Eco.362 (1-2-2022–Online Discussion/Quiz 3—Evaluating the Performance of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Good Governance)

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NAME: OYIBE, EBERE IZUINYA
REG NO: 2018/245131
DEPARTMENT: ECONOMICS
COURSE: ECO 362.
In September 2000, leaders from about 189 nations ratified the Millennium Declaration. The declaration was an unprecedented global commitment and one of the most significant United Nations documents in recent times. It offers a common and integrated vision on how to tackle some of the major challenges facing the world of our time. The declaration has resulted in Eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) focused on reducing poverty, improving the quality of peoples’ lives, ensuring environmental sustainability, and building partnerships to ensure that globalization becomes a more positive force for all the world’s people. Also specific targets and indicators have been set and put in place for each of the goals, to be achieved by 2015.
In your opinion do you think these goals were achieved? If yes,how? If no, why?

The MDGs were developed in consultation with the developing countries, to ensure that they addressed their most pressing problems. In addition, key international agencies, including the United Nations, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and the World Trade Organization (WTO), all helped develop the Millennium Declaration and so have a collective policy commitment to attacking poverty directly. The MDGs assign specific responsibilities to rich countries, including increased aid, removal of trade and investment barriers, and eliminating unsustainable debts of the poorest nations.
In my opinion, I would say yes that the millennium development goals were to a very large extent achieved as millions of lives were touched.
Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme poverty and hunger:
Extreme poverty has declined significantly over the last two decades. In 1990, nearly half of the population in the developing world lived on less than $1.25 a day; that proportion dropped to 14 per cent in 2015.
• Globally, the number of people living in extreme poverty has declined by more than half, falling from 1.9 billion in 1990 to 836 million in 2015. Most progress has occurred since 2000.
• The number of people in the working middle class—living on more than $4 a day—has almost tripled between 1991 and 2015. This group now makes up half the workforce in the developing regions, up from just 18 per cent in 1991.
• The proportion of undernourished people in the developing regions has fallen by almost half since 1990, from 23.3 per cent in 1990–1992 to 12.9 per cent in 2014–2016.
Goal 2: achieve universal primary education:
The primary school net enrolment rate in the developing regions has reached 91 per cent in 2015, up from 83 per cent in 2000.
• The number of out-of-school children of primary school age worldwide has fallen by almost half, to an estimated 57 million in 2015, down from 100 million in 2000.
• Sub-Saharan Africa has had the best record of improvement in primary education of any region since the MDGs were established. The region achieved a 20 percentage point increase in the net enrolment rate from 2000 to 2015, compared to a gain of 8 percentage points between 1990 and 2000.
• The literacy rate among youth aged 15 to 24 has increased globally from 83 per cent to 91 per cent between 1990 and 2015. The gap between women and men has narrowed.
Goal 3: promote gender equality and empower women
Many more girls are now in school compared to 15 years ago. The developing regions as a whole have achieved the target to eliminate gender disparity in primary, secondary and tertiary education.
• In Southern Asia, only 74 girls were enrolled in primary school for every 100 boys in 1990. Today, 103 girls are enrolled for every 100 boys.
• Women now make up 41 per cent of paid workers outside the agricultural sector, an increase from 35 per cent in 1990.
• Between 1991 and 2015, the proportion of women in vulnerable employment as a share of total female employment has declined 13 percentage points. In contrast, vulnerable employment among men fell by 9 percentage points.
• Women have gained ground in parliamentary representation in nearly 90 per cent of the 174 countries with data over the past 20 years. The average proportion of women in parliament has nearly doubled in the same period.
Goal 4: reduce child mortality
• The global under-five mortality rate has declined by more than half, dropping from 90 to 43 deaths per 1,000 live births between 1990 and 2015.
• Despite population growth in the developing regions, the number of deaths of children under five has declined from 12.7 million in 1990 to almost 6 million in 2015 globally. • Since the early 1990s, the rate of reduction of under-five mortality has more than tripled globally. • In sub-Saharan Africa, the annual rate of reduction of under-five mortality was over five times faster during 2005–2013 than it was during 1990–1995.
• Measles vaccination helped prevent nearly 15.6 million deaths between 2000 and 2013. The number of globally reported measles cases declined by 67 per cent for the same period.
• About 84 per cent of children worldwide received at least one dose of measlescontaining vaccine in 2013, up from 73 per cent in 2000.
Goal 5: Improve maternal Health
Since 1990, the maternal mortality ratio has declined by 45 per cent worldwide, and most of the reduction has occurred since 2000.
• In Southern Asia, the maternal mortality ratio declined by 64 per cent between 1990 and 2013, and in sub-Saharan Africa it fell by 49 per cent.
• More than 71 per cent of births were assisted by skilled health personnel globally in 2014, an increase from 59 per cent in 1990.
• In Northern Africa, the proportion of pregnant women who received four or more antenatal visits increased from 50 per cent to 89 percent between 1990 and 2014.
• Contraceptive prevalence among women aged 15 to 49, married or in a union, increased from 55 per cent in 1990 worldwide to 64 percent in 2015.

• Since 1990, the maternal mortality ratio has declined by 45 per cent worldwide, and most of the reduction has occurred since 2000.
• In Southern Asia, the maternal mortality ratio declined by 64 per cent between 1990 and 2013, and in sub-Saharan Africa it fell by 49 per cent. • More than 71 per cent of births were assisted by skilled health personnel globally in 2014, an increase from 59 per cent in 1990.
• In Northern Africa, the proportion of pregnant women who received four or more antenatal visits increased from 50 per cent to 89 percent between 1990 and 2014.
• Contraceptive prevalence among women aged 15 to 49, married or in a union, increased from 55 per cent in 1990 worldwide to 64 per cent in 2015.
Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.
New HIV infections fell by approximately 40 per cent between 2000 and 2013, from an estimated 3.5 million cases to 2.1 million.
• By June 2014, 13.6 million people living with HIV were receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) globally, an immense increase from just 800,000 in 2003. ART averted 7.6 million deaths from AIDS between 1995 and 2013.
• Over 6.2 million malaria deaths have been averted between 2000 and 2015, primarily of children under five years of age in sub-Saharan Africa. The global malaria incidence rate has fallen by an estimated 37 per cent and the mortality rate by 58 per cent.
• More than 900 million insecticide-treated mosquito nets were delivered to malaria-endemic countries in sub-Saharan Africa between 2004 and 2014.
• Between 2000 and 2013, tuberculosis prevention, diagnosis and treatment interventions saved an estimated 37 million lives. The tuberculosis mortality rate fell by 45 per cent and the prevalence rate by 41 per cent between 1990 and 2013.
Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
Ozone-depleting substances have been virtually eliminated since 1990, and the ozone layer is expected to recover by the middle of this century. • Terrestrial and marine protected areas in many regions have increased substantially since 1990. In Latin America and the Caribbean, coverage of terrestrial protected areas rose from 8.8 per cent to 23.4 per cent between 1990 and 2014. • In 2015, 91 per cent of the global population is using an improved drinking water source, compared to 76 per cent in 1990. • Of the 2.6 billion people who have gained access to improved drinking water since 1990, 1.9 billion gained access to piped drinking water on premises. Over half of the global population (58 per cent) now enjoys this higher level of service. • Globally, 147 countries have met the drinking water target, 95 countries have met the sanitation target and 77 countries have met both. • Worldwide, 2.1 billion people have gained access to improved sanitation. The proportion of people practicing open defecation has fallen almost by half since 1990. • The proportion of urban population living in slums in the developing regions fell from approximately 39.4 per cent in 2000 to 29.7 per cent in 2014.
Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development
Official development assistance from developed countries increased by 66 per cent in real terms between 2000 and 2014, reaching $135.2 billion.
• In 2014, Denmark, Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom continued to exceed the United Nations official development assistance target of 0.7 per cent of gross national income.
• In 2014, 79 per cent of imports from developing to developed countries were admitted duty free, up from 65 per cent in 2000.
• The proportion of external debt service to export revenue in developing countries fell from 12 per cent in 2000 to 3 per cent in 2013.
• As of 2015, 95 per cent of the world’s population is covered by a mobile-cellular signal. • The number of mobile
-cellular subscriptions has grown almost tenfold in the last 15 years, from 738 million in 2000 to over 7 billion in 2015. • Internet penetration has grown from just over 6 per cent of the world’s population in 2000 to 43 per cent in 2015. As a result, 3.2 billion people are linked to a global network of content and applications.

2. Good governance is good for all nations but Nigeria and many developing countries seem to be far behind in their quest for good govrnance. Discuss!
The concept ‘governance’ refers to the task of running a government, or any other appropriate entity. The Webster’s Third New International Dictionary (1986) defined governance as “the act or process of governing, via authoritative direction and control”. By implication, the focus is on the effectiveness of the executive branch of government. The British Council cited in Mariano (n.d) sees “governance” as involving the interaction between the formal institutions and those in civil society. Implying that governance is a process whereby elements in society wield power, authority and influence and enact policies and decisions concerning public life and social upliftment (Governance Barometer, n.d). Fourie & Jordan (2017) was very succinct when they averred that governance is the exercise of authority, direction and control of an organization to ensure that its goals are achieved. It refers to who is in charge of what; who sets the direction and the parameters within which the direction is to be pursued; who makes decisions; who sets performance indicators, monitoring of progress and evaluates results; and, who is accountable to whom and for what. To United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific- UNESCAP (2009), governance is the process of decision-making and the process by which decisions are implemented (or not implemented). In this regard, governance, not only encompasses but transcends the collective meaning of related concepts like the state, government, regime and good government, hence an integral part of the meaning of “governance are the elements and principles underlying “good governance.
There are five pressing democracy and human rights issues the AU needs to confront as well as recommendations on how to get started:

1. Dismal State of Press Freedom
Over the past decade, press freedom has seen the largest decline of any other fundamental freedom in Africa, according to Freedom in the World 2015. Authoritarian governments continue to use legal pressure, imprisonment, and other forms of harassment to suppress independent reporting. According to the Committee to Project Journalists, 48 journalists were in prison across sub- Saharan Africa at the end of 2014 and 152 journalists were forced into exile between 2009 and 2014 – more than any other region in the world. Even the region’s democracies are taking steps to censor the media. Last year, for example, Botswana used a sedition law to charge an editor and journalist for publishing an article critical of the president. As a result of these negative trends, only three percent of Africans live in countries with a free media.

Recommendation: The African Union should amend Article 12 of the AU Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, which calls on State Parties to promote principles and practices necessary for a democratic culture, to specifically include media freedom. The AU should also include a free press as one of the key conditions necessary for free and fair elections as outlined in the Charter’s Chapter 7.

2. Proliferation of Restrictive Laws
Authoritarian regimes in Africa are increasingly exploiting their country’s legal framework to eliminate opposition rather than relying solely on violence and political suppression. Laws ostensibly designed to regulate civic activity or protect public order are manipulated to restrict the fundamental rights of citizens. Africa has consequently seen an explosion of NGO, public order, and counterterrorism laws that are used to harass and persecute democracy groups and human rights defenders. Ethiopia, for example, used its Anti-Terrorism Proclamation in April 2014 to charge 10 bloggers and journalists with threatening public safety for simply writing about human rights. In Kenya, several human rights organizations recently had their licenses canceled for alleged ties to terrorism – a decision that was eventually overturned by the High Court.

Recommendation: The AU should work with civil society to develop standards for drafting public safety and NGO legislation that adequately protects citizens without infringing on their constitutionally-guaranteed rights. This legislation should include judicial oversight of surveillance, strict regulations on how long suspects can be detained without charges, and protections for media outlets to publish stories about terrorism.

3. Entrenched Leaders and the Abuse of Term Limits
In April 2015, Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza became the latest African leader to attempt to extend his tenure beyond the constitutionally-mandated limit, setting off violent protests across the country. With a number of countries preparing for elections in the coming year, there are fears that other countries will face similar unrest as entrenched leaders seek to circumvent or disregard term limits. Rwandan President Paul Kagame and Congolese President Joseph Kabila have already shown signs they are considering ways to extend their terms. Recently, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) considered a declaration that would limit presidential terms to two, but the declaration was tabled due to pressure from Togo and The Gambia.

Recommendation: The AU should consider passing a declaration similar to the one debated by ECOWAS that would set clear expectations for respecting term limits. AU leaders should also publically condemn any attempts to change, circumvent or violate established term limits, just as they do when military coups take place in the region.
4. Weak Regional Human Rights Mechanisms
The African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights is tasked with enforcing the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, which guarantees citizens throughout Africa a broad array of fundamental freedoms. Unfortunately, the Court has significant shortcomings. Under the current Charter, individuals and human rights groups cannot bring cases before the Court unless their country has signed a special declaration allowing such complaints. To date, only seven countries have signed this provision. Also, last year African leaders further weakened the Court’s human rights mandate when they voted to give sitting heads of state and certain senior government officials immunity from prosecution. The amendment, which has yet to go into effect, caused an outcry among African human rights groups, who see it as another incentivize for authoritarian leaders to hold onto power at any cost.

Recommendation: Africa’s democracies should push to remove the immunity clause. Moreover, countries that have signed the special provision granting NGOs and individuals standing to bring human rights cases before the Court should encourage their counterparts to do the same.

5. Economic Competitiveness
While Africa is routinely touted as having 7 of the world’s 10 fastest growing economies, it is also home to 15 out of the 20 least competitive. This is according to the World Economic Forum, which found that Africa remains the least economically competitive region in the world. Moreover, Africa’s overall competitiveness has stagnated over the past decade due to structural factors, such as poor infrastructure and high transportation costs, and to socio-economic and political factors. High levels of corruption and government inefficiency, combined with low levels of education, make Africa an expensive and risky place to do business. The region’s democratic countries, however, are faring much better than their authoritarian counterparts. The key components of a functional democracy – efficient institutions, responsible government policies, and a strong rule of law – are the same factors that contribute to a competitive economy.

Recommendation: The African Union, along with the regional economic communities, should include efforts to strengthen democracy and governance in their economic development and integration strategies.

OKOYE ARTHUR KANAYO
2018/241820

A) The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are eight goals with measurable targets and clear deadlines for improving the lives of the world’s poorest people. To meet these goals and eradicate poverty, leaders of 189 countries signed the historic millennium declaration at the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000. At that time, eight goals that range from providing universal primary education to avoiding child and maternal mortality were set with a target achievement date of 2015.

The eight goals are as follows:-
1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2. Achieve universal primary education
3. Promote gender equality and empower women
4. Reduce child mortality
5.Improve maternal health
6. Combating HIV/AIDs, malaria, and other diseases
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
8. Develop a global partnership for development

While the country made some progress in the health sector as shown by its health indicators, Pakistan was still lagging far behind other countries that had similar levels of income or had started with similar set targets. In order to further improve its service delivery in key areas of healthcare, the government implemented special programmes like the Lady Health Worker Programme (LHW), the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI), the National Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health Programme (MNCH), Programme for HIV/AIDS Control and Programme for Malaria Control. However, the country has failed to meet its health-related MDGs.

The health sector and reforms in Pakistan have suffered many snags due to changing administrative mechanisms and financial arrangements made during the devolution period. The process of reforms had started from the city district government plan of 2001 but once the devolution process started in 2010, the arena of health was partially handed over to the provincial government in 2011.

In the initial post-devolution phase, the provinces did not have any interprovincial coordination offices which posed a real challenge for the implementation of the reforms. Since the funding was kept within the ambit of the federal government till 2014, there were financial constraints for vertical programmes like MNCH, LHW.

Moreover, no institution claimed ownership of these programmes. Each federating unit had to devise its own policies in the absence of any benchmark of standards and there was no system of operation after the implementation of the policies. The entire situation resulted in lack of clarity over job responsibilities at different levels and eventually failed to achieve the set targets of the MDGs. The shifting role of the organisations in managing the strategies and plans appeared to be a vital factor towards the poor progress of the MDGs.

Pakistan’s spending on the health sector – far less than the WHO’s recommended figure of $34 per capita for low and middle income countries – was another factor that caused the failure of the MDGs. This amount is insufficient not only according to the standards of developing countries, but also when compared to the standards of poor South Asian countries. Pakistan’s health-related spending (the total expenditure on health as a percentage of the GDP is 2.8 percent) is the lowest among all South Asian countries, including Nepal and Bhutan.

According to the World Bank, the annual population growth rate in Pakistan is 2.1 percent. This rapid rise in population has undermined most of the health development initiatives because the plans and resources set forth are on the basis of an estimated number of people and do not take into account the resource-to-population growth ratio. Moreover, limited resources, coupled with the fast and haphazard pace of urbanisation and the subsequent environmental degradation has created difficulties in the development of planning and healthcare service delivery.

The health workforce is a critical factor in the long-term planning, implementation and maintenance of healthcare services. Human resource policies therefore need to lay out a medium- to long-term path to provide the sector with skilled, motivated and accountable health workers. It has been seen that there is no effective mechanism for HR planning and development in the health department. Unfavourable contractual recruitment policy and uncertainty of career progression have made the government service unattractive, resulting in compromised quality of service delivery by the HR staff.

Women’s empowerment and their socio-economic status – prerequisites for social development – also affect the progress of the MDGs. Women in Pakistan lack sufficient knowledge about healthcare. The lack of policymakers’ oversight, the dearth of education and awareness among citizens, particularly among women, and limited research and development have aggravated the situation.

Weak governance and mismanagement remain key concerns at all levels. The lack of a transparent performance-assessment system, limited efforts to harness the potential of the private sector and the weak regulation of healthcare delivery also contributed to the slow progress of the MDGs.

The year 2015 marked the completion of the monitoring period for the MDGs which are now replaced by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In February 2015, the government of Pakistan adopted the SDGs through a unanimous parliamentary resolution. This strategic shift put considerable responsibility on the government and its development partners to address the unmet agenda of the MDGs while initiating the SDGs through development cooperation for strengthening public institutions, social policies and planning development programmes.

It is evident that improving the health of the population – which in turn enhances physical work capacity and cognitive development – contributes to productivity, economic development and poverty reduction. Since the population of Pakistan is unhealthy, there is a dire need to take a holistic approach to address the issue. Following the process of prioritisation, limited capacities and resources when well-directed can produce the required results.

The country needs to pay close attention to setting clear targets and following through with them when chalking out the health policy and working on its implementation.

