Evaluating Nigeria’s Millennium Development Goals

Nigeria is one United Nations member state that is increasingly working on achieving the

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which took off at the turn of this century. The

MDGs are eight goals and targets to be attained within 2015. Giving the available time, it

is obvious that it is a major challenge to Nigeria because of its requirements for

actualization in the country. Among the requirements is ensuring effective policy

implementation. However, poor policy implementation is believed by some analysts to be

the bane of development in Nigeria. The paper therefore, seeks to highlight the need for

proper and effective policy implementation while identifying some impediments to be

tackled if Nigeria is to ensure that policies, particularly those relating to the MDGs, are

effectively and timely implemented. These impediments include, among others: corruption,

badleadership, political instability, slow public service structures, ethnicity etc. The paper

posits some sustainable development measures for Nigeria, such as effective use of political

will, eschewing social vices (like ethnicity, favouritism, nepotism and mediocrity), continuity

of policies between governments, eradication of corruption etc.