Nigeria may not achieve MDG targets – House C’ttee on MDGs

By Emeka Mamah

Kaduna – The House of Representatives Committee on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) says Nigeria may not be able to achieve the MDG targets as earlier believed.

According to the committee’s chairman, Saudatu Sani, apart from lack of political will on the part of governments at all levels in the country, the current global economic meltdown has forced developed countries to stop giving the necessary financial assistance to developing countries in order to meet the MDG goals.

Sani, who spoke when she paid a courtesy visit on the Kaduna State Governor, Alhaji Mohammed Namadi Sambo, regretted further that global financial crisis “has pushed back millions of people worldwide into poverty and hunger”.

She explained that her committee was in Kaduna to track the MDG’s budgets for 2007 and 2008 from which the state benefitted.

According to Sani, “Some states have performed very well, some fairly and some very poorly. At the end of our oversight visits, we intend to produce a report that will be shared to all state governors to see how well they have performed.

“We expressed our deep concern about the devastating impact of the global financial crisis that has pushed back millions of people into hunger and poverty. The crisis have affected governments budget on income, cutting investment on human development, unemployment continues to rise as producers lose markets, reduced household income translates into low purchasing power and decrease the ability to get quality health care as people cut back on visits to health clinics.

“We are deeply concerned by the fact that this financial crisis put a disproportionate burden on children and women and increased the burden of family care.”