But then they believed that 21 million extra lives were saved due to accelerated progress ( according to Guardian for 200 years)

B) According to UNESCAP, 2009, Good governance is the process of measuring how public institution conduct public affairs and manage public resources and guarantee the realization of human rights in a manner essentially free of abuse and corruption and
  Furthermore, Bad governance is a relationship between those who govern and those who are governed as a consequence of decision-making. This unfavourable relationship is created as a consequence of external factors or decisions such as violation of central or acceptable norms, such as those of liberal democracy, and bad economic policy. Bad governance collectively encompasses governance in government and corporate settings. It is the opposite of good governance. Bad governance addresses governance in a government setting but bad governance and bad government are different concepts. Bad governance encompasses a variety of situations from corruption, deceit and to passing of unfair policy. From this, it can be noted that different manifestations of bad governance can vary in severity and the potential impact in their respective setting.The World Bank has identified key indicators of governance which are used as a method to measure bad governance.

Some causes of bad governance includes
● Lack of Voice and Weak Accountability

Governing bodies refusing to listen the voice of those they govern and refusing to take accountability for their actions leads to bad governance.

● Political Instability

Bad Governance occurs as a consequence of frequent changes in government or political instability. Instability in political regimes, such as a democracy, has been proven to coincide with poor governance.

● Corruption

Bad Governance, is often considered to come hand in hand with corruption. Corruption occurs in many sectors ranging from political to economic environments. Corruption can occur in many different ways and forms. The existence of corruption within a governing body causes bad governance as the officials places their personal gains over others.

Online quiz
1.
No, the achievements have been uneven. The MDGs are set to expire in 2015 and the discussion of a post-2015 agenda continues. The focus is now on building a sustainable world where environmental sustainability, social inclusion, and economic development are equally valued.
The MDG Fund contributed directly and indirectly to the achievement of the MDGs. It adopted an inclusive and comprehensive approach to the MDGs. The approach was guided by the Millennium Declaration and its emphasis on development as a right, with targeted attention directed towards traditionally marginalized groups such as ethnic minorities, indigenous groups, and women.

2.
Good governance is the process of measuring how public institution conduct public affairs and manage public resources and guarantee the realization of human rights in a manner essentially free of abuse and corruption and with due regard for the rule of law.
Governance is “the process of decision-making and the process by which decisions are implemented (or not implemented)”.Governance in this context can apply to corporate, international, national, or local governance as well as the interactions between other sectors of society.
The concept of “good governance” thus emerges as a model to compare ineffective economies or political bodies with viable economies and political bodies. The concept centers on the responsibility of governments and governing bodies to meet the needs of the masses as opposed to select groups in society.

NNAMANI DORATHY NCHIDO
2018/245743
Economic Major
ASSIGNMENT on 362
Question 1
No the MDG was not achieved that is why SDG was developed to curb the lapses of MDG.
MDG focuses on developing nation, due to greed and corruption it was not achieved.
MDG 1 is ‘unfair to poor countries’, and in particular for Africa because of the way they are constructed. The author explains that MDGs are more difficult to reach for the worst-off countries and are, therefore, drawing a darker picture of the progress made in those regions. He argues that measuring changes in proportions make it harder for countries with worse baselines to show progress. Halving poverty rates from 10 to 5% in Latin America represents more progress (50% poverty reduction) than ‘cutting poverty from 50 to 35%’ in Africa (only 30% reduction).
MDG 2 (‘Achieve universal primary education’) is the limited focus on primary education only, while ignoring the importance of secondary and post-secondary education (Mekonen, 2010; Tarabini, 2010). Lewin (2005) points out that pushing for primary education results in more graduates that then do not have the opportunity for further education in developing economies. MDG 2 particularly fails to ensure quality issues such as availability of teachers, school infrastructure and maintenance as well as completion rates (Barrett, 2011)
Health plays an important role within the MDGs framework, where three of the eight goals directly (MDG 4–6), and several other goals more indirectly, relate to health. James (2006) believes, however, that the MDGs focus on only three aspects of health (maternal mortality, child mortality and specific infectious diseases) is too limited and an overarching goal of ‘freedom from illness’ is missing. Others emphasise the need to integrate trained health care providers and the importance of building effective health systems into the list of MDG targets (Haines & Cassels, 2004; Keyzer & Van Wesenbeeck, 2006). Several health issues are found to be underrecognised, such as non-communicable diseases (Magrath, 2009), mental health (Miranda & Patel, 2007) and issues faced by people living with disabilities (Wolbring, 2011). Several authors highlight the fact that targets for reproductive health were absent before 2007 and are still insufficient in MDG 5 (Basu, 2005; Bernstein, 2005; Dixon-Mueller & Germain, 2007). Omissions in MDG 5 are the issues of abortion (Basu, 2005), a ‘fertility regulation indicator’ (Dixon-Mueller & Germain, 2007) and the ‘availability and use of obstetric services’ (Langford, 2010).
MDG 7 prompted authors to argue that the goal places too ‘little emphasis on environmental issues’, in particular, climate change (McMichael & Butler, 2004). Some suggest that Target 7.C – access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation – overlooks local challenges, including infrastructure, distance, security, costs, contamination as well as a basic understanding of hygiene and sanitation (Dar & Khan, 2011; James, 2006). Others call Target 7.D – improving lives of at least 100 million slum residents – too moderate, addressing only 7–9% of expected slum residents by 2020 (Di Muzio, 2008; Langford, 2010).
Goal 8, the only one focusing on commitments by developed countries, is criticised by several authors as having the ‘least explicit targets’, lacking ‘quantitative’ and ‘time bound’ benchmarks (Davis, 2011; Fukuda-Parr, 2006; Gore, 2010). Fukuda-Parr (2006) believes that the emphasis on ‘resource transfer through Official Development Assistance’ (ODA) inhibits the ‘empowerment of developing countries’. making essential drugs and technology available (Target 8.E/F) is not enough, according to James (2006), because it fails to grasp the importance of information and knowledge about correct usage.

Question 2
1. Dismal State of Press Freedom
Over the past decade, press freedom has seen the largest decline of any other fundamental freedom in Africa, according to Freedom in the World 2015. Authoritarian governments continue to use legal pressure, imprisonment, and other forms of harassment to suppress independent reporting. According to the Committee to Project Journalists, 48 journalists were in prison across sub- Saharan Africa at the end of 2014 and 152 journalists were forced into exile between 2009 and 2014 – more than any other region in the world. Even the region’s democracies are taking steps to censor the media. Last year, for example, Botswana used a sedition law to charge an editor and journalist for publishing an article critical of the president. As a result of these negative trends, only three percent of Africans live in countries with a free media.
Recommendation: The African Union should amend Article 12 of the AU Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, which calls on State Parties to promote principles and practices necessary for a democratic culture, to specifically include media freedom. The AU should also include a free press as one of the key conditions necessary for free and fair elections as outlined in the Charter’s Chapter 7.
2. Proliferation of Restrictive Laws
Authoritarian regimes in Africa are increasingly exploiting their country’s legal framework to eliminate opposition rather than relying solely on violence and political suppression. Laws ostensibly designed to regulate civic activity or protect public order are manipulated to restrict the fundamental rights of citizens. Africa has consequently seen an explosion of NGO, public order, and counterterrorism laws that are used to harass and persecute democracy groups and human rights defenders. Ethiopia, for example, used its Anti-Terrorism Proclamation in April 2014 to charge 10 bloggers and journalists with threatening public safety for simply writing about human rights. In Kenya, several human rights organizations recently had their licenses canceled for alleged ties to terrorism – a decision that was eventually overturned by the High Court.
Recommendation: The AU should work with civil society to develop standards for drafting public safety and NGO legislation that adequately protects citizens without infringing on their constitutionally-guaranteed rights. This legislation should include judicial oversight of surveillance, strict regulations on how long suspects can be detained without charges, and protections for media outlets to publish stories about terrorism.
3. Entrenched Leaders and the Abuse of Term Limits
In April 2015, Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza became the latest African leader to attempt to extend his tenure beyond the constitutionally-mandated limit, setting off violent protests across the country. With a number of countries preparing for elections in the coming year, there are fears that other countries will face similar unrest as entrenched leaders seek to circumvent or disregard term limits. Rwandan President Paul Kagame and Congolese President Joseph Kabila have already shown signs they are considering ways to extend their terms. Recently, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) considered a declaration that would limit presidential terms to two, but the declaration was tabled due to pressure from Togo and The Gambia.
Recommendation: The AU should consider passing a declaration similar to the one debated by ECOWAS that would set clear expectations for respecting term limits. AU leaders should also publically condemn any attempts to change, circumvent or violate established term limits, just as they do when military coups take place in the region.
4. Weak Regional Human Rights Mechanisms
The African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights is tasked with enforcing the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, which guarantees citizens throughout Africa a broad array of fundamental freedoms. Unfortunately, the Court has significant shortcomings. Under the current Charter, individuals and human rights groups cannot bring cases before the Court unless their country has signed a special declaration allowing such complaints. To date, only seven countries have signed this provision. Also, last year African leaders further weakened the Court’s human rights mandate when they voted to give sitting heads of state and certain senior government officials immunity from prosecution. The amendment, which has yet to go into effect, caused an outcry among African human rights groups, who see it as another incentivize for authoritarian leaders to hold onto power at any cost.
Recommendation: Africa’s democracies should push to remove the immunity clause. Moreover, countries that have signed the special provision granting NGOs and individuals standing to bring human rights cases before the Court should encourage their counterparts to do the same.
5. Economic Competitiveness
While Africa is routinely touted as having 7 of the world’s 10 fastest growing economies, it is also home to 15 out of the 20 least competitive. This is according to the World Economic Forum, which found that Africa remains the least economically competitive region in the world. Moreover, Africa’s overall competitiveness has stagnated over the past decade due to structural factors, such as poor infrastructure and high transportation costs, and to socio-economic and political factors. High levels of corruption and government inefficiency, combined with low levels of education, make Africa an expensive and risky place to do business. The region’s democratic countries, however, are faring much better than their authoritarian counterparts. The key components of a functional democracy – efficient institutions, responsible government policies, and a strong rule of law – are the same factors that contribute to a competitive economy.
Recommendation: The African Union, along with the regional economic communities, should include efforts to strengthen democracy and governance in their economic development and integration strategies.

Name: onyibor chinedu
Dept: Economics
Reg no:2018/248795
Course:Eco 362

(1) In September 2000, leaders from about 189 nations ratified the Millennium Declaration. The declaration was an unprecedented global commitment and one of the most significant United Nations documents in recent times. It offers a common and integrated vision on how to tackle some of the major challenges facing the world of our time. The declaration has resulted in Eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) focused on reducing poverty, improving the quality of peoples’ lives, ensuring environmental sustainability, and building partnerships to ensure that globalization becomes a more positive force for all the world’s people. Also specific targets and indicators have been set and put in place for each of the goals, to be achieved by 2015.
In your opinion do you think these goals were achieved? If yes,how? If no, why?
(2)2. Good governance is good for all nations but Nigeria and many developing countries seem to be far behind in their quest for good governance. Discuss
(Ans)
Yes , The goals was a kind of successful which would be evaluated statistically starting from goal one till the end
(1)MDG 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger
The target of reducing extreme poverty rates – people living on just $1.25 a day – by half was met five years ahead of the 2015 deadline. Globally the number of people living in extreme poverty has fallen from 1.9 billion in 1990 to 836 million in 2015.
However, target of halving the proportion of people suffering from hunger has narrowly been missed. The proportion of undernourished people in the developing regions has fallen from 23.3 per cent in 1990 to 12.9 per cent in 2014.
(ii)MDG 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education
Primary school enrolment figures have shown an impressive rise, but the goal of achieving universal primary education has just been missed. The primary school enrolment rate in developing regions reached 91 per cent this year, up from 83 per cent in 2000.
(III)MDG 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women.
About two two-thirds of developing countries achieved gender parity in primary education. Progress has been particularly strong in Southern Asia. Only 74 girls were enrolled in primary school for every 100 boys in 1990. Today, 103 girls are enrolled for every 100 boys.
(iv)MDG 4: Reduce Child Mortality
The global under-five mortality rate has declined by more than half since 1990 – dropping from 90 to 43 deaths per 1,000 live births. This falls short of the targeted drop of two-thirds.
In practical terms this means 16,000 children under-five continue to die every day from preventable causes. A terrible reality made worse by the fact we know what each one of these major killers are, and what can be done to thwart them.
(v)MDG 5: Improve Maternal Health
Since 1990, the maternal mortality ratio has been cut nearly in half. This is an impressive result, but as well with goal 4 it falls short of the two-thirds reduction that was aimed for. There were an estimated 289,000 maternal deaths in 2013.
(Vi)MDG 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases
The results with MDG 5 are mixed. The target of halting and beginning to reverse the spread of HIV/Aids has not been met – although the number of new HIV infections fell by 40% between 2000 and 2013.
According to the UN, over 6.2 million malaria deaths have been averted between 2000 and 2015, primarily of children under five years of age in sub-Saharan Africa. The global malaria incidence rate has fallen by an estimated 37 per cent and the mortality rate by 58 per cent
(Vii)MDG 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainably
Between 1990 and 2015, 2.6 billion people gained access to improved drinking water, meaning the target of halving the proportion of people without access to safe water was achieved. Worldwide, 2.1 billion people have gained access to improved sanitation.
(Viii)MDG 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development
Official development assistance from wealthy countries to developing countries increased by 66 per cent in real terms between 2000 and 2014, reaching $135.2 billion

(2)In contemporary Nigeria, a discourse on good governance is convivial, given her current economic, political, and social dimensions especially with regard to issues of state and governance. Development scholars have pointed out that good governance is a prerequisite for successful development which every country crave for. However, the meaning of the concept has been changing overtime. This is why a discourse on “Good Governance” has to be in cognizance of the paradigm shift in good governance discourse.

In the 1980s for instance, the concept of good governance was taken up from a more normative perspective, with emphasis on development criteria which sought to guide the repair of the failures of the decreasingly legitimate top down governance structures, by focusing on alternative modes of actor constellations helping to resolve common issues from different perspectives (Pierre, 2000; Hill, 2013). By the 1990s it was used from a more analytical perspective in the social sciences as a mean of assessing public policy arrangements (Kooiman, 2003). This perspective drives this discourse hence in the exact words of Anton (n.d), good governance as a concept has been in existence since the end of the cold war and its meaning has been changing in response to issues of dire importance. Hence before 1990, the International Monetary Fund (1997) used the concept to describe the economic standing of creditor countries. But in 1998, a study on Africa found out that even national economy that conformed to reasonable rules of economic management did not necessarily develop positively whenever negative governmental and administrative influences were present. In keeping with the paradigm shift consequent upon the evolving nature of the concept of good governance, the World Bank responded to that finding and formulated a more positive and proactive strategy for good governance that addressed four areas: the management of the public administration, responsibility and accountability in the public sector, legal framework conditions, and the transparency of public activities. Within this period, good governance was extendedly conceptualized to be applied to the political system, the exercise of governmental authority, and the ability of a government to formulate and implement political designs. But in 2002, the World Bank Institute developed governance indicators that included corruption control as its rider. The concept was expatiated by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, the United Nation, and the European Union (Anton, n.d).

The OECD (2009) asserted that governance had acquired a key status as late as 1997. The European Union, on its part, mentions the term ‘good governance’ in three documents – the Cotonou Agreement of 2000, the EU Commission’s communication on ‘Governance in Developing Countries’ of 2003, and the European Consensus on Development Policy of December 2005 (EU, 2014), and the concept of good governance was used to describe the political conduct of governments. It is worthy of note that, good governance has been a key item of the UN Development Programme since 1999 (UNDP, 2014). Consequent upon the changes in the meaning of the concept of good governance, it becomes necessary, not just to examine the definitions of good governance as are awash in the literature but to be more critical in evaluating their contexts. Hence, Mashupye & Shadrack (2009) observed that ‘good governance’ is a value-laden concept that is characteristically nebulous; enabling it to connote different things to different people, depending on the context in which it is used bearing in mind that while concepts are ‘tools of thinking’ contexts are ‘the environments or frameworks in which the concepts operate’. It connotes that the conviviality of the concept of good governance, not withstanding, its meaning is lucid and lucidity in the meanings of a concept is fundamentally important for shaping debate and enriching discourses (Pauw, 1999). This is because the concept of good governance has become popular in recent decades, in response to the notion that ‘more effective governance regimes or systems need to be created to overcome government failure, market failure and system failure or a combination of the three (Rogers & Hall 2003). More importantly, major donors and international financial institutions are increasingly basing their aid and loans on policies that ensure “good governance (UNESCAP, 2009).

