ANALYSIS

MDGs, Zubairu Abdullahi.

Abdullahi told a conference in Abuja that inadequate resources had been the major challenge of implementing the goals, adding that six months into 2015, funds for capital projects have not been released for the implementation of the MDGs projects.

However, there has been too much reliance on external funding through grants and interventions from international donor agencies and countries than from local sourcing of funds for financing the development framework.

In an interview with Daily Trust recently in Abuja, the Commissioner for Education in Imo State and Senior Special Assistant to Governor Rochas Okorocha on MDGs, Mrs. Mma Nzeribe Michaels, said emphasis has to be placed on local financing of the SDGs.

Lack of domestication limited MDGs success

Experts have called for the localisation of the 17 goals and 169 time-bound targets of the SDGs in order to pay attention to immediate needs of the country, unlike the MDGs that were not domesticated.

The Executive Director of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, Auwal Ibrahim Musa, also told a conference of the West African Civil Society Organisation that implementing the MDGs in Nigeria has been “in the deficit.”

The major concern is that since Nigeria could not achieve the eight goals of the MDGs within the time frame provided, it would be difficult for the country to achieve the 17 SDGs that have been proposed for adoption in the next 15 years.

The President of the African Law Foundation (AFRILAW), Barrister Okereke Chinwike, in an interview with Daily Trust, said Nigeria must prioritise the goals and targets according to domestic needs in order to channel resources where interventions are most needed.

Chinwike said it would be impossible to implement all the goals and targets given the challenges encountered in the implementation of the MDGs. Shaky political will, ties There has to be the right political will for the SDGs to succeed, and this entails states and local governments keying into the implementation process.

The Director/acting Secretary of Programme in the Office of the Senior Special Adviser to the President on MDGs, Mr. Ochapa Ogenyi, had recently advocated for collaborative action in the implementation, especially among the federal government, states and local governments.

Experts advise that counterpart funding from states, which had been a major factor that limited progress in some states that delayed the releases, must be taken serious in the implementation of the SDGs.

Political will also ensures that graft and sleaze are eliminated to ensure that the cost of executing projects are not inflated by contractors.