RECENTLY, stakeholders expressed worry over the realisation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in education, health and gender by 2015. The reason is that many state actors are not taking advantage of the global template to make the desired intervention. The gathering was in Abuja, at the instance of the Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) and the TY Danjuma Foundation and the agenda was to take stock of the three critical Millennium Development Goals. Organisers were of the opinion that concrete goals achieved in the education, health and gender sectors, would positively affect other sectors.On hand to do the assessment was Professor Muhammed Tawfiq Ladan of the Department of Public Law, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, using the report of an audit conducted by CISLAC in November and December 2010. The auditing process reviewed the rationale, objectives and contents of national policies on Education, Health and Gender, as well as the legal frameworks backing them. It then recommended ways to fast-track the attainment of the goals.Establishing the background for the MDGs, Ladan said the millennium declaration in 2000 provided an opportunity for developing countries to join the global community in the deliberate and systematic implementation of policies and programmes that will assist in the eradication of embarrassing levels of poverty and deprivation. The global template targets to eradicate poverty and hunger, achieve universal primary education, promote gender equality and women empowerment, reduce child mortality, improve maternal health, combat HIV & Aids, malaria and other diseases, ensure environmental sustainability and develop a global partnership for development in by the year 2015.For Nigeria, this was not the first time goals were being set, but the global dimension of the MDGs provides no hiding place for any country to abandon the goals mid-stream. Therefore, a Presidential Committee on MDGs was drawn from relevant stakeholders to work towards the realisation of the goals. Governments since 2000 have made attempts to key into the initiative by making appropriations to accommodate the drive. According to Ladan, the debt relief secured in 2005 provided government the opportunity to commit additional resources to the MDGs. Since 2006, one billion US dollars, about N150 billion had been gathered from the Paris Club debt relief, out of which $750 million (N113 billion) accrued to the Federal and $250million (N375 billion) accrued to state governments.When it was realised in 2007 that many ministries did not focus on the key challenges as set out in the goals, Conditional Grants Scheme (CGS) was appropriated since 2007 under Capital Supplementation as grants to Ministries, Departments and Agencies or Local governments, with conditions that enabled greater oversight on expenditure. The point is that a lot of funds have been committed to the realisation of the MDGs, but there is a lot ground to cover.Prevalence Of EducationDeprivation Still HighIn spite of huge funding, studies still show high and severe prevalence of education deprivation in parts of the country. Over 62 per cent (64 percent of males and 60 per cent of females) of primary school age children are currently attending schools and more than 20 million children over 60,000 public basic education schools. Differentials are noticeable based on North-South and rural-urban settings. In the urban centres, four out of every five children are in schools, while it is less than three in the rural areas. Primary school net attendance in the North is put at 31 per cent, while it is above 90 in the South. Ladan said about 3.6 million and 7.2 million primary and junior secondary age children are out of school.To get more children in schools, government has put in place programmes, policies and laws. There is the Universal Basic Education (UBE) Act 2004; Child's Right Act 2003; National Child Policy 2007 and National Minimum Standard for Entry Child Care Centres. The 1999 constitution gives all citizens the right to education and there are policies aimed at providing unhindered access to compulsory universal basic education to all citizens, as a bridge to the future socioeconomic transformation of the country. Yet there are gaps and deprivations, more in the Northeast and in the entire North and less in the South.Ladan said Nigeria's educational sector budget from 1995-2007 is at variance with the recommendations of the United Nations Educational and Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), which stipulates that about 26percent of the total budget allocation, should be expended on education in developing countries. In 1999 it got up to 16.77 percent and crashed to 4.08 percent in 2001. Since then, it oscillates below 10. 24 percent.Health Challenges PersistSINCE 2000, funds are being allocated to ensure strategic intervention in areas of primary health, Malaria, HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and the infant and maternal health sectors, as well as for water and sanitation.The national health policy (2004revised) aims at providing adequate access to primary, secondary and tertiary health care services for the entire population. The 2005 national policy on Population for Sustainable Development has the overall goal of improving the quality of life and standard of living for the people. There are policies on improvement in the reproductive health of the people and other policies, which aim at achieving overall progress in the wellbeing of the population. Achieving all of that requires adequate and timely appropriation of resources.In 2001, African governments agreed in Abuja to commit a minimum of 15 percent of annual budgets to pursue the goals of overall good health for their populations.Professor Ladan said the Nigerian government has fallen short of the 15 percent benchmark. He said that apart from 2003 and 2004, federal health budget as a percentage of total expenditure have been less than 5 percent. He said, 'the current structure of funding for HIV/AIDS sub-sector is defective; a situation where 87.3 percent of the financing for HIV/AIDS comes from external sources is certainly not sustainable. It just shows that government is retreating from its obligations.'He said if the health-related MDGs are to be achieved in 2015, there needs to be increased allocation of resources to the health sector by the federal, state and local governments and a better coordination of efforts among the three tiers and development partners is important.Poor AttentionTo Gender IssuesLadan observed that gender matters do not receive proper attention from policy makers, whereas, women remain the most disadvantaged especially in poor countries. Ironically, this is the sector that has a strong correlation with the others. For instance, there is correlation between primary school attendance and mother's level of education and socio-economic status of the household.Budget allocation to Women Affairs Ministry between 1999 and 2007 recorded highest figures of 2.09 percent of the total budget in 2001, out of which an average of 77.73 percent was spent on recurrent expenditure.Ladan recommends adequate funding and political will to progressively mainstream gender in budgeting, governance, health, constitutionalism, access to economic resources as well as social services. That is a one-stop access to achieving a number of the MDGs put together, because empowering the woman will improve maternal health, reduce child mortality, promote gender equality and assist greatly in the attainment of the other millennium development goals.Plenary discussion was robust, as stakeholders from the ministries, National Assembly and the civil society came up with these observations.' Policy inconsistency and lack of continuity affect development in the country.' Lack of political will to invest in health, gender and education by the government hampers development.' Legislature not properly mainstreamed in the struggle to achieve the MDGs.' Inefficiency, lack of transparency and the high rate of corruption accountable for ineffectiveness of governance in the country, which can affect the actualization of the MDGs target in 2015.' Poor support and lack of encouragement for female politicians hinders the target of gender equity in the country.' Disagreement among stakeholders in health sector over contents of proposed health policy could hamper actualisation of the MDGs.' Low budgetary allocation to health, gender and education ministries affects national development and attainment of MDG goals.Meeting urged all stakeholders to redouble efforts in order to achieve the MDGS at stipulated time.
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