NAME: OGUEGBU CHIAMAKA MAUREEN
DEPT: ECONOMICS
REG NO: 2018/242309
COURSE CODE: ECO 362

(1) The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are the most widely supported and comprehensive development goals the world has ever established. These eight goals and 18 targets provide a concrete framework for tackling poverty, hunger, maternal and child mortality, communicable disease, education, gender inequality, environmental damage and the global partnership for development
These targets are both global and local, adapted to each country to meet specific needs. They provide a framework for the whole international community to work together towards a common goal. If these goals are achieved, world poverty will be reduced by half, millions of lives will be saved, and billions of people will benefit from the global economy in a more sustainable environment
(2). Furthermore, the MDGs are inter-dependent and largely influence each other. For example, promoting gender equality and empowering women enables not only better conditions for women but also improved household management leading to better health and education for children and to higher income for the family.
The MDGs find their origins in development ideas and campaigns of the 1980s and 1990s; they were officially established following the Millennium Summit of the United Nations in 2000, as an output of the United Nations Millennium Declaration
(3). All 189 United Nations member states agreed to achieve these goals on a voluntary basis by the year 2015. New global health initiatives (such as the Global Fund, the World Bank, the GAVI Alliance, etc.) and increased financial resources have advanced the opportunity to . (4).
From 2000 on, important high-level meetings and summits have been organized to follow up with the progress in the MDGs and to define action plans for their achievement. In 2008, governments, foundations, businesses groups and civil society announced new commitments to meet the MDGs, during the high-level event at the UN Headquarters
(5). Two years after, the 2010 MDG Summit concluded with the adoption of a global action plan – Keeping the Promise: United to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals – and announced a number of initiatives against poverty, hunger and disease, with a special focus on women’s and children’s health
(6).
In 2013, participants in the Global MDG Conference underlined the importance of maintaining the momentum for accelerating progress to 2015, while taking lessons learned from the MDGs to be used in the development of the agenda of the next round of goals beyond 2015
(7).
MDGs achievements and failures
To assure an appropriate monitoring and evaluation within and among countries and to conceive suitable policies and interventions, reliable, timely and internationally comparable data on the MDG indicators are of primary importance. They are also essential in encouraging funding and allocating aid effectively
(8). Several methodologies and indicators (Table 2) have been developed to measure progress towards the MDGs, such as the MDG indicators website, the UN Data – and the UNICEF Portal
(9–(11)). Moreover, progress towards MDG achievement can be tracked through the MDG Monitor, both globally and at the country level
Furthermore, there have been numerous consultations on the MDGs by various organizations. Some of the consultations and surveys have had an official character and others should be considered ‘private’ initiatives, by organizations such as non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and private foundations
(13–(18)). More than a few official reports have tracked the global assessment of progress, based on those data (14, 19–21)). Although considerable progress has been made, reliable data and statistics analyses remain poor, especially in many developing countries (8).
In the last 13 years, the MDGs have managed to focus world attention and global political consensus on the needs of the poorest and to achieve a significant change in the Official Development Assistance (ODA) commitments (22). They have provided a framework allowing countries to plan their social and economic development and donors to provide effective support at national and international level (8). Most activities worldwide have targeted MDGs 4, 5 and 6, focusing on maternal and child health (MCH) and communicable diseases, especially in the developing countries, while fewer initiatives have focused on MDGs 1, 2, 3 and 7, which are more difficult to influence (14). Some studies have underlined regional differences in the importance that is attributed to specific MDGs. For example, MDGs 4 and 5 have been considered most important in the African region, while MDGs 7 and 8 in the Western Pacific Region. Low-income countries have attached high relevance to MDG1 when compared to high-income countries (14, 23). Arab countries have not considered MDGs among the top priority for the policy makers, academia and social actors in general mainly due to ethnic, religious, political and social limitations (18).
The most recent UN report on progress towards the MDGs has highlighted several achievements in all health and education areas (21): the hunger reduction goal is on track; the target of decreasing extreme poverty by half has been met, as well as the goal of halving the proportion of people who lack steady access to drinking water; conditions for more than 200 million people living in favelas have been improved; significant achievements have been made in the fight against communicable diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis and child and maternal mortality have been reduced. Moreover, primary school admission of girls has equalled that of boys and developing countries experienced a reduced debt burden and an improved climate for trade (20, 21) (24, 25).
However, progress has been highly unequal. The reduction in global income poverty is mainly due to the rapid growth of a few countries in Asia, such as China, India, Indonesia and Vietnam. In many other countries, poverty reduction has been quite slow, or poverty has even increased (8). Sub-Saharan Africa remains the most underdeveloped region (8). Projections indicate that in 2015 more than 600 million people worldwide will still be using unsafe water sources, almost 1 billion will be living in very poor conditions, mothers will continue to die giving birth, and children will die from preventable diseases. Also, environmental sustainability remains a global challenge due to a fast decline of biodiversity and an increase in gas emissions. The goals of primary education and gender equality also remain unfulfilled, with broad negative consequences, given that achieving the MDGs deeply relies on education and women’s empowerment. Moreover, there are severe inequalities that exist among populations, especially between rural and urban areas, or that affect marginalized people (20, 21). MDG8 remains one of the most challenging even if of primary importance for the achievement of all MDGs.

QUESTION 2:
(2) Good Governance is the process of making decisions that bring maximum satisfaction to the people and ensuring participation of all. There are several characteristics of good Governance. Rule of Law is prerequisite for good governance. It implies the absence of arbitrary power and formulation and implementation of well-established laws. Transparency ensures trustworthy working. People must have the right to information regarding government processes and policies while making each and every organ of Government response to the public for their acts making them responsible.
THE MAJOR HINDRANCES TO GOOD GOVERNANCE IN DEVELOPING NATION’S ARE –
– BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION – this snatches away the opportunity from the deserving to the less eligible candidate in any field.
– POOR ECONOMY – unemployment and reservation
– UNEDUCATED PEOPLE – poor education system and not access to education by everyone is a failure for the nation.
– INEQUALITY – discriminating on the basis of gender, class , creed and religion is major

me: Ekpe Esther
Reg. Number:2018/250324
Department: Economic
Course code:Eco362
In September 2000, leaders from about 189 nations ratified the Millennium Declaration. The declaration was an unprecedented global commitment and one of the most significant United Nations documents in recent times. It offers a common and integrated vision on how to tackle some of the major challenges facing the world of our time. The declaration has resulted in Eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) focused on reducing poverty, improving the quality of peoples’ lives, ensuring environmental sustainability, and building partnerships to ensure that globalization becomes a more positive force for all the world’s people. Also specific targets and indicators have been set and put in place for each of the goals, to be achieved by 2015.

In your opinion do you think these goals were achieved? If yes,how? If no, why?
In my own opinion I will say majority of the goals were not achieved.
Due to nsome reasons below:
All Millennium Development Goal. has been limited and uneven across countries. An estimated 15.5% of the world population still suffers from hunger, and many countries, particularly on the African continent, are unlikely to meet the targeted two-thirds reduction in child mortality by 2015. The reduction in maternal mortality (Target 5.A) has been slow and mortality remains alarmingly high (UN, 2012). In sub-Saharan regions and Southern Asia, where 80% of people in extreme poverty live, progress in reaching MDGs has generally been very limited (UN, 2012).
In September 2001, based upon the Millennium Declaration, the United Nations (UN) presented the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as a list of common goals for the world community to achieve by 2015. Since then, remarkable progress has been made towards achieving the MDGs. According to the UN MDG Report 2012, the proportion of people living on less than $1.25 has decreased from 47% in 1990 to 24% in 2008 (from 2 to 1.4 billion). This indicates that Target 1 – Halve the proportion of people living on less than one dollar a day – will be reached by 2015 (UN, 2012). Child mortality (Target 4.A) has been steadily decreasing globally, and immunisation rates are over 90% in almost two-thirds of all countries (Overseas Development Institute [ODI], 2010). Enrolment rates of primary schools increased from 58 to 76% in sub-Saharan Africa between 1999 and 2010, professional assistance during childbirth has improved from 55% in 1990 to 65% in 2010 (Indicator 5.2) and the aimed reduction of slum dwellers by 100 million (Target 7.D) is already achieved (UN, 2012).
Progress towards Goal 8 (‘Develop a global partnership for development’) – the only MDG directed specifically at high-income countries – has been disappointing. As a possible result of the global financial crisis, development aid has fallen for the first time in more than a decade (UN, 2012). In instances where MDGs have been achieved, some of these successes are considered a ‘by-product of the rapid economic growth of China and India’ rather than achievements of MDG-oriented activitird
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon links the lack of progress to ‘unmet commitments, inadequate resources, lack of focus and accountability, and insufficient interest in sustainable development’ (UN, 2010). For others, the MDGs cannot be fully met because of how the goals were designed..

2. Good governance is good for all nations but Nigeria and many developing countries seem to be far behind in their quest for good governance. Discuss!
Good Governance:
Governance is the process through which citizens and state agents continuously engage in good interaction to express their demand, their rights and obligations, in order to reconcile their differences and cooperate to produce public goods and services. The beauty is that it makes society a conducive place by producing collective goods and services that people cannot provide individually for themselves. The collective goods and services include: security, public roads, schools, hospitals and control on epidemic diseases; a functioning and independent of the judiciary. It equals the various obligations of the state through its institutional framework within which socio-economic development is pursued.
This is the opposite of Nigeria governance.
It’s now a tradition for the Nigerian police to brutalise Nigerian youth at the slightest provocation. But at the very centre of these protests are frustrated youth whose dreams are on hold and whose future is uncertain. They are youth who are genuinely interested in good governance but are disappointed at the lack of it.
Although Nigeria has habitually been plagued by bad governance and corporate ineptitude, it has never been this bad. Nigerians have never been divided along ethnic and religious lines as they are today.

The tension in the land is palpable with another civil war seemingly imminent. There’s anger, there’s anxiety, and there’s age-long resentment. While innocent and unarmed protesters are arrested, tortured, and brutally murdered, terrorists and bandits are forgiven and even rewarded. Is now a tradition for the Nigerian police to brutalise Nigerian youth at the slightest provocation. But at the very centre of these protests are frustrated youth whose dreams are on hold and whose future is uncertain. They are youth who are genuinely interested in good governance but are disappointed at the lack of it. Herdsmen, who have been wreaking havoc across Nigeria, are treated as sacred cows while Nigerian youths, who are rightfully protesting against bad governance, are the scapegoats.
He also promised to run an inclusive government in which the youths would have a voice, even as cabinet members. Currently, the youngest minister in Buhari’s cabinet is 47-year old Sadiya Umar Farouk, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development. The average age of the cabinet members is 61. The youths are completely out of the picture.
Rather than being empowered, Nigerian youth have been reduced to a bunch of frustrated citizens with many of them becoming political tugs and agents of destruction in the hands of the politicians. The main reason why there is no good governance is due to selfishness of the people ruling and corruption has taken deeper root in it’s highest root

me: Ekpe Esther
Reg. Number:2018/250324
Department: Economic
Course code:Eco362
In September 2000, leaders from about 189 nations ratified the Millennium Declaration. The declaration was an unprecedented global commitment and one of the most significant United Nations documents in recent times. It offers a common and integrated vision on how to tackle some of the major challenges facing the world of our time. The declaration has resulted in Eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) focused on reducing poverty, improving the quality of peoples’ lives, ensuring environmental sustainability, and building partnerships to ensure that globalization becomes a more positive force for all the world’s people. Also specific targets and indicators have been set and put in place for each of the goals, to be achieved by 2015.

In your opinion do you think these goals were achieved? If yes,how? If no, why?
In my own opinion I will say majority of the goals were not achieved.
Due to nsome reasons below:
All Millennium Development Goal. has been limited and uneven across countries. An estimated 15.5% of the world population still suffers from hunger, and many countries, particularly on the African continent, are unlikely to meet the targeted two-thirds reduction in child mortality by 2015. The reduction in maternal mortality (Target 5.A) has been slow and mortality remains alarmingly high (UN, 2012). In sub-Saharan regions and Southern Asia, where 80% of people in extreme poverty live, progress in reaching MDGs has generally been very limited (UN, 2012).
In September 2001, based upon the Millennium Declaration, the United Nations (UN) presented the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as a list of common goals for the world community to achieve by 2015. Since then, remarkable progress has been made towards achieving the MDGs. According to the UN MDG Report 2012, the proportion of people living on less than $1.25 has decreased from 47% in 1990 to 24% in 2008 (from 2 to 1.4 billion). This indicates that Target 1 – Halve the proportion of people living on less than one dollar a day – will be reached by 2015 (UN, 2012). Child mortality (Target 4.A) has been steadily decreasing globally, and immunisation rates are over 90% in almost two-thirds of all countries (Overseas Development Institute [ODI], 2010). Enrolment rates of primary schools increased from 58 to 76% in sub-Saharan Africa between 1999 and 2010, professional assistance during childbirth has improved from 55% in 1990 to 65% in 2010 (Indicator 5.2) and the aimed reduction of slum dwellers by 100 million (Target 7.D) is already achieved (UN, 2012).
Progress towards Goal 8 (‘Develop a global partnership for development’) – the only MDG directed specifically at high-income countries – has been disappointing. As a possible result of the global financial crisis, development aid has fallen for the first time in more than a decade (UN, 2012). In instances where MDGs have been achieved, some of these successes are considered a ‘by-product of the rapid economic growth of China and India’ rather than achievements of MDG-oriented activitird
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon links the lack of progress to ‘unmet commitments, inadequate resources, lack of focus and accountability, and insufficient interest in sustainable development’ (UN, 2010). For others, the MDGs cannot be fully met because of how the goals were designed..

2. Good governance is good for all nations but Nigeria and many developing countries seem to be far behind in their quest for good governance. Discuss!
Good Governance:
Governance is the process through which citizens and state agents continuously engage in good interaction to express their demand, their rights and obligations, in order to reconcile their differences and cooperate to produce public goods and services. The beauty is that it makes society a conducive place by producing collective goods and services that people cannot provide individually for themselves. The collective goods and services include: security, public roads, schools, hospitals and control on epidemic diseases; a functioning and independent of the judiciary. It equals the various obligations of the state through its institutional framework within which socio-economic development is pursued.
This is the opposite of Nigeria governance.
It’s now a tradition for the Nigerian police to brutalise Nigerian youth at the slightest provocation. But at the very centre of these protests are frustrated youth whose dreams are on hold and whose future is uncertain. They are youth who are genuinely interested in good governance but are disappointed at the lack of it.
Although Nigeria has habitually been plagued by bad governance and corporate ineptitude, it has never been this bad. Nigerians have never been divided along ethnic and religious lines as they are today.

The tension in the land is palpable with another civil war seemingly imminent. There’s anger, there’s anxiety, and there’s age-long resentment. While innocent and unarmed protesters are arrested, tortured, and brutally murdered, terrorists and bandits are forgiven and even rewarded. Is now a tradition for the Nigerian police to brutalise Nigerian youth at the slightest provocation. But at the very centre of these protests are frustrated youth whose dreams are on hold and whose future is uncertain. They are youth who are genuinely interested in good governance but are disappointed at the lack of it. Herdsmen, who have been wreaking havoc across Nigeria, are treated as sacred cows while Nigerian youths, who are rightfully protesting against bad governance, are the scapegoats.
He also promised to run an inclusive government in which the youths would have a voice, even as cabinet members. Currently, the youngest minister in Buhari’s cabinet is 47-year old Sadiya Umar Farouk, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development. The average age of the cabinet members is 61. The youths are completely out of the picture.
Rather than being empowered, Nigerian youth have been reduced to a bunch of frustrated citizens with many of them becoming political tugs and agents of destruction in the hands of the politicians. The main reason why there is no good governance is due to selfishness of the people ruling and corruption has taken deeper root in it’s highest root

In your opinion do you think these goals were achieved? If yes,how? If no, why?

To my understanding, I would say the MDG has failed to achieve some of it’s goals and one of the major MDG failures is the fact that the success of the goals was not experienced equally across the globe. This in itself is a major defeat.

Nevertheless, there are other failures of the MDGs, which includes

The MDGs failed to take into consideration a human rights framework in the accomplishment of their outcomes human rights principles must be central to the achievement of MDGs, SDGs and the post-2015 agenda. Acceptable human rights standards should be used in achieving outcomes. For instance, mandatory testing of women for HIV violates their right to bodily integrity and autonomy.

 In 2000, the MDGs were implemented in Pakistan to address the issue of extreme poverty and to provide the basic human rights of health, education and security.

While the country made some progress in the health sector as shown by its health indicators, Pakistan was still lagging far behind other countries that had similar levels of income or had started with similar set targets. In order to further improve its service delivery in key areas of healthcare, the government implemented special programmes like the Lady Health Worker Programme (LHW), the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI), the National Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health Programme (MNCH), Programme for HIV/AIDS Control and Programme for Malaria Control. However, the country has failed to meet its health-related MDGs.

2. Good governance is good for all nations but Nigeria and many developing countries seem to be far behind in their quest for good governance. Discuss!

answer:

It’s not News that there exist bad governance in our country Nigeria, things has fallen apart in the center and cannot hold anymore.

In fact, there’s no institutional conscience. The result is a society groping in the dark, a nation at a crossroad, a people thrown into unprecedented hardships, and a confused youth force whose future is at stake.

All these as a result of bad governance, the government has done very little to combat such social vices, instead they keep enriching their pockets.

There’s no conscience at Aso Rock. There’s no conscience at the National Assembly. There’s no conscience at the States’ Houses of Assembly and Government Houses. And there’s no conscience in the judiciary.

Nigeria has been divided along ethnic and religious lines.

Rather than being empowered, Nigerian youth have been reduced to a bunch of frustrated citizens with many of them becoming political tugs and agents of destruction in the hands of the politicians.

Nevertheless the only hope of these developing countries are good governance without which they continue to remain in poverty

Name: Eze Chibuike Benjamin
Dept: Education/Economics
Reg no: 2018/244287
Course: Development Economics (Eco 362)

1. Were the Millennium Development Goals a success? Yes! Sort of

“The MDGs helped to lift more than one billion people out of extreme poverty, to make inroads against hunger, to enable more girls to attend school than ever before and to protect our planet,” the UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon recently explained.  

But he didn’t finish there. “Yet for all the remarkable gains, I am keenly aware that inequalities persist and that progress has been uneven.”

It’s true remarkable progress has been accomplished. Yet, around 1.5 billion people in conflict affected countries and on the extreme margins of society were unreached by the goals and unable to benefit from the tide that lifted their neighbours.

So which goals were met and which fell short? Below, we’ll broadly examine what has been achieved for the main targets within the eight goals using information from.
MDG 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger

The target of reducing extreme poverty rates – people living on just $1.25 a day – by half was met five years ahead of the 2015 deadline. Globally the number of people living in extreme poverty has fallen from 1.9 billion in 1990 to 836 million in 2015.

However, target of halving the proportion of people suffering from hunger has narrowly been missed. The proportion of undernourished people in the developing regions has fallen from 23.3 per cent in 1990 to 12.9 per cent in 2014.

MDG 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education

Primary school enrolment figures have shown an impressive rise, but the goal of achieving universal primary education has just been missed. The primary school enrolment rate in developing regions reached 91 per cent this year, up from 83 per cent in 2000. 

MDG 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women

About two two-thirds of developing countries achieved gender parity in primary education. Progress has been particularly strong in Southern Asia. Only 74 girls were enrolled in primary school for every 100 boys in 1990. Today, 103 girls are enrolled for every 100 boys.

MDG 4: Reduce Child Mortality

The global under-five mortality rate has declined by more than half since 1990 – dropping from 90 to 43 deaths per 1,000 live births. This falls short of the targeted drop of two-thirds.

In practical terms this means 16,000 children under-five continue to die every day from preventable causes. A terrible reality made worse by the fact we know what each one of these major killers are, and what can be done to thwart them.

MDG 5: Improve Maternal Health

Since 1990, the maternal mortality ratio has been cut nearly in half. This is an impressive result, but as well with goal 4 it falls short of the two-thirds reduction that was aimed for. There were an estimated 289,000 maternal deaths in 2013.

MDG 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases

The results with MDG 5 are mixed. The target of halting and beginning to reverse the spread of HIV/Aids has not been met – although the number of new HIV infections fell by 40% between 2000 and 2013.

According to the UN, over 6.2 million malaria deaths have been averted between 2000 and 2015, primarily of children under five years of age in sub-Saharan Africa. The global malaria incidence rate has fallen by an estimated 37 per cent and the mortality rate by 58 per cent

MDG 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainably

Between 1990 and 2015, 2.6 billion people gained access to improved drinking water, meaning the target of halving the proportion of people without access to safe water was achieved. Worldwide, 2.1 billion people have gained access to improved sanitation.

