VZCZCXRO8718
PP RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHUJA #0608/01 0881102
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 291102Z MAR 07
FM AMEMBASSY ABUJA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9024
INFO RUEHOS/AMCONSUL LAGOS PRIORITY 6459
RUEHWR/AMEMBASSY WARSAW 0195
RUEHCD/AMCONSUL CIUDAD JUAREZ 0193
RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ABUJA 000608 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
TREASURY FOR DPETERS 
DEPARTMENT PASS TO USTR (AGAMA) 
USDOC FOR 3317/ITA/OA/KBURRESS 
USDOC FOR 3130/USFC/OIO/ANESA/DHARRIS 
 
E.O. 12598: N/A 
TAGS: ECON EAID PGOV NI
SUBJECT: NIGERIA: FALLING BEHIND MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS 
 
 
ABUJA 00000608  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1.  Summary.  Nigeria is not on track to meet its Millennium 
Development Goals (MDGs) due to a lack of policy coordination 
between the federal, state and local governments.  A major 
impediment is the lack of staff available to implement and monitor 
MDG projects.  The Government of Nigeria (GON) has, incorporated the 
gains from the Paris Club debt relief into the annual budgets for 
2006 and 2007, which has provided resources for key public sector 
reforms and focused public debate on the MDGs as instruments of 
Nigeria's development strategy.  End Summary. 
. 
MDGS ON TRACK 
------------- 
. 
¶2.  Nigeria likely would meet its Millennium Development Goals on 
primary education; ensuring a sustainable environment; developing 
global partnership for development; and girl-child education, but is 
not on track to meet other MDGs, according to Amina Ibrahim, Senior 
Special Assistant to the President on MDGs.  The Universal Basic 
Education (UBE) scheme that was introduced in September 1999 had led 
to improved efficiency of primary education, with higher completion 
rates, and increased enrollment in primary school.  The full 
realization of UBE however, still faced challenges of universal 
access, equity, quality, funding, and management. 
 
¶3.  Regarding the goal on promoting gender equality and empowering 
women, women had become increasingly favored in wage employment in 
the non-agricultural sector.  The share of women in wage employment 
in the non-agricultural sector was 46% in 1996, increased to 62% in 
1997, and rose to 79.4% in 2003, according to the General Household 
Surveys of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Though female 
political participation was an area needing special attention, the 
situation has improved at the federal level in terms of the 
appointment of women to political and decision making positions, 
according to Ibrahim.  The increase in the number of women in 
cabinet and presidential advisory positions included the ministries 
of Finance, Health, and Education, Chairman of the Federal Inland 
Revenue Service, Director General of the Small and Medium 
Enterprises Development Agency, CEO of the Nigerian Export Promotion 
Council, to mention just a few. 
. 
MDGS Off Track 
-------------- 
. 
¶4.  Ibrahim lamented that goals on health and poverty would not be 
met because implementation required enormous coordination among the 
three tiers of government and a buy-in from sub-national 
governments, which is difficult due to Nigeria's federal system. 
Ibrahim explained that current efforts must be intensified if 
Nigeria is to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; reduce child 
mortality; improve maternal health; and combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and 
other diseases. President Obasanjo has complained that criticism of 
the GON is unfair because he cannot order the states to fund certain 
sectors, unlike during military era of decrees when state governors 
were forced to comply.  This has become an issue, such as when the 
MDG goal of primary education is undercut by the states because they 
fail to adequately support universal basic education, yet the GON 
receives the blame for missed targets.  The federal government can 
and has taken some steps however, such as paying teachers' salaries 
directly and deducting the amounts from state allocations. 
 
¶5.  The ongoing dialogue between the three tiers of government and 
the benchmarking exercise by the National Planning Commission (NPC) 
which assessed the performance of states in economic reforms and 
execution of poverty reduction projects were steps in the right 
direction, according to Ibrahim.  States that performed well in the 
NPC benchmarking exercise had been selected as pilot states that 
would benefit from donor aid and GON funding of some selected 
pro-poor projects.  Some of the state governors and the chairperson 
of the governor's forum had been selected as members of the 
Presidential Committee on the Assessment and Monitoring of the MDGs. 
 The state governors include those of Gombe, Enugu, Kebbi, Kwara, 
and Ondo. 
 
How Debt Relief = MDG Spending 
------------------------------ 
 
¶6.  The Debt-Relief Gains (DRG) accruing from the Paris Club debt 
deal make 100 billion naira available yearly, which would have 
otherwise been spent on debt service.  These funds go into a Virtual 
Poverty Fund to execute MDG related expenditure in key ministries, 
departments and agencies (MDA).  The key MDAs are Health, Education, 
Water, Power, Gender, Youth, Environment, Housing, Agriculture, and 
 
ABUJA 00000608  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
Roads.  The MDAs receive funding additional to their main budget 
envelopes for specific MDG spending. 
 
¶7.  The DRG funds were incorporated into the federal budgets of 2006 
and 2007, and the MDG-related expenditures were executed through the 
key MDAs, while monitoring and evaluation was done by the private 
sector and civil society to avoid potential conflicts when a 
government agency is expected to render progress reports to another 
government agency, according to Ibrahim.  At its inception it was 
difficult to get civil service cooperation in key MDAs because the 
MDGs were an unfamiliar concept and time consuming cultural 
re-orientation was necessary.  Ongoing public service reform is 
addressing such problems but challenges remained. 
. 
Challenges 
---------- 
. 
¶8.  Ibrahim highlighted key challenges to Nigeria's faced in 
attaining the MDGs - lack of coherent policy, planning and 
budgeting; human resource capacity constraints in the MDAs; 
constraints in assessing funds to execute projects due to the "due 
process" mechanism;  improper coordination among the ministries and 
their parastatals in project implementation; continued lack of 
consultation between MDAs and states resulting in the duplication of 
projects; inadequate provision of relevant baseline data; and 
inadequate investments by states in the MDGs.  More than two decades 
of economic decay made it impossible to implement quick fixes. 
Achieving the MDGs would be a long-term process as a new generation 
took charge. 
. 
MDGS Help Economic Reforms 
-------------------------- 
. 
¶9.  Ibrahim said that while the achieving the MDGs is important, 
simply getting them integrated into policy reforms and the budgets 
was an achievement in itself. The MDG's were now part of the public 
debate on Nigeria's development strategy with a positive impact on 
public attitudes. 
. 
Comment 
------- 
. 
¶10.  Nigeria achieving the MDGs is a tough task that requires 
sustained action, high-level political will, and a systematic 
approach.  While the GON should be credited for making progress on 
some MDGs, the new government that takes office in May, will need to 
continue the process, win over the hearts and minds of the public, 
and remake the civil service.  The GON must see the MDGs as the 
baseline and not the ceiling for Nigeria's economic development. 
 
CAMPBELL