAG, a lot of students do not know how to access the library materials that are available on the shelf, vast majority also complain about the cold temperature within the library which is often as a result of too many air condition working together. During the examination periods, the libraries are often overcrowded which leads to shortage of space and sometimes heated arguments among undergraduates.

Some schools of thought are of the opinion that a triangular student is often not social or they find it hard to fit into the social cycles on campus and the society at large. I once asked one of my friends sometimes ago about why he does not like going to the library, he simply told me that he does not want to paint a picture that he is too serious for the fear of being ridiculed by friends when he fails despite his regular library attendance. The fear of failing after using the library is one of the major reasons why some students don’t want to visit the library at all.

GROUP READING: Some students forms group reading most of which are formed on a friendship basis. They meet together at a given time and location to discuss and brainstorm on their common course and it is often made up of at least one brilliant student who is always the natural leader of such groups. The advantages and disadvantages of group reading are numerous depending on the level of commitment from all the members of such groups. From The advantages and disadvantages of group reading are numerous depending on the level of commitment from all the members of such group, often it leads to improvement in the academic performance of fellow members which is facilitated by the sharing of lecture materials and other useful materials and it also reduces apathy that a student might have initially for such course(s). on the other hand, group reading can be time wasting tool especially where it is made up of more than five people of the same sex or where one of the group member is performing exceptionally well while others are not performing up to expectation which often leads to low self esteem and the eventual collapse of the reading group. Also, where the ideologies of the members of the group differs significantly, quarrels may occur which may also lead to the collapse of the group.
TUTORIALS: On most of Nigerian campuses, tutorials are often organized freely by a brilliant students or group of students in order to explain a topic or series of topics in its basic simple terms, tutorials are often a way of contributing to the intellectual development of other students by the tutorial master; the number of people that attends tutorials always increases by the day especially when the examinations are getting nearer, while some undergraduate rely on it solely some combines tutorials with class lectures as a compliment.
The constrains of tutorials are unlimited, some of which include time and space, the lecture schedule may be too tight in such a way that there is no enough time to organize tutorials, space or locations are always fixed up or locked up at a given Time on a daily basis, sometimes where there is time and space, the erratic power supply can frustrate and discourage students from attending tutorials. Overcrowding is also part of the disadvantages of tutorials and it results from the free nature of the tutorials. Even with these constraints, a lot of students accepts that the advantages of tutorials outweighs its disadvantages.
OVER NIGHT READING: Students read overnight to compensate for their loss of time during the day, overnight reading does not however mean that the students read all through the night hours RATHER A Student may elect to read for some specific hours during the night because most part of the night hours in Nigerian universities are cool and silent thereby providing a conducive environment for the student to truly study and easily comprehend whatever he is reading. At a time in the life of a student, he must have engaged in one overnight or the other to supplement for his lectures and it is mostly common during the examination period.
For a student that have developed the overnight reading habit, being consistent is always a major challenge as most students rely on stimulants to keep them awake during the night hours which sometimes have a negative effect on their health and normal class activities, if not checked or reduced, it may land a student in the hospital, overnight reading is also associated with overcrowding during the week leading to examination.

FIRE BIGADE APPROACH: this reading habit is mostly common with students that are not serious and those that are combining academics with other thins off campus e.g trade. A fire brigade approach happens when a second party who is engaged privately to teach him on an agreed commission, it may also take the form of collecting the summarised copies of the lecture notes which the student tries to read or brainstorm on. Students that adopts this approach most times do not know the lecturer, his style of teaching and what the lecturer expects to see as his answers to a given question. Students that use this approach are not always sure of their performance and as such readily accepts any grade that they are given by the lecturer. This type of studying habit is obviously not the best but a lot of undergraduates are daily adopting this style as their last resort to passing examinations.

Any type of reading habit that a person adopts, to him is the best and only the end can justify the means as long as he / she is having a good grade but there are other categories of undergraduates that does not have any reading habit but rather meri-goround between all the aforementioned reading habit, so the lesson here is that as an undergraduate, take time; relax and study yourself in order to come up with the best studying habit that suit you and your condition, stop copying somebody’s studying habit, develop your own



FOR YOUR INFORMATION
Report number two
AN EMPTY SACK CANNOT STAND
Man was created to naturally believe that he will be successful but religious principles points to the fact that man must put in some calculated efforts on his part inorder to actualize his desired objectives. In essence, success is a two factor thing: GOD’S FACTOR AND MAN’S FACTOR. God has laid down his own laws of success and they are universally applicable irrespective of your religion or tribe, so I can safely conclude that God has done his own part of your success story, the remaining part is left for you to accomplish and that is why every humanbeing cannot be successful at the same time because God gave us the freedom to determine our success velocity.