MDG 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development

Official development assistance from wealthy countries to developing countries increased by 66 per cent in real terms between 2000 and 2014, reaching $135.2 billion.

2. Good governance is good for all nations but Nigeria and many developing countries seem to be far behind in their quest for good governance. Discuss!

Among the seven key aspirations listed in Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want—the African Union’s (AU) shared 50-year development and transformation program for realizing the full potential of the continent—one stands out in its interconnectedness: “[a]n Africa of good governance, democracy, respect for human rights, justice and the rule of law”[emphasis added]. The key to Africa’s political and economic transformation in the next decade is found in this aspiration. Indeed, as former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said, “Good governance is perhaps the single most important factor in eradicating poverty and promoting development.”

Progress on good governance has been encouraging, but challenges remain

African countries continue to build on the governance gains that they have achieved since the early 1990s. According to the African Development Bank, good governance should be built on a foundation of (I) effective states, (ii) mobilized civil societies, and (iii) an efficient private sector. The key elements of good governance, then, are accountability, transparency, combating corruption, citizen participation, and an enabling legal/judicial framework.

Since then, many African countries have undertaken institutional reforms that have significantly changed their governance architectures and put in place a new set of leaders. Since the early 1990s, for example, Ghana has diligently undertaken governance reforms, including the design and adoption of new democratic constitution, which places emphasis on the separation of powers with checks and balances to transform its political system. Ghana subsequently became a role model in the institutionalization of democratic rule, as illustrated by the quick acceptance of defeat by incumbent President John D. Mahama during the 2016 elections.

More broadly, over the past decade, Kenya, Morocco, and Côte d’Ivoire have led the way. The Ibrahim Index of African Governance indicates that between 2008 and 2017, these countries experienced significant improvements, particularly in overall governance. Specifically, Côte d’Ivoire registered the greatest improvement in overall governance during the period 2008–2017.
But Africa has a long way to go: Too many countries have not yet achieved the type of reforms that can prevent dictatorship, corruption, and economic decline. Due to continued sectarian violence, weak and ineffective leadership, and lack of political will, countries like the Central African Republic, Eritrea, Somalia, and South Sudan remain saddled by poor-functioning governance structures.
The absence of good governance in many African countries has been extremely damaging to the government’s corrective intervention role, particularly in the maintenance of peace and security, as well as the promotion of economic growth and the creation of the wealth needed to confront poverty and improve human development.

Without good and inclusive governance, Africa will not achieve its social and economic targets

It is imperative that countries entrench mechanisms that promote constitutionalism, accountability, democracy, and good governance if Africa is to achieve its development goals. For example, although there has been a substantial decline in the share or proportion of Africans living in extreme poverty—from 54 percent in 1990 to 41 percent in 2015—the number of Africans living in poverty has actually increased from 278 million in 1990 to 413 million in 2015. Unless effective anti-poverty and pro-poor policies are implemented in African countries; global poverty will become increasingly African. Indeed, the least developed countries in the world (as determined by the United Nations Development Program’s Human Development Index) are also countries with relatively weak, dysfunctional, or ineffective governance structures (as determined by the Ibrahim Index of African Governance). These include the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Libya, Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan.

Fighting poverty and improving human development in Africa must begin with the creation of wealth, a process that requires the existence of a robust entrepreneurial class. In order to achieve these goals, there must be peace and security—especially the peaceful coexistence of the various ethnocultural groups that inhabit each African country. Unfortunately, weak and dysfunctional governance structures continue to prevent many African countries from creating and sustaining the necessary enabling environment for peaceful coexistence, entrepreneurship, and wealth creation. In fact, in countries such as Cameroon, the DRC, and South Sudan, the absence of governance structures undergirded by the rule of law has failed to halt ethnic-induced violence. That violence stunts entrepreneurship and economic growth in these countries. Peace and security, which are a sine qua non for entrepreneurial activities and the creation of wealth, are unlikely to return to these countries without the provision of participatory and inclusive governance structures.

Weak governance manifests itself in other ways as well: Too often dysfunctional governance processes persist, creating environments where civil servants and political elites act with impunity, embezzling scarce public resources that could be used for education, healthcare, infrastructure, water treatment plants, electricity, farm-to-market roads, or technology. Elites are usually not incentivized to implement pro-poor economic programs that enhance the ability of the poor to participate productively and gainfully in economic growth, such as public investments in primary and secondary education, clean water, basic health care, and child nutrition.

Bolstering good and inclusive governance through 2030 and beyond

The type of governance structure that each African country should strive for over the next decade is one that should address peaceful coexistence and economic development, inequality, the effects of climate change, health pandemics, and enhanced regional cooperation, as well as ensure the full and effective participation in both the economic and political systems of groups that have historically been marginalized (e.g., women, youth, and ethnic and religious minorities). Each country must reflect upon its own governance challenges and engage in robust national dialogue on institutional reforms to enable an effective and inclusive governance system.

JOSEPH RUTH TOCHUKWU
2018/245132
ECONOMICS DEPARTMENT

QUIZ 3
1. A final stock take of the MDGs implementation reveals that although many challenges remain, Nigeria has made significant progress in reducing under-five mortality rate, getting more children immunized and is on the path to eradicating polio. It has also improved the proportion of births attended to by skilled health personnel and antenatal coverage.
The net enrolment rates in primary and secondary schools which had registered commendable progress in the past have however, been halted by the menace of insurgency in the Northeast geopolitical zone. Per capita Official Development Assistance (ODA) to Nigeria has trended upwards over the years with sectoral allocation to key sectors, such as health, exhibiting an upward trend.
In the area of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), evidence reveals that Nigeria has recorded tremendous success with cellular phone subscribers and internet users rising astronomically over the past decade.
The country is however, still faced with critical challenges in tackling poverty, hunger and malnutrition; achieving gender parity in education, wage employment and political leadership; reducing maternal deaths; and improving access to sanitation and ensuring environmental sustainability. In nutshell, Nigeria has a mixed bag of performance records.

2. The concept of good governance has becomes a popular catch phrase which politicians and administrator in Nigeria easily deploy to draw upon support base from the generality of the people. The concept is suggested to be a means to development through good representation and governance which has been evasive in much of post-independence history of Nigeria and in particular the forty republic. While governance have been effectively deployed elsewhere as it were in Tanzania currently under president John Magufuliowning to the type of leadership he represent in terms of prudent resources management accountability and responsiveness, the same cannot be said of Nigeria. Leadership problems, weak institutions pervasive corruption, ethnic and regional base loyalty and interest, and a general amoral public sphere have all colluded to prevent efficient governance and by extension rapid development upon which OdioneAkharine(2007-10) defined Nigerian political state as a bizarre. While Kescelma(1996:616) described the state as an unfinished project characterized by instability and uncertainties. Nigerian state is like a diabetics patient whose excess sugar in its blood stream serves no purpose (Ameh, 2007).
Successive regime and Nigeria leaders merely pay lip service to the twin concepts of good governance and development. They only month ideas to gain access to political power and public offices after which they invariably become either too lethargic to walk the talk or are swallowed or arrested by what has now become known as the “system”. The system is a euphemism for dysfunctional state of affairs of Nigeria’s public institutions and the public domain which have been perverted by plebendalism. The consequence of this poor attitude to governance are fairly well-known. It includes mass poverty, economic stagnation, political instability, corruption, unemployment, insurgency and terrorism, social unrest and conflict, abuse of power and the principle of the rule of law, all of which reinforces one another. Mass poverty and wide gap between the few rich and the large poor has been the result of a state with massive potentials but which has ironically experienced a steady decline since oil windfall peaked more than three decades ago.

2018/243825
Eco 362

1, Yes I believe these goals were achieved. This is because of the large progress they made within the specified time. They have succeeded in empowering women, eradicating poverty in various parts of several countries, ensuring free/affordable education in several countries along side many others. In as much as they haven’t fully fulfilled any of these goals, we can’t deny the tremendous progress they have made.

2, Developing nations like Nigeria are still far in the quest for good governance. Factors like large scale corruption both on the part of the citizens and even the government. We can’t say that developed nations are devoid of corruption but it’s not half as much as that of developing nations like Nigeria. Let me use an instance where we as citizens help the wrong party to win an election through vote selling, vandalism and cajoling our friends to vote them because we were tipped off. The wrong party ends up in power and they start behaving anyway they like.
I’ve also noticed that in Nigeria, the government is above the rule of law. If you are offended by a senator or house of rep member and you go to the court to seek justice, they can easily get away with it by adjourning the case until it is buried under the case like in the case of Zaki zaki in Kaduna.

NAME: OKPUZOR EMMANUEL CHIDERA.
REG NUMBER: 2018/242433
DEPARTMENT: ECONOMICS.
ASSIGNMENT ON ECO 362
In September 2000, leaders from about 189 nations ratified the Millennium Declaration. The declaration was an unprecedented global commitment and one of the most significant United Nations documents in recent times. It offers a common and integrated vision on how to tackle some of the major challenges facing the world of our time. The declaration has resulted in Eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) focused on reducing poverty, improving the quality of peoples’ lives, ensuring environmental sustainability, and building partnerships to ensure that globalization becomes a more positive force for all the world’s people. Also specific targets and indicators have been set and put in place for each of the goals, to be achieved by 2015. In your opinion do you think these goals were achieved? If yes,how? If no, why?

The MDGs (The millennium development goals) is a product of the millennium summit that took place in September 2000. It is a distillation of development goals identified at various international conference and submit held in the 1990’s. It include 8 goals, 18 targets and 40 indicators.
I think these goals were achieved. The clearest victories during the MDG era were in matters of life and death. At least 21 million extra lives were saved due to the accelerated progress. Look at malaria, which is predominantly a subset of child mortality. These indicators show evidence of major accelerations in rates of progress during the 2000s, with the exception of maternal mortality, which experienced more modest acceleration.
The upshot is that somewhere between 21-29 million more people are alive today than would have been the case if countries had continued their pre-MDG rates of progress. (The range depends mainly on whether we use child mortality trends from 1990-2000 or 1996-2001 as the pre-MDG reference period.)
Some successes of the MDG were more impressive than others. One of the core tensions in assessing outcomes over the MDG period is to distinguish between the amount of progress achieved and changes in the rate of progress.
For example, the UN celebrated improved access to drinking water as an early MDG success. But were countries already on course to achieve this as of 2000? Tests conducted for differences in mean rates of progress found that trends varied considerably across issues and geographies. Positive changes were concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa and low-income countries (as classified by the World Bank in 2000). One positive result here is that as many as 471 million extra people have been lifted out of extreme poverty as of 2013 (the most recent year with available data), compared to 1990s trends. As many as 111 million more people also completed primary school. Meanwhile, for water and undernourishment, accelerations in the majority of developing countries were outweighed by slowdowns in the rate of progress in many populous countries, which generated negative overall numbers for our estimate of incremental lives improved.
The performance of Ethiopia in achieving the health-related millennium development goals (MDGs) with the aim of acquiring lessons for the sustainable development goals (SDGs). Ethiopia achieved most of the health MDGs: a 67% reduction in under-five mortality, a 71% decline in maternal mortality ratio, a 90% decline in new HIV infections, a decrease in malaria-related deaths by 73% and a more than 50% decline in mortality due to tuberculosis. these achievements are due to implementation of a mix of comprehensive strategies within the health system and across other sectors of the government. Scaling up of interventions by disease control programmes (including the health extension programme) and strengthening of the health system have played important roles towards the achievements. These health gains could not have been realised without progress in the other MDGs: poverty reduction, education, access to safe drinking-water and peace and stability of the country. However, the gains were not equitable, with differences between urban and rural areas, among regions and socioeconomic strata. Ethiopia’s remarkable success in meeting most of the targets of the health-related MDGs could be explained by its comprehensive and multisectoral approach for health development. The inequity gap remains a challenge that achieving the health-related SDGs requires the country to implement strategies, which specifically target more marginal populations and geographic areas. This also needs peace and stability, without which it is almost impossible to improve health. The millennium development goals (MDGs) provided a context for the establishment of significant commitments and initiatives and were associated with increased resources from development partners.
Again,The MDGs helped to lift more than one billion people out of extreme poverty, to make inroads against hunger, to enable more girls to attend school than ever before and to protect our planet. The target of reducing extreme poverty rates – people living on just $1.25 a day – by half was met five years ahead of the 2015 deadline. Globally the number of people living in extreme poverty has fallen from 1.9 billion in 1990 to 836 million in 2015. However, target of halving the proportion of people suffering from hunger has narrowly been missed. The proportion of undernourished people in the developing regions has fallen from 23.3 per cent in 1990 to 12.9 per cent in 2014.
Primary school enrolment figures have shown an impressive rise, but the goal of achieving universal primary education has just been missed. The primary school enrolment rate in developing regions reached 91 per cent this year, up from 83 per cent in 2000.
Official development assistance from wealthy countries to developing countries increased by 66 per cent in real terms between 2000 and 2014, reaching $135.2 billion.
2.) Good governance is good for all nations but Nigeria and many developing countries seem to be far behind in their quest for good governance. Discuss!
Good governance at all levels is fundamental to economic growth, political stability, and security a key factor for stability and security. Good governance leads to improved economic benefits in a globalized world and it accelerates economic transitions.
Bad governance on the other hand is a relationship between those who govern and those who are governed as a consequence of decision-making. This unfavourable relationship is created as a consequence of external factors or decisions such as violation of central or acceptable norms, such as those of liberal democracy, and bad economic policy. Bad governance collectively encompasses governance in government and corporate settings. It is the opposite of good governance. Bad governance addresses governance in a government setting but bad governance and bad government are different concepts. Bad governance encompasses a variety of situations from corruption, deceit and to passing of unfair policy.
There has not been good governance in Nigeria in the past 50 years. The worst has been from 1999 when the country changed from the military dictatorship to the democratic rule. However, there is that belief that good governance thrives in a democratic government. According to Odo (2015), good governance thrives in a democratic setting. The author averred where there is no democratic government there can be no good International Journal of Development and Sustainability.
The primordial cause of lack of good governance in Nigeria is the absence of visionary leader to lead the country. Most of the leaders Nigeria ever had since the return of democracy in 1999 has been in power to pursue personal, ethnic and religious ambitions. These leaders had no vision for the good of the nation. Most of the developmental challenges Nigerian had today is attributed to these leaders who lacked good vision for the nation (Odo, 2015). This author explained further that these leaders lacked commitment for true nationhood and allowed personal ambitions and ethnic, regional as well as religious persuasions to override national considerations. Good governance requires responsible and responsive political leaders at all level (Belfut et al., 2012). These leaders as political and public office holders see their positions as a means for illegal wealth accumulation to the detriment of the common Nigerian (Otoghile et al., 2014). The leaders give privileges and undue advantage to their family members, friends, and associates, in the distribution of public resources (Adeosun, 2012). Nigeria state is corrupt, managed by corrupt leaders who have made the state an instrument of capital accumulation, rather than using it to project the interest of the citizenry. These leaders make democracy a curse for the nation because of the abuse of it. When democracy is abused, good governance becomes an illusion (Arowolo and Aluko, 2012). The authors argue further that governance is good when it is not discriminatory, and every member of the society are treated according to the established laws. The leadership position is essential in every establishment that is why there is a truism in the axiom “A leader sin is a leading sin”. Consequent upon the act of impunity seen in our political leaders, the heads of the executive, legislature, and the judiciary every other leader in public and private institutions are lawless. The Nigeria legislators are reckless and not effective in discharging their duty. For Ogundiya (2010) the Nigeria legislators that would have provided adequate checks on abuses of power by the executive and recklessness of the opportunistic politicians are also inefficient and ineffective. Adeosun (2012) posits that the Nigeria legislators have failed to utilize its enormous power to ease the economic and social hardship confronting the people of the nation. According to Odisu (2016), Nigerians are increasingly losing hope and confidence in the nation’s judiciary due to the unethical conduct of some judicial rascals. The author further confirmed clear cases of judicial misconduct in the Nigerian Judiciary which has been militating against the rule of law. Therefore, as a result of the lapses in all the three arms of the Nigeria government corruption is inevitable.

Name: Ogbuewu Cosmos Nnachetam
Reg no.: 2018/243754
department: Economics

1. Most of these goals have been tackled and to some extent achieved but the not all have been properly worked on especially in the first goal which was to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.
in many parts of the world especially the developing countries like in some parts of Africa, South America and Asia, there is high rate of poverty and hunger in these regions currently.

But for the rest, it’s clearly shown that those were achieved as worldwide there’s recognition of women due to more participation of women in Economic and political matters worldwide. there’s been a reduction on child mortality rate due to vaccines and immunizations and there is also significant increase in the materiality health.

2. Good governance in developing countries can be difficult to achieve because of one key Reason; GREED. Those in charge of governance are never content and corruption has eaten deep in the system . even the future aspirants for the offices of government are never thinking of good governance but instead on how to enrich themselves
so good governance in developing countries especially Nigeria will be difficult to attain

Eze chidera Aloysius
2018/242420
The United Nations’ target date of leading the fight to free people from extreme poverty and multiple deprivations through the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is 2015. As the date approaches, several attempts have been made to evaluate the performance of the set goals, targets and indicators. Whiles the methodology used in measuring performance of member countries has been questioned by many; the fiercest criticism so far has been the apparent lack of data availability to measure progress. The subjectivity of the MDGs further increases the complexity of the evaluation systems but an effective measurability of each MDG is key to the overall success. This paper applies fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method in evaluating performance of individual member countries as far as the MDGs are concerned. The result shows how in the absence of data, the FCEM can be used to evaluate performance of member countries involved in the MDG project.

NAME: ILONZE CHIMEREMMA PERPETUA
DEPT: ECONOMICS
REG NO: 2018/242311
COURSE TITLE: DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS 2
COURSE CODE: ECO 362

QUESTION:
In September 2000, leaders from about 189 nations ratified the Millennium Declaration. The declaration was an unprecedented global commitment and one of the most significant United Nations documents in recent times. It offers a common and integrated vision on how to tackle some of the major challenges facing the world of our time. The declaration has resulted in Eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) focused on reducing poverty, improving the quality of peoples’ lives, ensuring environmental sustainability, and building partnerships to ensure that globalization becomes a more positive force for all the world’s people. Also specific targets and indicators have been set and put in place for each of the goals, to be achieved by 2015.
In your opinion do you think these goals were achieved? If yes,how? If no, why?

