WHILE development expert Tunde Laniyan and CEO Spolan Consults, Ibadan highlighted why the MDGs will be very difficult to achieve in Nigeria, Dr. Umaru Pate of the University of Maiduguri gave insights into why development goals generally fail in Nigeria.The two development minders who spoke to The Guardian on the issue however said all hopes were not yet lost.In the view of Laniyan, development goals appear to be imperilled in Nigeria because of 'massive institutional structures that results in the absence of drivers of the process. Often times, this leads to a distortion or corruption of the process with the result that expected outputs are missed'According to the experts, the development agenda of the MDGs is fashioned to key into the plans of the nations that subscribe to them.Laniyan said: 'The aim of the MDGs is mostly to help countries like Nigeria achieve their objectives and to support the improvement of institutional capacity at the national, sub-national and professional and civil society levels for monitoring and accountability, in the process of achieving goals.'Expressing further doubts about the possibility of achieving the MDGs within the projected time, the Spolan Consult boss argued that the poverty, and the collapse of the educational system in Nigeria were being compounded rather than being improved.He said: 'Look at education, the results by WAEC/NECO continue to show a decline in performance focus on science as a platform for development is being missed as more candidates shay away from the daily science subjects. To get out of this problem, Nigeria institutional capacity must be strengthened across board.'Individuals in various positions also need to be retrained to understand and execute their roles, while monitoring must be strengthened to avoid leakages, wastages, non-performance, of the key centres for development.'Constant sensitisation of the populace to their ownership of the process at the various projects must be sustained for several years. Most Nigerians are disconnected from the projects that are installed in their communities.Similarly, Dr. Pate listed the odds against achieving the MDGs as including:' Inability to appropriately contextualize internationally designed goals like the MDGs in Nigeria.' Weak structures in the country that appear unable to implement details that can lead to the actualization of such initiatives' Insufficient understanding of the conceptualization, direction and justification of some of the initiatives by the local leadership at the different levels in the country.' Some of the people in government especially at the state and LG levels hardly understand and appreciate the essence of many of the initiatives, not to talk of being able to implement' Non involvement of stakeholders at the lower level during conceptualization of many of the national initiatives' Corruption at the level of implementationSelf centred approach in project implementation where projects are often sited at locations on personal or political reasons' Poor evaluation and monitoring capacities and approachNon involvement of the majority of the population through publicity in processes of development' Little commitment from the Government through sufficient funding' Poor performance in the states and LGA.On the way forward, Pate called for visionary and focused leadership that is committed to developing the nation, holding leaders accountable for their actions, and approaching the goals with the right attitude.
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