As an undergraduate, you and your immediate family believed that you have a future which informed your decision to pursue a course in the university inorder to properly shape your future. As an undergraduate you are exposed to different culture, traditions, people, places and orientation to mention just a few. All the aforementioned have a way of influencing your view about life’s achievements and failures; where properly managed, your friends, contacts and network in school can provide the fertile grounds that you need to excel.
HERE ARE SOME TIPS THAT YOU MAY FIND USEFUL:
On your way to the top, you have to first of all realize that everybody you meet on your way to the top is very important to achieving your aims and objectives, so don’t underrate anybody.
BE WELCOMING: Develop a friendly attitude with every body in your class, department or faculty, know when to talk and when to listen because it is not always wise for you to be the ony one doing the talking. Engage in group activities involving your course mates, look out for some of the problems that are general or specific to your class or course mates, you may not necessarily have the solution but showing that you care about some one in your class can be of great relief to the person. Here is how it works: A simple SMS to a course mate on his birthday can make the difference, sending an sms to a course mate about an important lecture, test, assignment or tutorial also counts, make it a point of duty this month to greet at least four students in your faculty that you have never talked to before; finally, call your friends by their names or nick names, it shows that you care a lot about them.
HAVE A DREAM: Have a dream of a desired future and work towards it. If you see yourself as an entrepreneur, as an undergraduate start a small business, buy something, sell something. If you have a dream of becoming a public speaker, start by addressing your friends, course mates and participate constructively in discussions, if you have a dream of becoming a lawyer, behave like one because somebody might just discover you and take up an interest in you. Active participation is an avenue to sell yourself to everybody.

NETWORKING: Only a friendly person can network. You network in order to drive home a point, create an impression, achieve a desired result, find solution to problems or even create a new order. Networking involves using people to get things done quickly, effectively and efficiently with minimum supervision.here, everybody on the network has a role to play in order for a particular objective to be attain. In school, class or social gatherings, people exist or relate in groups or circus. To key into the group, sudy the group for some minutes, try to identify who everybody look up to whenever a question needs to be answered, such person is most likely to be the group’s leader or the most influential, having identified such person, your problem is halfed. Secondly look out for a subject of common interest among the group members, this will enable you to fit into their discussions because a group that is discussing about European football may not be immediately interested in Nigerian politics if you attempt to start a discussion on politics. So when you go to a social gathering, event or workshop, start up a discussion on common interest, you may start by asking for the second party’s opinion about a recent event of national interest. The most important rules of networking are: you must not forget to advertise yourself a little bit, your name or nick name is vey important and above all don’t forget to ask for the name of your new contact and any other details where possible.
Networking has to be managed effectively in order not to create a bad impression to the second party bearing in mind that first impression last longer.

BOOK READING: Reading books gives us a direct access to the authors mind so also are seminars. Buy inspirational books that can ginger your spirit which will constantly remind you of the need to be successful. If you cannot afford to buy a book, you can borrow from the library or a friend. You need to be a constant reader in order to be a constant and consistent leader because at the en what matters most is your potential not your credentials.

INFERIORITY COMPLEX: Do not feel inferior. If you think that you are too small to be noticed, go and sleep in a room that is filled up with mosquitoes. You are not a street beggar because beggars always have inferiority complex. Chief obafemi Awolowo in 1952 defines a street beggar as somebody who sits alongside the road and wait for fortune to smile on him.He gets what he can from the passer-by and thereafter tries to adjust his expenditure to his uncertain sources of income. Realize the following salient points: the bend in the road is not the end of the road unless you refuse to take the turn and that a man is taller than every mountains he climb.

In essence, change your orientation and mentality about success and failures; don’t let your friends or family background be a limiting factor. Bishop Oyedepo wrote in one of his books that the number one cause of poverty in Nigeria is that a lot of Nigerians have a poor man’s mentality…… stop feeling inferior, see yourself as a super star made in the likeness of God, the more you feel inferior, the more you disappoint your creator.
There are a million and one tip on how to become successful as an undergraduate but above all as martin luther king said: if you cannot run, walk, if you cannot walk,crawl by all means keep movin. To move forward in life, every man must stick out his neck like the turtle because no man is an hero to his creditor.

prospective students

HOBBIES AND LOVE.

Chief humanbeing loves meeting new friends accross Nigeria and all over the world, this can be attested to by his popuparity among his friends. He loves poem and is also a poet who has written several poems published in all the major newspapers in Nigeria and even the British Broadcasting Corporation.

He is a free man with a free mind and it may interest you to know that chief humanbeing is still single and searching for miss right.

full profile

PROFILE OF CHIEF HUMANBEING

HI,
chief humanbeing's real name is oyede saheed adesunkanmi, he attended Tendercare nursery and primary school in ota for his primary education then proceeded to Anglican Grammar School also in ota between 1996 to 2002 where he emmerged as the library prefect.

For his higher education, he attended THE FEDERAL POLYTECHNIC ILARO for his ND in accounting between 2005 to 2007 where he emmerged and was awarded as the most enterprising student of the school of management studies in 2007. He is currently an undergraduate of UNILAG studying insurance. Chief humanbeing is currently the class governor for his class and the clerk of the MANAGEMENT STUDENT ASSOCIATION, a faculty association comprising of all the students in the faculty of business administration, university of lagos.

HOBBIES AND CHARACTER
1. Chief humanbeing doesn't drink alcohol or anything alcoholic, he doesn't smoke. Chief humanbeing loves traditional music like fuji music; added to that, he loves politics and intends becoming either a politician or a member of the Nigerian Armed Forces. He loves nature,animals and intelligent(like minded) people.
2. He loves meeting new friends accross the world and you can reach him on 08060210424 or chiefhumanbeing@gmail.com or oyede humanbeing on facebook.
3.Chief humanbeing is still single and searching for Mrs right.

comments and observations are welcome.