2. Good governance is good for all nations but Nigeria and many developing countries seem to be far behind in their quest for good governance. Discuss!
ANSWERS:
(1) The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are the most widely supported and comprehensive development goals the world has ever established. These eight goals and 18 targets provide a concrete framework for tackling poverty, hunger, maternal and child mortality, communicable disease, education, gender inequality, environmental damage and the global partnership for development
These targets are both global and local, adapted to each country to meet specific needs. They provide a framework for the whole international community to work together towards a common goal. If these goals are achieved, world poverty will be reduced by half, millions of lives will be saved, and billions of people will benefit from the global economy in a more sustainable environment (2). Furthermore, the MDGs are inter-dependent and largely influence each other. For example, promoting gender equality and empowering women enables not only better conditions for women but also improved household management leading to better health and education for children and to higher income for the family.
The MDGs find their origins in development ideas and campaigns of the 1980s and 1990s; they were officially established following the Millennium Summit of the United Nations in 2000, as an output of the United Nations Millennium Declaration (3). All 189 United Nations member states agreed to achieve these goals on a voluntary basis by the year 2015. New global health initiatives (such as the Global Fund, the World Bank, the GAVI Alliance, etc.) and increased financial resources have advanced the opportunity to deliver MDG-related health programmes worldwide (4).
From 2000 on, important high-level meetings and summits have been organized to follow up with the progress in the MDGs and to define action plans for their achievement. In 2008, governments, foundations, businesses groups and civil society announced new commitments to meet the MDGs, during the high-level event at the UN Headquarters (5). Two years after, the 2010 MDG Summit concluded with the adoption of a global action plan – Keeping the Promise: United to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals – and announced a number of initiatives against poverty, hunger and disease, with a special focus on women’s and children’s health (6).
In 2013, participants in the Global MDG Conference underlined the importance of maintaining the momentum for accelerating progress to 2015, while taking lessons learned from the MDGs to be used in the development of the agenda of the next round of goals beyond 2015 (7).
MDGs achievements and failures
To assure an appropriate monitoring and evaluation within and among countries and to conceive suitable policies and interventions, reliable, timely and internationally comparable data on the MDG indicators are of primary importance. They are also essential in encouraging funding and allocating aid effectively (8). Several methodologies and indicators (Table 2) have been developed to measure progress towards the MDGs, such as the MDG indicators website, the UN Data – and the UNICEF Portal (9–(11)). Moreover, progress towards MDG achievement can be tracked through the MDG Monitor, both globally and at the country level
Furthermore, there have been numerous consultations on the MDGs by various organizations. Some of the consultations and surveys have had an official character and others should be considered ‘private’ initiatives, by organizations such as non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and private foundations (13–(18)). More than a few official reports have tracked the global assessment of progress, based on those data (14, 19–21)). Although considerable progress has been made, reliable data and statistics analyses remain poor, especially in many developing countries (8).
In the last 13 years, the MDGs have managed to focus world attention and global political consensus on the needs of the poorest and to achieve a significant change in the Official Development Assistance (ODA) commitments (22). They have provided a framework allowing countries to plan their social and economic development and donors to provide effective support at national and international level (8). Most activities worldwide have targeted MDGs 4, 5 and 6, focusing on maternal and child health (MCH) and communicable diseases, especially in the developing countries, while fewer initiatives have focused on MDGs 1, 2, 3 and 7, which are more difficult to influence (14). Some studies have underlined regional differences in the importance that is attributed to specific MDGs. For example, MDGs 4 and 5 have been considered most important in the African region, while MDGs 7 and 8 in the Western Pacific Region. Low-income countries have attached high relevance to MDG1 when compared to high-income countries (14, 23). Arab countries have not considered MDGs among the top priority for the policy makers, academia and social actors in general mainly due to ethnic, religious, political and social limitations (18).
The most recent UN report on progress towards the MDGs has highlighted several achievements in all health and education areas (21): the hunger reduction goal is on track; the target of decreasing extreme poverty by half has been met, as well as the goal of halving the proportion of people who lack steady access to drinking water; conditions for more than 200 million people living in favelas have been improved; significant achievements have been made in the fight against communicable diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis and child and maternal mortality have been reduced. Moreover, primary school admission of girls has equalled that of boys and developing countries experienced a reduced debt burden and an improved climate for trade (20, 21) (24, 25).
However, progress has been highly unequal. The reduction in global income poverty is mainly due to the rapid growth of a few countries in Asia, such as China, India, Indonesia and Vietnam. In many other countries, poverty reduction has been quite slow, or poverty has even increased (8). Sub-Saharan Africa remains the most underdeveloped region (8). Projections indicate that in 2015 more than 600 million people worldwide will still be using unsafe water sources, almost 1 billion will be living in very poor conditions, mothers will continue to die giving birth, and children will die from preventable diseases. Also, environmental sustainability remains a global challenge due to a fast decline of biodiversity and an increase in gas emissions. The goals of primary education and gender equality also remain unfulfilled, with broad negative consequences, given that achieving the MDGs deeply relies on education and women’s empowerment. Moreover, there are severe inequalities that exist among populations, especially between rural and urban areas, or that affect marginalized people (20, 21). MDG8 remains one of the most challenging even if of primary importance for the achievement of all MDGs.

(2) Good Governance is the process of making decisions that bring maximum satisfaction to the people and ensuring participation of all. There are several characteristics of good Governance. Rule of Law is prerequisite for good governance. It implies the absence of arbitrary power and formulation and implementation of well-established laws. Transparency ensures trustworthy working. People must have the right to information regarding government processes and policies while making each and every organ of Government response to the public for their acts making them responsible.
THE MAJOR HINDRANCES TO GOOD GOVERNANCE IN DEVELOPING NATION’S ARE –
– BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION – this snatches away the opportunity from the deserving to the less eligible candidate in any field.
– INEQUALITY – discriminating on the basis of gender, class , creed and religion is major.
– UNEDUCATED PEOPLE – poor education system and not access to education by everyone is a failure for the nation.
– POOR ECONOMY – unemployment and reservation

NAME: UNADIKE FABIAN CHINEMEZU
DEPT: ECONOMICS
REG NO: 2018/249698
COURSE TITLE: DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS 2
COURSE CODE: ECO 362

QUESTION
In September 2000, leaders from about 189 nations ratified the Millennium Declaration. The declaration was an unprecedented global commitment and one of the most significant United Nations documents in recent times. It offers a common and integrated vision on how to tackle some of the major challenges facing the world of our time. The declaration has resulted in Eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) focused on reducing poverty, improving the quality of peoples’ lives, ensuring environmental sustainability, and building partnerships to ensure that globalization becomes a more positive force for all the world’s people. Also specific targets and indicators have been set and put in place for each of the goals, to be achieved by 2015.
In your opinion do you think these goals were achieved? If yes,how? If no, why?

2. Good governance is good for all nations but Nigeria and many developing countries seem to be far behind in their quest for good governance. Discuss!
ANSWERS:
(1) The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are the most widely supported and comprehensive development goals the world has ever established. These eight goals and 18 targets provide a concrete framework for tackling poverty, hunger, maternal and child mortality, communicable disease, education, gender inequality, environmental damage and the global partnership for development
These targets are both global and local, adapted to each country to meet specific needs. They provide a framework for the whole international community to work together towards a common goal. If these goals are achieved, world poverty will be reduced by half, millions of lives will be saved, and billions of people will benefit from the global economy in a more sustainable environment (2). Furthermore, the MDGs are inter-dependent and largely influence each other. For example, promoting gender equality and empowering women enables not only better conditions for women but also improved household management leading to better health and education for children and to higher income for the family.
The MDGs find their origins in development ideas and campaigns of the 1980s and 1990s; they were officially established following the Millennium Summit of the United Nations in 2000, as an output of the United Nations Millennium Declaration (3). All 189 United Nations member states agreed to achieve these goals on a voluntary basis by the year 2015. New global health initiatives (such as the Global Fund, the World Bank, the GAVI Alliance, etc.) and increased financial resources have advanced the opportunity to deliver MDG-related health programmes worldwide (4).
From 2000 on, important high-level meetings and summits have been organized to follow up with the progress in the MDGs and to define action plans for their achievement. In 2008, governments, foundations, businesses groups and civil society announced new commitments to meet the MDGs, during the high-level event at the UN Headquarters (5). Two years after, the 2010 MDG Summit concluded with the adoption of a global action plan – Keeping the Promise: United to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals – and announced a number of initiatives against poverty, hunger and disease, with a special focus on women’s and children’s health (6).
In 2013, participants in the Global MDG Conference underlined the importance of maintaining the momentum for accelerating progress to 2015, while taking lessons learned from the MDGs to be used in the development of the agenda of the next round of goals beyond 2015 (7).
MDGs achievements and failures
To assure an appropriate monitoring and evaluation within and among countries and to conceive suitable policies and interventions, reliable, timely and internationally comparable data on the MDG indicators are of primary importance. They are also essential in encouraging funding and allocating aid effectively (8). Several methodologies and indicators (Table 2) have been developed to measure progress towards the MDGs, such as the MDG indicators website, the UN Data – and the UNICEF Portal (9–(11)). Moreover, progress towards MDG achievement can be tracked through the MDG Monitor, both globally and at the country level
Furthermore, there have been numerous consultations on the MDGs by various organizations. Some of the consultations and surveys have had an official character and others should be considered ‘private’ initiatives, by organizations such as non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and private foundations (13–(18)). More than a few official reports have tracked the global assessment of progress, based on those data (14, 19–21)). Although considerable progress has been made, reliable data and statistics analyses remain poor, especially in many developing countries (8).
In the last 13 years, the MDGs have managed to focus world attention and global political consensus on the needs of the poorest and to achieve a significant change in the Official Development Assistance (ODA) commitments (22). They have provided a framework allowing countries to plan their social and economic development and donors to provide effective support at national and international level (8). Most activities worldwide have targeted MDGs 4, 5 and 6, focusing on maternal and child health (MCH) and communicable diseases, especially in the developing countries, while fewer initiatives have focused on MDGs 1, 2, 3 and 7, which are more difficult to influence (14). Some studies have underlined regional differences in the importance that is attributed to specific MDGs. For example, MDGs 4 and 5 have been considered most important in the African region, while MDGs 7 and 8 in the Western Pacific Region. Low-income countries have attached high relevance to MDG1 when compared to high-income countries (14, 23). Arab countries have not considered MDGs among the top priority for the policy makers, academia and social actors in general mainly due to ethnic, religious, political and social limitations (18).
The most recent UN report on progress towards the MDGs has highlighted several achievements in all health and education areas (21): the hunger reduction goal is on track; the target of decreasing extreme poverty by half has been met, as well as the goal of halving the proportion of people who lack steady access to drinking water; conditions for more than 200 million people living in favelas have been improved; significant achievements have been made in the fight against communicable diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis and child and maternal mortality have been reduced. Moreover, primary school admission of girls has equalled that of boys and developing countries experienced a reduced debt burden and an improved climate for trade (20, 21) (24, 25).
However, progress has been highly unequal. The reduction in global income poverty is mainly due to the rapid growth of a few countries in Asia, such as China, India, Indonesia and Vietnam. In many other countries, poverty reduction has been quite slow, or poverty has even increased (8). Sub-Saharan Africa remains the most underdeveloped region (8). Projections indicate that in 2015 more than 600 million people worldwide will still be using unsafe water sources, almost 1 billion will be living in very poor conditions, mothers will continue to die giving birth, and children will die from preventable diseases. Also, environmental sustainability remains a global challenge due to a fast decline of biodiversity and an increase in gas emissions. The goals of primary education and gender equality also remain unfulfilled, with broad negative consequences, given that achieving the MDGs deeply relies on education and women’s empowerment. Moreover, there are severe inequalities that exist among populations, especially between rural and urban areas, or that affect marginalized people (20, 21). MDG8 remains one of the most challenging even if of primary importance for the achievement of all MDGs.

(2) Good Governance is the process of making decisions that bring maximum satisfaction to the people and ensuring participation of all. There are several characteristics of good Governance. Rule of Law is prerequisite for good governance. It implies the absence of arbitrary power and formulation and implementation of well-established laws. Transparency ensures trustworthy working. People must have the right to information regarding government processes and policies while making each and every organ of Government response to the public for their acts making them responsible.
THE MAJOR HINDRANCES TO GOOD GOVERNANCE IN DEVELOPING NATION’S ARE –
– BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION – this snatches away the opportunity from the deserving to the less eligible candidate in any field.
– POOR ECONOMY – unemployment and reservation
– UNEDUCATED PEOPLE – poor education system and not access to education by everyone is a failure for the nation.
– INEQUALITY – discriminating on the basis of gender, class , creed and religion is major

NAME : CHUKWU PRECIOUS ADA
DEPT :SOCIAL SCIENCE EDUCATION
UNIT : ECONOMICS EDUCATION
REG NO : 2018/244278
ANSWER:
NO 1
In my opinion I would say No ,government were not able to meet up with most of the goals ,.
The Millennium Development Goals are the international community’s most broadly shared, comprehensive and focused framework for reducing poverty. Drawn from the Millennium Declaration, adopted and agreed to by all Governments in 2000, the MDGs represent the commitments of United Nations Member States to reduce extreme poverty and its many manifestations: hunger, disease, gender inequality, lack of education and access to basic infrastructure, and environmental degradation.
The MDGs set quantitative objectives to be achieved by 2015. They also drive international development policy by spelling out the responsibilities of rich countries to support poor countries through aid, debt relief and improved market access. The Goals confirmed the importance of the United Nations, with its unique legitimacy and convening power, as the multilateral body best placed to build global coalitions and political action to address global problems. At the Millennium Summit in 2000, the International Conference on Financing for Development in Monterrey in 2002, the UN World Summit in 2005 and other international events, world leaders pledged to establish national policies and strategies needed, and to provide the resources necessary to achieve the Goals. The MDG agenda has become a uniting and organizing principle for the work of the entire international system in the area of development — a testament to the universal buy-in into the Goals. The MDGs also provide a rationale for the United Nations family to work together more coherently and effectively, so as to give countries the support they need to achieve the Goals.
The stakes are high. If the MDGs are implemented in time in all parts of the globe, 500 million fewer people will be living in extreme poverty and some 300 million fewer will go hungry, while 30 million fewer children will die before their fifth birthday. In addition, about 350 million more people will have access to safe drinking water and a further 650 million more to sanitation. Real economic and social opportunities will open up on an unprecedented scale.
There is good news, including in sub-Saharan Africa, where the biggest challenges remain. Countries are demonstrating that rapid and large-scale progress is possible when Government leadership, policies and strategies for scaling up public investments are combined with financial and technical support from the international community. Malawi has raised agricultural productivity; primary school enrolment has gone up in Ghana, Kenya, the United Republic of Tanzania and Uganda; Zambia has improved access to basic rural health services; Niger has made strides in large-scale reforestation; Senegal is on track to meet the MDG target on water and sanitation; and malaria incidence has fallen in Niger, Togo and Zambia.

Yet, at the midpoint between the adoption of the Millennium Declaration and the 2015 deadline for reaching the MDGs, large parts of the world remain off track. Even regions that have made substantial progress, including in Asia, face challenges in areas such as health and environmental sustainability. The number of extreme poor in Asia continues to rise, albeit at a decelerating rate compared to the 1990s. And in sub-Saharan Africa, not a single country is on track to achieve the MDGs by 2015. That is why Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and I have made it a priority to scale up efforts to reach the MDGs around the world, particularly in Africa.

A central element of this effort is the MDG Africa Steering Group, which the Secretary-General launched in September 2007, together with the leaders of the UN system and other major multilateral and intergovernmental organizations working for development in Africa, namely the African Development Bank, the African Union Commission, the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund, the Islamic Development Bank, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the World Bank.
The Steering Group has resolved to work on three main fronts:

Reviewing and strengthening international mechanisms to support African countries in five key areas: health, education, agriculture, infrastructure and statistical systems.
Making aid more predictable, so that African Governments can plan for greater investments in the MDGs.
Collaborating more closely and effectively at the country level to support African Governments in reaching the MDGs.

The Steering Group is supported by the MDG Africa Working Group, which I chair, composed of representatives of the United Nations system and other major multilateral organizations. Our task is to reach out to African Governments, prepare action plans for achieving the objectives of the Steering Group, mobilize and coordinate the efforts of the institutions represented, and prepare periodic progress reports.

Rapid progress is possible, if we use all the tools, resources and commitments available to support countries in reaching the Millennium Development Goals. In the critical years leading up to 2015, the Secretary-General and I will have no higher priority.

