The United Nations (UN) has revealed that millions of lives have improved due to concerted global, regional, national and local efforts to achieve the MDGs, which serve as the foundation for the next global development agenda.
The global body urged countries in the region to concentrate more efforts if the region hoped to meet the MDG target by 2015.
This was made known at the regional launch of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Report 2014 in Lagos.
The Millennium Development Goals Report 2014 was launchedby United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, in New York.
The UN Secretary General said: “The Millennium Development Goals were a pledge to uphold the principles of human dignity, equality and equity, and free the world from extreme poverty.
“The MDGs, with eight goals and a set of measurable time-bound targets, established a blueprint for tackling the most pressing development challenges of our time,” Mr. Ban said.
There is no gaining the fact that Nigeria has made substantial progress and is a leader across the MGDs. Nevertheless work in other areas need to be scaled and intensified. For instance the wide variations in MDGs outcomes across regions and states remain an issue of concern. Some targets such as reducing poverty by half, reducing maternal mortality and protecting the environment, among others, require significant additional effort.
Many MDG targets already met on reducing poverty, increasing access to improved drinking water sources, improving the lives of slum dwellers and achieving gender parity in primary school. Many more targets are within reach by their 2015 target date. If trends continue, the world will surpass MDG targets on malaria, tuberculosis and access to HIV treatment, and the hunger target looks within reach.
Other targets, such as access to technologies, reduction of average tariffs, debt relief, and growing political participation by women, show great progress.
The Millennium Development Goals Report is an annual assessment of global and regional progress towards the global target; and it reflects the most comprehensive, up-to-date data compiled by over 27 UN and international agencies which is produced by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs.
Realising some of the challenges towards attaining some of the goals, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Millennium Development Goals, MDGs, Dr. Precious Kalamba Gbeneol has said the Federal Government is committed to ensuring that Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs, are included in post-2015 development agenda as it would create opportunity for citizens by reducing inequalities, foster social inclusion and promote integrated management of the natural resources.
She spoke at the Economic and Social Council, ECOSOC, at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. The high level meeting was one of the many preparatory and consultative meetings leading to the adoption of a succession framework of SDGs for the MDGs, which winds down in about 500 days ahead.
She pointed out that as the post-2015 agenda is crafted embracing the principles of inter-generational and intra-generational equity, there is the need to balance the cost and benefits of the three dimensions of development both for present and future generations. In this regard, concerted efforts must be geared towards ensuring that the negative impacts of production and consumption processes are reduced to the barest minimum.
The MDGs boss called on leaders to redouble efforts aimed at tackling the devastating impact of poverty, noting that there has been unabated increase in the scale of material consumption, leading to increased global environmental, social and economic pressures, as illustrated by the repeated crises in water, energy, minerals, food, social cohesion, employment, and the financial system.
She noted that, to successfully translate the SDGs into national policies, Member States must be willing to domesticate the post-2015 development agenda by integrating it into their negotiated national development plans.
It is important to ensure that the implementation of the SDGs is mainstreamed to sub-national levels in accordance with Local Agenda 21. The agenda must be realistic and implementable by taking due cognizance of national priorities, needs, capabilities, legislation and policy space whilst designing detailed and pragmatic frameworks for implementation.
There is a need for countries to begin early implementation of the development agenda given its short implementation time frame. For instance, many countries are lagging behind in the drive to attain the MDGs due to the late adoption and implementation of the agenda.
There is therefore urgent need for renewed and concerted efforts to mitigate impacts of poverty, especially in developing countries.