No 2
Good governance is the process of measuring how public institution conduct public affairs and manage public resources and guarantee the realization of human rights in a manner essentially free of abuse and corruption and with due regard for the rule of law. Governance is “the process of decision-making and the process by which decisions are implemented (or not implemented)”.Governance in this context can apply to corporate, international, national, or local governance as well as the interactions between other sectors of society.
The concept of “good governance” thus emerges as a model to compare ineffective economies or political bodies with viable economies and political bodies.The concept centers on the responsibility of governments and governing bodies to meet the needs of the masses as opposed to select groups in society. Because countries often described as “most successful” are liberal democratic states, concentrated in Europe and the Americas, good governance standards often measure other state institutions against these states. Aid organizations and the authorities of developed countries often will focus the meaning of “good governance” to a set of requirements that conform to the organization’s agenda, making “good governance” imply many different things in many different contexts, The opposite of good governance, as a concept, is bad governance.
And for most developing countries to attain good governance they should be able to meet some requirement such as :
Policies should be in line with the will of the people, there should be public involvement in decision making processes among other phenomena that we will interact with in this article as examples of good governance attributes and features of good governance include.
Characteristics of good governance
1. Participation
Every citizen should be afforded a voice in decision-making processes of a nation. This can be done either (in very few cases) directly or through legitimate intermediate institutions that represent their interests. These institutions can be inform of wards led by elected Councilors, constituents led by elected legislators and other organizations whose aim are facilitating communication between government and the people using characteristics of good governance.
Democratic governments get their power from the people and their portion is a representation of the people’s will in passing decisions. Such broad participation is built on freedom of association and speech, as well as capacities to participate constructively.
2. Rule of law
This has been a contested topic in almost all democracies where certain social classes of seem immune to certain pieces of legislation. For there to be good governance worth mentioning legal frameworks should be fair and enforced impartially. Particular attention is then paid to laws on human rights. These are basic provisions agreed upon by all nations who are signatories to the bill of rights. If a piece of legislation violates any of these rights it needs to be repealed, although some governments have held on to some oppressive laws.
3. Transparency
Information and transparency can never be separated, for the latter is built on free flow of the former. The media acts as a communication tool between government, public servants and the general public. This calls for a press that is not heavily regulated and operates freely promoting democracy and good governance. Processes, institutions and information should be made directly accessible to those concerned with them, and characteristics of good governance ensure enough information is provided to understand and monitor them. To achieve transparency, officials should be prepared to answer each and every discrepancy that needs clarity for the public.
4. Responsiveness
Institutions and processes under a typical good government respond to the needs and try to serve all stakeholders. Countries are made up of states and usually different ethnic groups and response to public calls by all government institutions should be free of bias along ethnic lines. Response is sensitive to matters to do with fairness and maintenance of peace.
5. Consensus orientation
It is a public secret that alternative views exist everywhere, even among people of the same group (for example the same political party). This means for governments it is even more important to stay woke and approach alternative views critically. “Good governance mediates differing interests to reach a broad consensus on what is in the best interests of the group and, where possible, on policies and procedures.”
6. Equity
The most important goal of any government is the wellness of its people. Equal opportunities to improve or maintain well-being should be availed to every individual. This has to be done with no discrimination of any sort. Lately emphasis has been put by governments and lobby groups on gender equity. However, people living with disabilities are usually left out sometimes inadvertently.
7. Effectiveness and efficiency
Making the best use of resources while meeting needs of the people is what we call efficiency and effectiveness. Prior to their election, politicians make promises including management of resources because that is where the eyes and hearts of the people are. Good governance simply actions these promises into life after election.
8. Accountability
Accountability means decision-makers in government, despite using their discretion on some decisions, are still answerable to those who elected them into power. The private sector and civil society organizations are also accountable to the public, as well as to institutional stakeholders. Characteristics of good governance include accountability, which differs depending on the organizations and whether the decision is internal or external to an organization. The idea of accountability serves as a reminder that no politician or public administrator has absolute power to do as they please.
9. Strategic vision
Every individual has goals that they wish to accomplish. The same applies with societies. Every country hopes to reach certain heights as far as development is concerned, but for that to happen development oriented strategies should be put in place. In good governance, leaders and the public have a broad and long-term perspective on good governance and human development, along with a sense of what is needed for such development. This should be a shared perspective. There is also an understanding of the historical, cultural and social complexities in which that perspective is grounded.
10. Inclusivity
The biggest mistake any government can make is perceiving oppositions and opposing views as enemies. Good governance emphasizes on inclusivity outside political lines or any other differences for that matter.

NAME :ASOGWA MARTHA ADAUGO
DEPT :SOCIAL SCIENCE EDUCATION
UNIT : ECONOMICS EDUCATION
REG NO : 2018/243642
ANSWER:
NO 1
In my opinion I would say No ,government were not able to meet up with most of the goals ,.
The Millennium Development Goals are the international community’s most broadly shared, comprehensive and focused framework for reducing poverty. Drawn from the Millennium Declaration, adopted and agreed to by all Governments in 2000, the MDGs represent the commitments of United Nations Member States to reduce extreme poverty and its many manifestations: hunger, disease, gender inequality, lack of education and access to basic infrastructure, and environmental degradation.
The MDGs set quantitative objectives to be achieved by 2015. They also drive international development policy by spelling out the responsibilities of rich countries to support poor countries through aid, debt relief and improved market access. The Goals confirmed the importance of the United Nations, with its unique legitimacy and convening power, as the multilateral body best placed to build global coalitions and political action to address global problems. At the Millennium Summit in 2000, the International Conference on Financing for Development in Monterrey in 2002, the UN World Summit in 2005 and other international events, world leaders pledged to establish national policies and strategies needed, and to provide the resources necessary to achieve the Goals. The MDG agenda has become a uniting and organizing principle for the work of the entire international system in the area of development — a testament to the universal buy-in into the Goals. The MDGs also provide a rationale for the United Nations family to work together more coherently and effectively, so as to give countries the support they need to achieve the Goals.
The stakes are high. If the MDGs are implemented in time in all parts of the globe, 500 million fewer people will be living in extreme poverty and some 300 million fewer will go hungry, while 30 million fewer children will die before their fifth birthday. In addition, about 350 million more people will have access to safe drinking water and a further 650 million more to sanitation. Real economic and social opportunities will open up on an unprecedented scale.
There is good news, including in sub-Saharan Africa, where the biggest challenges remain. Countries are demonstrating that rapid and large-scale progress is possible when Government leadership, policies and strategies for scaling up public investments are combined with financial and technical support from the international community. Malawi has raised agricultural productivity; primary school enrolment has gone up in Ghana, Kenya, the United Republic of Tanzania and Uganda; Zambia has improved access to basic rural health services; Niger has made strides in large-scale reforestation; Senegal is on track to meet the MDG target on water and sanitation; and malaria incidence has fallen in Niger, Togo and Zambia.

Yet, at the midpoint between the adoption of the Millennium Declaration and the 2015 deadline for reaching the MDGs, large parts of the world remain off track. Even regions that have made substantial progress, including in Asia, face challenges in areas such as health and environmental sustainability. The number of extreme poor in Asia continues to rise, albeit at a decelerating rate compared to the 1990s. And in sub-Saharan Africa, not a single country is on track to achieve the MDGs by 2015. That is why Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and I have made it a priority to scale up efforts to reach the MDGs around the world, particularly in Africa.

A central element of this effort is the MDG Africa Steering Group, which the Secretary-General launched in September 2007, together with the leaders of the UN system and other major multilateral and intergovernmental organizations working for development in Africa, namely the African Development Bank, the African Union Commission, the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund, the Islamic Development Bank, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the World Bank.
The Steering Group has resolved to work on three main fronts:

Reviewing and strengthening international mechanisms to support African countries in five key areas: health, education, agriculture, infrastructure and statistical systems.
Making aid more predictable, so that African Governments can plan for greater investments in the MDGs.
Collaborating more closely and effectively at the country level to support African Governments in reaching the MDGs.

The Steering Group is supported by the MDG Africa Working Group, which I chair, composed of representatives of the United Nations system and other major multilateral organizations. Our task is to reach out to African Governments, prepare action plans for achieving the objectives of the Steering Group, mobilize and coordinate the efforts of the institutions represented, and prepare periodic progress reports.

Rapid progress is possible, if we use all the tools, resources and commitments available to support countries in reaching the Millennium Development Goals. In the critical years leading up to 2015, the Secretary-General and I will have no higher priority.

No 2
Good governance is the process of measuring how public institution conduct public affairs and manage public resources and guarantee the realization of human rights in a manner essentially free of abuse and corruption and with due regard for the rule of law. Governance is “the process of decision-making and the process by which decisions are implemented (or not implemented)”.Governance in this context can apply to corporate, international, national, or local governance as well as the interactions between other sectors of society.
The concept of “good governance” thus emerges as a model to compare ineffective economies or political bodies with viable economies and political bodies.The concept centers on the responsibility of governments and governing bodies to meet the needs of the masses as opposed to select groups in society. Because countries often described as “most successful” are liberal democratic states, concentrated in Europe and the Americas, good governance standards often measure other state institutions against these states. Aid organizations and the authorities of developed countries often will focus the meaning of “good governance” to a set of requirements that conform to the organization’s agenda, making “good governance” imply many different things in many different contexts, The opposite of good governance, as a concept, is bad governance.
And for most developing countries to attain good governance they should be able to meet some requirement such as :
Policies should be in line with the will of the people, there should be public involvement in decision making processes among other phenomena that we will interact with in this article as examples of good governance attributes and features of good governance include.
Characteristics of good governance
1. Participation
Every citizen should be afforded a voice in decision-making processes of a nation. This can be done either (in very few cases) directly or through legitimate intermediate institutions that represent their interests. These institutions can be inform of wards led by elected Councilors, constituents led by elected legislators and other organizations whose aim are facilitating communication between government and the people using characteristics of good governance.
Democratic governments get their power from the people and their portion is a representation of the people’s will in passing decisions. Such broad participation is built on freedom of association and speech, as well as capacities to participate constructively.
2. Rule of law
This has been a contested topic in almost all democracies where certain social classes of seem immune to certain pieces of legislation. For there to be good governance worth mentioning legal frameworks should be fair and enforced impartially. Particular attention is then paid to laws on human rights. These are basic provisions agreed upon by all nations who are signatories to the bill of rights. If a piece of legislation violates any of these rights it needs to be repealed, although some governments have held on to some oppressive laws.
3. Transparency
Information and transparency can never be separated, for the latter is built on free flow of the former. The media acts as a communication tool between government, public servants and the general public. This calls for a press that is not heavily regulated and operates freely promoting democracy and good governance. Processes, institutions and information should be made directly accessible to those concerned with them, and characteristics of good governance ensure enough information is provided to understand and monitor them. To achieve transparency, officials should be prepared to answer each and every discrepancy that needs clarity for the public.
4. Responsiveness
Institutions and processes under a typical good government respond to the needs and try to serve all stakeholders. Countries are made up of states and usually different ethnic groups and response to public calls by all government institutions should be free of bias along ethnic lines. Response is sensitive to matters to do with fairness and maintenance of peace.
5. Consensus orientation
It is a public secret that alternative views exist everywhere, even among people of the same group (for example the same political party). This means for governments it is even more important to stay woke and approach alternative views critically. “Good governance mediates differing interests to reach a broad consensus on what is in the best interests of the group and, where possible, on policies and procedures.”
6. Equity
The most important goal of any government is the wellness of its people. Equal opportunities to improve or maintain well-being should be availed to every individual. This has to be done with no discrimination of any sort. Lately emphasis has been put by governments and lobby groups on gender equity. However, people living with disabilities are usually left out sometimes inadvertently.
7. Effectiveness and efficiency
Making the best use of resources while meeting needs of the people is what we call efficiency and effectiveness. Prior to their election, politicians make promises including management of resources because that is where the eyes and hearts of the people are. Good governance simply actions these promises into life after election.
8. Accountability
Accountability means decision-makers in government, despite using their discretion on some decisions, are still answerable to those who elected them into power. The private sector and civil society organizations are also accountable to the public, as well as to institutional stakeholders. Characteristics of good governance include accountability, which differs depending on the organizations and whether the decision is internal or external to an organization. The idea of accountability serves as a reminder that no politician or public administrator has absolute power to do as they please.
9. Strategic vision
Every individual has goals that they wish to accomplish. The same applies with societies. Every country hopes to reach certain heights as far as development is concerned, but for that to happen development oriented strategies should be put in place. In good governance, leaders and the public have a broad and long-term perspective on good governance and human development, along with a sense of what is needed for such development. This should be a shared perspective. There is also an understanding of the historical, cultural and social complexities in which that perspective is grounded.
10. Inclusivity
The biggest mistake any government can make is perceiving oppositions and opposing views as enemies. Good governance emphasizes on inclusivity outside political lines or any other differences for that matter.

NAME: ANEKE NELSON MADUAKONAM
REG. NO. 2018/242192
DEPT. EDUCATION ECONOMICS
EMAIL; nelsonmadu80@gmail.com
NO 1
In my opinion the MDGs goals where not achieved as it was planned:
One of the major MDG failures is the fact that the success of the goals was not experienced equally across the globe; this in itself is a major defeat. Consider a few of these statistics from different countries concerning the same MDGs.
Extreme Poverty 50 Percent Reduction Rate:
Southeastern Asia exceeded the goal for extreme poverty reduction by 16 percent
Southern Asia exceeded the goal by 12.5 percent
Northern Africa scraped by at about 1.2 percent
Sub-Saharan Africa was by far the most behind. It did not even meet the goal for extreme poverty reduction and was 12.5 percent away from doing so.

The extreme poverty reduction goal of at least a 50 percent reduction in those living on $1.25 a day arguably had the best statistics for each country; from there it goes steadily downhill. This trend can be seen throughout the different Millennium Development Goals. Sub-Saharan Africa was far from reaching its goals, and not one country achieved the goal set for maternal mortality rate reduction.
FENDER INEQUALITY
Gender inequality was also a focus of the MDGs, but unfortunately, according to the United Nations, “gender inequality persists in spite of more representation of women in parliament and more girls going to school. Women continue to face discrimination in access to work, economic assets and participation in private and public decision-making.”
ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
In addition, the numbers for global emissions of carbon dioxide as well as water scarcity are disheartening. There has been a 50 percent increase in carbon dioxide emissions and water scarcity affects more than 40 percent of the world in comparison to 1990 statistics.
WHY MDGs FAILED
Weak governance and mismanagement remain key concerns at all levels. The lack of a transparent performance-assessment system, limited efforts to harness the potential of the private sector and the weak regulation of healthcare delivery also to the slow progress of the MDGs.
It is evident that improving the health of the population – which in turn enhances physical work capacity and cognitive development – contributes to productivity, economic development and poverty reduction. Since the population of developing countries are unhcontributedealthy, there is a dire need to take a holistic approach to address the issue. thus this also contributed to the slow progress of the MDGs.
Developing countries spending on the health sector – far less than the WHO’s recommended figure of $34 per capita for low and middle income countries – was another factor that caused the failure of the mdg.

NO 2
Good governance is good for all nations but Nigeria and many developing countries seem to be far behind in their quest for good governance. Discuss!

Good governance is the process of measuring how public institution conduct public affairs and manage public resources and guarantee the realization of human rights in a manner essentially free of abuse and corruption and with due regard for the rule of law. Governance is “the process of decision-making and the process by which decisions are implemented
Effects of bad Governance: Africa as a case study
1. Poor Economic Growth:
Studies have shown and proven that where there is bad management of resources and bad governance of people in general, the economy of any country will sink. The instances are numerous. It is the duty of government to provide for the peace, security and welfare of its people
2. Breakdown of Civilization:
Civilization is what Government was established to create in form. The result of untrustworthy leaders who are not capable or accountable to say the least makes the people unwilling to continue with the leadership. people come together to divest their self independent powers to certain individuals who can further progress and protect their interests.

If those certain individuals are not living up to expectations, the people or citizens have the right to protest against the government. This has been and will continue to be the case even in stable countries. The citizens will no longer find it necessary to bend to the laws of the land if those same laws are not above the leaders.
3. Weak Political /Governmental Structures:
In the eyes of the people within and outside the country, there is an apparent fragile political structure due to the incompetence of leaders. It is not a good image of a country that it cannot produce capable individuals who will enhance the will of the Government by promoting social and economic development.

The fact is that a country is not only known or acknowledged for the resources it has but by the competence to manage the resources.

Possible solutions to bad Governance in Africa
1. The Government should be more accountable to the people. Accountability is one aspect of governance that if lost, can cause a breakdown of law and order.
2. There should be increased transparency among the Government and its institutions. When the administrative heads and Governmental leaders are more transparent in their actions, that will automatically be a proactive step to stop corrupt practices in their dealings.
3. Institutions for building competent leaders should be established and if already established, should be increasingly financed. As everyone knows, bad leadership equals bad governance.
4. Parliamentary measures should be enforced to put an end to corruption among governmental leaders. The issue of corruption is arguably the most pressing concern in Africa. This is why all hands should be on deck to fight against it in order to protect the future of democracy.
5. There should be regard for the fundamental rights of citizens particularly the right against discrimination. All genders, ethnic, religious and tribal personalities should be considered when making decisions.

NAME: UMEAYO EKWOMCHUKWU ELIJAH
REG NO: 2018/247368
UNIT: ECONOMICS EDUCATION
DEPT: SOCIAL SCIENCE EDUCATION
COURSE CODE: ECO 362
COURSE TITTLE: DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS
EMAIL: umeayoekwomchukwuelijah@gmail.com

QUESTION

1. In your opinion do you think these goals were achieved? If yes,how? If no, why?

2. Good governance is good for all nations but Nigeria and many developing countries seem to be far behind in their quest for good governance. Discuss!

ANSWER TO THE QUESTIONS

1: In my own opinion, I believe that the goals of MDGs were achieved in Nigeria with the following success stories:

Though, there are some challenges which confronted the implementation of MDGs in Nigeria not withstanding, there are some six notable success stories which can also be considered best practice examples to inform the post-2015 development agenda. Some of the significant success stories include the following:

A: The Nigeria Polio Eradication Effort; which has resulted in the country’s celebration of one year with out polio (July24,2014–July24,2015). Indeed, this is seen as Nigeria’s MDGs implementation exit gift to the world. The strategies used for achieving this feat were replicated in the dogged and successful fight against the outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in Nigeria;

B: The Conditional Grant Scheme (CGS); which has helped tremendously to: (a) scale-up investments at the sub-national levels, (b)promote ownership and sustainability of such strengthen partnership between the tiers of government. The Scheme remains a major investments, (c)empower the people, (d)promote improvements in service delivery,
(d)leverage on public service reforms especially in public expenditurere form, and (e)success story from Nigeria to the rest of the world;

C: Implementation of the Village Health Workers Scheme (VHWs); which has been
recognised internationally for its notable success in reducing morbidity and averting mortality where the over all Primary HealthCare (PHC) system is weak;

D: Adoption of the independent monitoring and evaluation system; which is a result-
based monitoring strategy anchored on good planning, good budgeting and effective feedback. The system contributed immensely in the success of CGS given the systemic nature of corruption in Nigeria.

E: Implementation of the Mid-wives Service Scheme (MSS): This scheme resulted in the tremendous progress recorded in crashing the high maternal mortality rate in Nigeria. It is a notable intervention in the health sector that needs to be scaled-up under the SDGs;

F: NYSC MDGs Corps Volunteers projects: This offered excellent mentoring skills to
Corps members, many of whom excelled and received awards in later years.

2. Over the decades, there has been a recurrent and sustained argument that the Nigerian state, like its counterparts in Africa and other countries of the developing world, underperforms due to lack of state capacity1 to deal with the contemporary complexities of governance.

The nature of the state, the public institutions through which legitimate power is exercised and enforced, is germane to the study of politics in any state (Smith, 2003, p. 108). Therefore, the issue of state capacity is central to understanding the African socioeconomic malaise. Clapham (2002) draws particular attention to the inherent challenges of state maintenance in weak societies and offers probable explanations to states’ incapacity, especially during the era of globalization. Bayart (2009) examines the African sociopolitical and economic realities and attributes state’s failures to Africa’s historical heritage: history of weak political leadership, corruption, conflicts, and wars. There is no controversy about the series of symptoms of state failure and state collapse in Africa; the point of debate remains the extent of state’s incapacity displayed by the Nigerian state.

The “petroleum-rich” Nigerian state, confronted by sociopolitical instability, high degree of corruption, mass hostility to the “public,” and poor macroeconomic management, continue to display the attributes of a state in crisis (Akinola, 2008). Successive governments in Nigeria, like in many African states, lack the political will to initiate or sustain policy or structural transformation, or to embark on sound economic reform to reposition the state for greatness (World Bank, 1997). No matter the upsurge of globalization and the prospects of the borderless state, the expectation is for states to take a decisive role in economic transformation, growth, and development and jettison every act that is inimical to improved livelihood as well as socioeconomic and political development of the country. With the weakness of the Nigerian state and its ineffectiveness, it has become challenging to eradicate impoverishment, engage in infrastructural development, and stem the tides of insurgency and terrorism, which have the potency to derail the country’s moderate political development.

1.
Yes, Nigeria met some of the goals set but not to its full best. For instance, as regards the goal of poverty reduction, the level of poverty from September 2000 till now to me has reduced although not significantly, following the improvement in mechanized farming and active involvement in agricultural practices by mostly those in the rural areas, food stuffs are readily available to them at a reduced cost In fact. Likewise the encouragement of mixed farming has as well gone a long way in helping to curb the poverty level likewise the exportation of the cash crops we have in the country. As regards the quality of life improvement, I’ll say that Nigeria has not really performed well as regards this because of the denial of certain legal rights of its citizens. As regards the aspect of building partnership, Nigeria has really performed quite well as it is a member of diverse international bodies both at the continent level and the world wide level. For instance, Nigeria is a member of OPEC which creates room for globalisation amongst in the sell and purchase of oil which has helped in the reduction of certain barriers to trade which may have serve as a form hindrances in trading in the past years.

2.
Nigeria has faced many challenges which has hindered the promotion of Good Governance. These challenges include:
a. Criminalization of politics
b. Corruption
c. Gender Inequality
d. Delay in justice
e. Concentration od power
f. Marginalization of socially and economically backward people
As regards the above listed hindrances, the first four are the most prevalent and common in Nigeria has made Good Governance difficult to attain in the country.

Name: Ugwu Chikaodinaka Augustina
Reg no: 2018/246451
Dept: Economics

Answers
Question 1.
No, the goals weren’t achieved, however,
Substantial progress has been made regarding the MDGs. The world has already realized the first MDG of halving the extreme poverty rate by 2015. However, the achievements have been uneven. The MDGs are set to expire in 2015 and the discussion of a post-2015 agenda continues. The focus is now on building a sustainable world where environmental sustainability, social inclusion, and economic development are equally valued.
The MDG Fund contributed directly and indirectly to the achievement of the MDGs. It adopted an inclusive and comprehensive approach to the MDGs. The approach was guided by the Millennium Declaration and its emphasis on development as a right, with targeted attention directed towards traditionally marginalized groups such as ethnic minorities, indigenous groups, and women.

Question 2
Nigeria is heavily affected by the so-called resource curse, rent-seeking and elite capture of the state. Despite an estimated USD 400 billion in oil income since independence in 1960, the country has experienced five military coups, a civil war, very poor economic development and very skewed distribution of wealth. Corruption pervades all levels of government. The population is more impoverished now than it was 50 years ago.

Some key causes of bad governance in Nigeria are;
A) Lack of Voice and Weak Accountability
Governing bodies refusing to listen the voice of those they govern and refusing to take accountability for their actions leads to bad governance. By ignoring the voice of those being governed, their opinions are no longer heard or taken into consideration by the governing body. Democratic governments focus on accountability as a method to ensure the public understands what´s happening and provides them a way to proceed when things go wrong. Weak accountability in turn causes a distrust between the two parties and can lead to instability. This distrust and uncertainty creates an unfavourable relationship between the parties.

B) Political Instability
Bad Governance occurs as a consequence of frequent changes in government or ‘political instability’. Instability in political regimes, such as a democracy, has been proven to coincide with poor governance.

C) Corruption
Bad Governance, is often considered to come hand in hand with corruption. Corruption occurs in many sectors ranging from political to economic environments. Corruption can occur in many different ways and forms. The existence of corruption within a governing body causes bad governance as the officials places their personal gains over others.

Name: Isiguzo Purity Ezinne
2018/242353
Economics department

(A continuation of the previous one Sir. I mistakenly skipped question number 2)

The failure of governance in Nigeria manifests in the declining capacity of political leaders to recognize systemic risks such as election fraud, terrorist attacks, herder-farmer conflict, armed banditry, and police brutality and put in place the necessary measures to navigate these challenges. In contrast with the current system in which leadership is attained through bribery, intimidation, and violence, Nigeria needs an epistocratic system of governance that is founded on the pedigree of its political leaders and the education of its voters.

At the end of the Cold War, African civil society movements striving for more democratic governance began to challenge authoritarian regimes on the continent. Declining living conditions within African countries and the failure of authoritarian African leaders to deliver the promises of economic prosperity they made to encourage the acceptance of development aid fueled the push for change. International donors’ insistence on democratic reform as a precondition for aid gave impetus for Nigerian civil society to push for domestic accountability.

Thus, domestic pressure for political pluralism and external pressure for representative governance have both played a role in the calls for democratic reform in Nigeria.

But despite some successes, corruption and socioeconomic disparities within Nigerian democracy continue to run rampant. Since 1999, the democratic space has been dominated by political elites who consistently violate fundamental principles associated with a liberal democratic system, such as competitive elections, the rule of law, political freedom, and respect for human rights. The outcome of the 2019 presidential election further eroded public trust in the ability of the independent electoral commission to organize competitive elections unfettered by the authoritarian influences of the ruling class.

This challenge is an indicator of the systemic failure in Nigeria’s governance system. A continuation of the current system will only accelerate the erosion of public trust and democratic institutions. In contrast with the current system in which votes are attained through empty promises, bribery, voter intimidation, and violence, Nigeria needs a governance system that will enhance the education of its voters and the capability of its leaders.

Statistically speaking, Nigeria has consistently ranked low in the World Governance Index in areas such as government effectiveness, political stability and the presence of violence and terrorism, rule of law, and control of corruption. Nigeria is perceived in the 2020 Transparency International Corruption Perception Index as a highly corrupt country with a score of 25/100 while its corruption ranking increased from 146 in 2019 to 149 in 2020 out of 180 countries surveyed.

While President Muhammadu Buhari won the 2015 election on his promise to fight insecurity and corruption, his promises went unfulfilled; Boko Haram continues to unleash unspeakable violence on civilians while the fight against corruption is counterproductive.

At the core of Nigeria’s systemic failure is the crisis of governance, which manifests in the declining capacity of the state to cope with a range of internal political and social upheavals. There is an expectation for political leaders to recognize systemic risks such as terrorist attacks, herder-farmer conflict, and police brutality and put in place the necessary infrastructure to gather relevant data for problem solving. But the insufficiency of political savvy required to navigate the challenges that Nigeria faces has unleashed unrest across the nation and exacerbated existing tensions. The #ENDSARS Protests against police brutality in 2020 is one of the manifestations of bad governance.

The spiral of violence in northern Nigeria in which armed bandits engage in deadly planned attacks on communities, leading to widespread population displacement, has become another grave security challenge that has sharpened regional polarization. Because some public servants are usually unaware of the insecurities faced by ordinary Nigerians, they lack the frame of reference to make laws that address the priorities of citizens. The crisis of governance is accentuated by a democratic culture that accords less importance to the knowledge and competence that political leaders can bring to public office. These systemic challenges have bred an atmosphere of cynicism and mistrust between citizens and political leaders at all levels of government.

Political elites in Nigeria also exploit poverty and illiteracy to mobilize voters with food items such as rice, seasoning, and money. The rice is usually packaged strategically with the image of political candidates and the parties they represent. The assumption is that people are more likely to vote for a politician who influences them with food than one who only brings messages of hope. The practice of using food to mobilize voters is commonly described as “stomach infrastructure” politics. The term “stomach infrastructure” arose from the 2015 election in Ekiti state when gubernatorial candidate Ayodele Fayosi mobilized voters with food items and defeated his opponent Kayode Fayemi.

It is undeniable that Nigerian political culture rewards incompetent leaders over reform-minded leaders who demonstrate the intellectualism and problem-solving capabilities needed to adequately address systemic issues of poverty and inequality.

Jason Brennan describes the practice of incentivizing people to be irrational and ignorant with their votes as the unintended consequence of democracy. Brennan believes specific expertise is required to tackle socio-economic issues, so political power should be apportioned based on expert knowledge. As Brennan suggests, Nigeria lacks a system of governance in which leadership is based on capability. Rather, the political system in Nigeria is dominated by individuals who gain power through nepotism rather than competence, influence voters with food rather than vision.

Nigeria needs a new model of governance in which political leadership is based on the knowledge and competence of both political leaders and the electorate. One solution is to establish what Brennan refers to as epistocracy, which is a system of governance in which the votes of politically informed citizens should count more than the less informed. For Justin Klocksiem, epistocracy represents a political system in which political power rests exclusively on highly educated citizens. This idea drew its philosophical influence from John Stuart Mill, who believed that the eligibility to vote should be accorded to individuals who satisfy certain educational criteria. The notion that educational attainment should be the prerequisite for the electorate to choose their leaders as proposed by Brennan, Klocksiem, and Mill is an important proposition that should be taken seriously.

However, one cannot ignore that such thinking originates from societies where civic education is high and the electorate can make informed choices about leadership. In Nigeria, the majority of citizens are uneducated on political issues. Simultaneously, those who are highly educated are increasingly becoming indifferent to political participation; they have lost faith in the power of their votes and the integrity of the political system. For an epistocratic system to work in Nigeria, there must be significant improvements in literacy levels so that citizens are educated about the issues and can use their knowledge to make informed decisions about Nigeria’s political future.

It is important to mention that Nigeria’s political elites have exploited illiteracy to reinforce ethnic, religious, and political divisions between groups that impede democratic ideals. Since the resultant effect of epistocracy is to instill knowledge, raise consciousness and self-awareness within a polity anchored on the failed system of democracy, decisions that promote the education of uninformed voters are the rationale for an epistocratic system of governance. The Constitution must ensure that only citizens who can formulate policies and make informed decisions in the public’s best interest can run for public office.

When the Constitution dictates the standard of epistocratic governance, informed citizens will be better equipped to champion political leadership or determine the qualifications of their leaders. Epistocratic governance will be the alternative to Nigeria’s current dysfunctional democratic system while retaining the aspects of liberal democracy that maintain checks and balances.

The benefits of electing epistocratic leaders are that many citizens would desire to be educated in preparation for leadership. The more educated the population the more likely it is that political leaders will be held accountable. However, the kind of education that is needed to significantly transform the governance landscape in Nigeria is civic education.

We propose three policies to promote epistocratic governance in Nigeria. First, aspiring leaders must demonstrate the intellectual pedigree to translate knowledge into effective, transparent, and accountable governance that leads to national prosperity. As Rotimi Fawole notes, the bar should be higher for those aspiring to executive or legislative office “to improve the ideas that are put forward and the intellectual rigor applied to the discussions that underpin our statehood.”

Second, the government must increase access to education through government-sponsored initiatives that integrate civic education into school curriculums.

Third, the government should engage the support of local NGOs to promote civic education across Nigeria in culturally appropriate ways.

Name: Onyekwelu Collins Obinna
Reg No: 2018/251026
Dept: Economics

1. The Eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were not achieved. The (MDGs) are;

– Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.
– Achieve universal primary education.
– Promote gender equality and empower women.
– Reduce child mortality.
– Improve maternal health.
– Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases.
– Ensure environmental sustainability.
– Develop a global partnership for development.

Millennium Development Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Target : Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger.
Undernutrition which includes fetal growth restriction, stunting, wasting and deficiencies of vitamin A and zinc, along with suboptimal breastfeeding; is the underlying cause of death in an estimated 45% of all deaths among children under 5 years of age. The proportion of underweight children in developing countries has declined from 28% to 17% between 1990 and 2013. This rate of progress is close to the rate required to meet the MDG target, however improvements have been unevenly distributed between and within different regions.

Millennium Development Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education.
The world has made considerable progress on Goal 2. Between 2000 and 2012, the total number of out-of-school children worldwide declined from 100 million to 58 million, and the global primary completion rate increased from 81% to 92%. However, 58 million children are still out-of-school. Even when children complete school, they often do so without acquiring basic skills necessary for work and life. Yet, of all the goals, educating children, has the greatest impact on eliminating poverty. Education is a powerful driver of development and one of the strongest instruments for improving health, gender equality, peace, and stability.

Millennium Development Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women. Gender Equality Is Key to Achieving the MDGs
Empowering women and girls is not only the right thing to do: It’s also smart economics and vital to ending poverty and boosting shared prosperity. For example, an extra year of secondary schooling for girls can increase their future wages by 10 to 20%. And evidence shows that resources in the hands of women boost household spending in areas that benefit children. But despite a range of significant advances, too many women still lack basic freedoms and opportunities and face huge inequalities in the world of work. Discriminatory laws and customs constrain their time and choices, as well as their ability to own or inherit property, open bank accounts, or access inputs such as credit or fertilizer that would boost their productivity.

Millennium Development Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
Target: Reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate.
Globally, significant progress has been made in reducing mortality in children under 5 years of age. In 2013, 6.3 million children under 5 died, compared with 12.7 million in 1990. Between 1990 and 2013, under-5 mortality declined by 49%, from an estimated rate of 90 deaths per 1000 live births to 46. The global rate of decline has also accelerated in recent years – from 1.2% per annum during 1990–1995 to 4.0% during 2005–2013. Despite this improvement, the world is unlikely to achieve the MDG target of a two-thirds reduction in 1990 mortality levels by the year 2015.

Millennium Development Goal 5: Improve maternal health
Target: Reduce by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio. Achieve, by 2015, universal access to reproductive health.
Despite a significant reduction in the number of maternal deaths – from an estimated 523 000 in 1990 to 289 000 in 2013 – the rate of decline is less than half of what is needed to achieve the MDG target of a three quarters reduction in the mortality ratio between 1990 and 2015.
To reduce the number of maternal deaths, women need access to good-quality reproductive health care and effective interventions. In 2012, 64% of women aged 15–49 years who were married or in a consensual union were using some form of contraception, while 12% wanted to stop or postpone childbearing but were not using contraception.

Millennium Development Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.
Target: Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS. Achieve, by 2010, universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for all those who need it.
In 2013 an estimated 2.1 million people were newly infected with HIV – down from 3.4 million in 2001. By the end of 2013 about 12.9 million people were receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) globally. Of these, 11.7 million lived in low- and middle-income countries, representing 36% of the estimated 32.6 million people living with HIV in these countries. Should current trends continue the target of placing 15 million people on ART by 2015 will be exceeded.
The decrease in the number of those newly infected along with the increased availability of ART have contributed to a major decline in HIV mortality levels – from 2.4 million people in 2005 to an estimated 1.5 million in 2013. As fewer people die from AIDS-related causes the number of people living with HIV is likely to continue to grow.

Malaria
About half the world’s population is at risk of malaria, and an estimated 198 million cases in 2013 led to approximately 584 000 deaths – most of these in children under the age of 5 living in Africa.
During the period 2000–2013, malaria incidence and mortality rates of population at risk have both fallen globally, 30% and 47% respectively.
The coverage of interventions such as the distribution of insecticide-treated nets and indoor residual spraying has greatly increased, and will need to be sustained in order to prevent the resurgence of disease and deaths caused by malaria.

Other diseases

In 2013 only 6314 cases of human African trypanosomiasis were reported, representing the lowest levels of recorded cases in 50 years. This disease is now targeted for elimination as a public health problem by 2020. Dracunculiasis is also on the verge of eradication with an historic low of 126 cases reported in 2014 and an ongoing WHO target of interrupting its transmission by the end of 2015.
Plans to eliminate leprosy as a public health problem worldwide by 2020 have also been prepared and are being implemented. The elimination of visceral leishmaniasis as a public health problem in the Indian subcontinent by 2020 is on track with a greater than 75% reduction in incident cases recorded since the launch of the programme in 2005. In the case of lymphatic filariasis, more than 5 billion treatments have been delivered since 2000 to stop its spread and of the 73 known endemic countries 39 are on track to achieve its elimination as a public health problem by 2020.

Millennium Development Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
Target: By 2015, halve the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation.
In 2012, 90% of the population used an improved source of drinking-water compared with 76% in 1990. Progress has however been uneven across different regions, between urban and rural areas, and between rich and poor.
With regard to basic sanitation, current rates of progress are too slow for the MDG target to be met globally. In 2012, 2.5 billion people did not have access to improved sanitation facilities, with 1 billion these people still practicing open defecation. The number of people living in urban areas without access to improved sanitation is increasing because of rapid growth in the size of urban populations.

Millennium Development Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development.
Target: In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable essential medicines in developing countries.
Many people continue to face a scarcity of medicines in the public sector, forcing them to the private sector where prices can be substantially higher. Surveys undertaken from 2007-2013 show the average availability of selected generic medicines in 21 low- and middle-income countries was only 55% in the public sector.
Even the lowest-priced generics can put common treatments beyond the reach of low-income households in developing countries. The greatest price is paid by patients suffering chronic diseases. Effective treatments for the majority of the global chronic disease burden exist, yet universal access remains out-of-reach.

2. Good governance in Nigeria and other developing countries.

Good governance is the process of measuring how public institution conduct public affairs and manage public resources and guarantee the realization of human rights in a manner essentially free of abuse and corruption and with due regard for the rule of law. Good governance manifesting in areas of rule of law, transparency, accountability, citizens participation among others are sine qua non for national peace and development. However, ‘poverty of leadership’ in most of the Nigeria’s 57 years of existence has not only hindered the nation’s development, but continued to threaten its peace and stability. While it is widely believed that bad governance is prevalent in autocratic and oligarchic systems, it is evident now that bad governance does exist much more in democracies.

Unarguably, a strong correlation exists among governance, peace, stability and development. Thus, the developmental failure being witnessed in Nigeria is a direct consequence of the pattern of governance offered by the successive nation’s managers. The governance method adopted by the Nigeria’s political leaders negates all known prescriptions of good governance. A critical view of system of governance in Nigeria revealed an aberration of global acceptable governance norms. In other words, governance system in Nigeria is a complete departure from governance indicators.
The gigantic debt in which the nation finds itself is connected with poor governance. Ordinarily the nation should not have had cause to go about borrowing, given the enormous wealth that is naturally endowed with the country, especially the crude oil. What the nation’s managers have done with the nation wealth could be better understood by the assertion that between 1960 and 1999 the sum of $380 billion had vanished into the pockets of the nation managers. Nigeria is heavily affected by the so-called ‘resource curse’: despite an estimated USD 400 billion in oil income since independence in 1960, the country has experienced a very poor economic development, and it has a population more impoverished now than it was 50 years ago. Thus, it could be rightly deduced that the major bane to the nation’s development is the political and public officers who use public offices not for the services delivery for peoples, but for their selfish interest. Corruption and unethical practices have continued to hinder public officers from meeting up with their responsibilities to the people they always professed they are serving. Corruption impedes economic development, the growth of democratic institutions, and the ability of developing countries to attract foreign investment. The laxity in governance has also culminated into the declining industries. For instance, poor governance resulting in creating hostile business environment have been one the reasons that led to relocation or folding up of businesses in the country.
In spite of the importance of transparency and accountability to good governance and nation’s development, it has not been given a serious attention it deserves in the country by the successive government. This is because most of the political leaders that have emerged and even the present ones are greedy and self-centred, as a result, they have continued to cost the nation’s its development. Although, steps are being taken to curb corruption and foster transparency in governance. One of such steps is asset declaration by the political officeholders. For instance, the late President, Musa Yar’adua publicly declared his assets along with the Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan in 2007. Their successors President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice-President Yemi Osibajo had also followed suit.
The nation’s education sectors are not excluded from the effect of poor governance. The educational sectors are suffering from underfunding and poor funding. Many primary and secondary schools in Nigeria are not good shape due to neglect by the successive governments. This has led to the proliferation of private schools that are mainly for profits and thus, run schools as business ventures. In the tertiary institutions, the story is not different. The academic and their non-academic counterparts in the higher institutions, from time to time embark on strike action for reasons related to funding of the institutions and salaries and allowances for the staff. The resultant effect is the continuous falling in the standards of higher education in Nigeria. This was why none of the nation’s universities was listed among the first one thousand university in the world. The first Nigeria’s university listed was the University of Ibadan, the oldest university in Nigeria, which was on number 1032nd in the July edition of the Rankings.

Another resultant effect of the system of governance on Nigerians is the perceptions of government by the people. Government are seen as an unreliable propagandist which cannot be trusted for its words. People have developed a kind of mistrust in government, as government promises are seen as rhetoric or utopian. People ‘in whom political power reside’ could no longer believe whatever government is saying. They are reneging to participate in political activities especially in voting during elections as there has not being anything to show for their political activities. This, perhaps, accounted for low turnout of voters in many of the recent elections in the country. Government’s ineptitude and lack of concern for the people has culminated in a situation where the people are deprived of social infrastructures and amenities. Where there are claims of the provision of amenities by the government, most of these amenities are either substandard or has already collapsed. Poor governance equally reflects in the area of poor placement of priorities by the government; a situation where leaders prefer to spend public scarce resources on uneconomic projects. These-so-called leaders prefer to embark on such projects that will earn them immediate monetary gains, instead of investing on peoples’ dire-need infrastructures such as schools, hospitals, portable water, and accessible roads. Besides, basic infrastructure such as regular electricity supply is lacking, consequently many production industries are running at a loss. This has led to the closure of businesses in Nigeria, while others have relocated to other nations with relative regular supply of electricity. In addition to the above are poor road networks. Roads construction and maintenance are always budgeted for on yearly basis, but the money budgeted always ends up in public officers’ personal pockets, while roads are only built and maintained on papers. Even, few of the roads being constructed across the nation are substandard, that collapse easily after few months of the completion. It is not news that most of the nation’s highways are death traps. Many of the accidents that have occurred on these roads that have led to loss of peoples’ lives and their properties could have been averted if the roads are well constructed and properly maintained.

2018/245647
Economics
1; My answer is yes, and below is why
The MDGs were revolutionary in providing a common language to reach global agreement. The 8 goals were realistic and easy to communicate, with a clear measurement/monitoring mechanism.
While some countries have made impressive gains in achieving health-related targets, others are falling behind. Often the countries making the least progress are those affected by high levels of HIV/AIDS, economic hardship or conflict.
Below are how most of the goals of MDG were achieved.
Millennium Development Goal 6: combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
Target 6A. Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS
Target 6B. Achieve, by 2010, universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for all those who need it.
In 2013 an estimated 2.1 million people were newly infected with HIV – down from 3.4 million in 2001. By the end of 2013 about 12.9 million people were receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) globally. Of these, 11.7 million lived in low- and middle-income countries, representing 36% of the estimated 32.6 million people living with HIV in these countries. Should current trends continue the target of placing 15 million people on ART by 2015 will be exceeded.
The decrease in the number of those newly infected along with the increased availability of ART have contributed to a major decline in HIV mortality levels – from 2.4 million people in 2005 to an estimated 1.5 million in 2013. As fewer people die from AIDS-related causes the number of people living with HIV is likely to continue to grow.
Target 6C. Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases
Malaria
About half the world’s population is at risk of malaria, and an estimated 198 million cases in 2013 led to approximately 584 000 deaths – most of these in children under the age of 5 living in Africa.
During the period 2000–2013, malaria incidence and mortality rates of population at risk have both fallen globally, 30% and 47% respectively.
The coverage of interventions such as the distribution of insecticide-treated nets and indoor residual spraying has greatly increased, and will need to be sustained in order to prevent the resurgence of disease and deaths caused by malaria. Globally, the MDG target of halting by 2015 and beginning to reverse the incidence of malaria has already been met.
Tuberculosis
The annual global number of new cases of tuberculosis has been slowly falling for a decade thus achieving MDG target 6.C to reverse the spread of the disease by 2015. In 2013, there were an estimated 9 million new cases and 1.5 million deaths (including 360 000 deaths among HIV-positive people).
Globally, treatment success rates have been sustained at high levels since 2007, at or above the target of 85%. However, multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), which emerged primarily as a result of inadequate treatment, continues to pose problems.
Other diseases
MDG Target 6.C also includes neglected tropical diseases – a medically diverse group of infectious conditions caused by a variety of pathogens.
In 2013 only 6314 cases of human African trypanosomiasis were reported, representing the lowest levels of recorded cases in 50 years. This disease is now targeted for elimination as a public health problem by 2020. Dracunculiasis is also on the verge of eradication with an historic low of 126 cases reported in 2014 and an ongoing WHO target of interrupting its transmission by the end of 2015.
Plans to eliminate leprosy as a public health problem worldwide by 2020 have also been prepared and are being implemented. The elimination of visceral leishmaniasis as a public health problem in the Indian subcontinent by 2020 is on track with a greater than 75% reduction in incident cases recorded since the launch of the programme in 2005. In the case of lymphatic filariasis, more than 5 billion treatments have been delivered since 2000 to stop its spread and of the 73 known endemic countries 39 are on track to achieve its elimination as a public health problem by 2020.
Millennium Development Goal 8: develop a global partnership for development

Target 8E. In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable essential medicines in developing countries
Many people continue to face a scarcity of medicines in the public sector, forcing them to the private sector where prices can be substantially higher. Surveys undertaken from 2007-2013 show the average availability of selected generic medicines in 21 low- and middle-income countries was only 55% in the public sector.
Even the lowest-priced generics can put common treatments beyond the reach of low-income households in developing countries. The greatest price is paid by patients suffering chronic diseases. Effective treatments for the majority of the global chronic disease burden exist, yet universal access remains out-of-reach.
Millennium Development Goal 7: ensure environmental sustainability
Target 7C: By 2015, halve the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation
The world has now met the MDG target relating to access to safe drinking-water. In 2012, 90% of the population used an improved source of drinking-water compared with 76% in 1990. Progress has however been uneven across different regions, between urban and rural areas, and between rich and poor.
With regard to basic sanitation, current rates of progress are too slow for the MDG target to be met globally. In 2012, 2.5 billion people did not have access to improved sanitation facilities, with 1 billion these people still practicing open defecation. The number of people living in urban areas without access to improved sanitation is increasing because of rapid growth in the size of urban populations.
2; The major cause of bad governance in Nigeria and most developing nations is corruption. The average man in a developing nation is struggling to make ends meet and is always thinking about ways of making money. When he is now given power no matter how little, that same mentality will be stuck with him and he will do all in his power to accumulate much wealth because of the constant fear of going back to poverty. This will now move him to embezzle funds meant for the development of the country and this will lead to making a lot of money which he will not be able to finish in his life time.
Just like the question says “many developing countries seem to be far behind in their quest for good governance” is true because, the next person who will be elected to replace the former corrupt leader/government already has the mentality of “I will also eat the national cake” which means that he is also going to loot funds from the national purse.
In conclusion, I will say that so long as man is still ruling man, there will not be an end to corruption/bad governance, it is only God’s kingdom that can bring about good governance to humanity.

Odoh, Victor Chukwuemeka
2018/248582
Eco 362

In September 2000, leaders from about 189 nations ratified the Millennium Declaration. The declaration was an unprecedented global commitment and one of the most significant United Nations documents in recent times. It offers a common and integrated vision on how to tackle some of the major challenges facing the world of our time. The declaration has resulted in Eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) focused on reducing poverty, improving the quality of peoples’ lives, ensuring environmental sustainability, and building partnerships to ensure that globalization becomes a more positive force for all the world’s people. Also specific targets and indicators have been set and put in place for each of the goals, to be achieved by 2015.
In your opinion do you think these goals were achieved? If yes,how? If no, why?

Answer
In my opinion, I will will take NO as my answer.
This is because in so many society, or nations of the developing states, poverty level is still on the rise and still growing. The standard of live is still very poor, the environment is still not sustainable and coming to globalization, to some developing nations, their state have been used as a dumping ground for the advanced nations.
Elaborating these above points one after the other;
When I say that poverty level is still on the rise, I mean that the total population of those who are poor are still out numbering those who are on the average. Taking Nigeria for instance, we can see that in the northern part of the country, there are uncountable number of people who are very poor… Those who live on below $1 per day
The poor standard of living in developing nation in the sense that the people don’t have access to good infrastructural facilities.
Coming to our environment, we will see that its a disaster as companies now engage in littering the environment, contaminating the atmosphere with carbon dioxide which make the environment unhealthy for the people to live in. Taking for example, I will be emphasizing on the Niger Delta region, Bayelsa to be precise. The environmental pollution in Bayelsa have become so bad that there exist on drinkable water producing company in the state instead all the the water sold in the state is imported from other state which is bad.
Lastly, globalization… So many developed nations now use the developing nations as their dumping ground. Good and services that do not meet the standard of other developed nations will be channeled to the developing nations and until these whole negative forces is tackled, globalization goal by the MDGs is not achieve.

2. Good governance is good for all nations but Nigeria and many developing countries seem to be far behind in their quest for good governance. Discuss!
Answer
Good governance is the process of measuring how public institution conduct public affairs and manage public resources and guarantee the realization of human rights in a manner essentially free of abuse and corruption and with due regard for the rule of law. Governance is “the process of decision-making and the process by which decisions are implemented (or not implemented)”. Governance in this context can apply to corporate, international, national, or local governance as well as the interactions between other sectors of society.
The concept of “good governance” thus emerges as a model to compare ineffective economies or political bodies with viable economies and political bodies. The concept centers on the responsibility of governments and governing bodies to meet the needs of the masses as opposed to select groups in society. Because countries often described as “most successful” are liberal democratic states, concentrated in Europe and the Americas, good governance standards often measure other state institutions against these states. Aid organizations and the authorities of developed countries often will focus the meaning of “good governance” to a set of requirements that conform to the organization’s agenda, making “good governance” imply many different things in many different contexts. The opposite of good governance, as a concept, is bad governance.

NAME: KALU EZINNE OBIWE
REG NO: 2018/247194
COURSE CODE: ECO 362
COURSE TITLE: ECONOMICS DEVELOPMENT 2
DEPARTMENT: SOCIAL SCIENCE EDUCATION (education economics)
EMAIL: kaluezinne007@gmail.com
Assignment
In September 2000, leaders from about 189 nations ratified the Millennium Declaration. The declaration was an unprecedented global commitment and one of the most significant United Nations documents in recent times. It offers a common and integrated vision on how to tackle some of the major challenges facing the world of our time. The declaration has resulted in Eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) focused on reducing poverty, improving the quality of peoples’ lives, ensuring environmental sustainability, and building partnerships to ensure that globalization becomes a more positive force for all the world’s people. Also specific targets and indicators have been set and put in place for each of the goals, to be achieved by 2015.
In your opinion do you think these goals were achieved? If yes,how? If no, why?
2. Good governance is good for all nations but Nigeria and many developing countries seem to be far behind in their quest for good governance. Discuss!
Answer to number one question
These goals were not achieved as a result of week governance and missmanagement.
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – an idea of the UN – proved to be a historical moment for international development in 2000. Once the proposition received a positive response, 189 countries signed a pact – The Millennium Declaration. In 2000, the MDGs were implemented in Pakistan to address the issue of extreme poverty and to provide the basic human rights of health, education and security. While the country made some progress in the health sector as shown by its health indicators, Pakistan was still lagging far behind other countries that had similar levels of income or had started with similar set targets. In order to further improve its service delivery in key areas of healthcare, the government implemented special programmes like the Lady Health Worker Programme (LHW), the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI), the National Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health Programme (MNCH), Programme for HIV/AIDS Control and Programme for Malaria Control. However, the country has failed to meet its health-related MDGs. The health sector and reforms in Pakistan have suffered many snags due to changing administrative mechanisms and financial arrangements made during the devolution period. The process of reforms had started from the city district government plan of 2001 but once the devolution process started in 2010, the arena of health was partially handed over to the provincial government in 2011.
According to the World Bank, the annual population growth rate in Pakistan is 2.1 percent. This rapid rise in population has undermined most of the health development initiatives because the plans and resources set forth are on the basis of an estimated number of people and do not take into account the resource-to-population growth ratio. Moreover, limited resources, coupled with the fast and haphazard pace of urbanisation and the subsequent environmental degradation has created difficulties in the development of planning and healthcare service delivery.
Women’s empowerment and their socio-economic status – prerequisites for social development – also affect the progress of the MDGs. Women in Pakistan lack sufficient knowledge about healthcare. The lack of policymakers’ oversight, the dearth of education and awareness among citizens, particularly among women, and limited research and development have aggravated the situation.
Weak governance and mismanagement remain key concerns at all levels. The lack of a transparent performance-assessment system, limited efforts to harness the potential of the private sector and the weak regulation of healthcare delivery also contributed to the slow progress of the MDGs. The year 2015 marked the completion of the monitoring period for the MDGs which are now replaced by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In February 2015, the Nigerian government and that of Pakistan adopted the SDGs through a unanimous parliamentary resolution. This strategic shift put considerable responsibility on the government and its development partners to address the unmet agenda of the MDGs while initiating the SDGs through development cooperation for strengthening public institutions, social policies and planning development programmes. It is evident that improving the health of the population – which in turn enhances physical work capacity and cognitive development – contributes to productivity, economic development and poverty reduction. Since the population of Pakistan is unhealthy, there is a dire need to take a holistic approach to address the issue. Following the process of prioritisation, limited capacities and resources when well-directed can produce the required results. The country needs to pay close attention to setting clear targets and following through with them when chalking out the health policy and working on its implementation.
Answer to number 2 Good governance is good for all nations but Nigeria and many developing countries seem to be far behind in their quest for good governance. Discuss!
Some scholars have argued that the enhanced performance of governmental agencies in any nation is a product of good governance, accountability, transparency and trust, which in turn brings about the improvement in the living standard of the people. The implication of this position is that where good governance is absent, accountability of governmental agencies and development in such a society is likely to be affected negatively. With the analysis of secondary data, the paper examines the challenges of good governance, accountability of governmental agencies and development in Nigeria. It observes the manifestation of unethical behaviour amongst public officials as the major challenge hindering development in the country. It therefore recommend among others the need for the government to strengthen the existing anti-corruption agencies to enable them enforce proper ethical standard.
Nigeria and many developing countries seem to be far behind in their quest for good governance as a result of the following;
1. Lack of Voice and Weak Accountability
Governing bodies refusing to listen to the voice of those they govern and refusing to take accountability for their actions leads to bad governance. By ignoring the voice of those being governed, their opinions are no longer heard or taken into consideration by the governing body. Democratic governments focus on accountability as a method to ensure that the public understands what´s happening and provides them a way to proceed when things go wrong. Weak accountability in turn causes a distrust between the two parties and can lead to instability. This distrust and uncertainty creates an unfavourable relationship between the parties.
2. Political Instability
Bad Governance occurs as a result of frequent changes in government or ‘political instability’. Instability in political regimes, such as a democracy, has been proven to coincide with poor governance.
3. Corruption
Bad Governance, is often considered to come hand in hand with corruption. Corruption occurs in many sectors ranging from political to economic environments. Corruption can occur in different ways and forms. The existence of corruption within a governing body causes bad governance as the officials places their personal gains over others.

NAME : OKONKWO CHINAZA FAVOUR
REG NO: 2018/242315
DEPARTMENT: ECONOMICS

ANSWER 1
The millennium development goals which comprises of 8 goals,18 targets and 40 indicators was initiated in the year 1990 and it seek to reduce hunger and extreme poverty, achieve universal basic education, promote gender equality and empower women,reduce child mortality and improve maternal health, combat HIV/aids and other diseases, ensure environment sustainability and develop a global partnership was able to achieve the following;
A) Reduction in the proportion of underweight children in developing countries from 28% to 17% between 1990 and 2013. Though the improvements was unevenly distributed between and with different regions.
B) Globally, significant progress has been made in reducing mortality in children under 5years. In 2013, 6.3m children under 5 died compared with 12.7m in 1990, a decrease of 49%. Despite these improvements, the MDGs Target of 2/3 reduction was not achieved by 2015.
C) Despite a significant reduction in the number of maternal death from an estimated 52300 to 289000 in 1990 and 2013 respectively. The rate of decline was less than half of what is needed to achieve the MDGs Target of a 3/4 reduction in the maternal death between 1990 and 2015.
D) Globally, the MDGs Target of halting malaria by 2015 have been achieved according to studies.
There is also decrease in the number of those infected with HIV/aids along side with the increased availability of antiretroviral therapy.
E) The MDGs was not able to achieve an even progress across different regions especially developing nation’s in getting access to safe drinking water and with regards to basic sanitation, rates of progress was too slow for this MDGS target to be met globally. There is an increase in the number of people living in the urban areas without access to improved sanitation.
The level of achievement by some of the MDGs was significant and different across and between regions and countries. But studies have shown that MDGs was not able to achieve all it’s goals and targets.

ANSWER 2
Governance according to world bank is the system through which power is exercised in the management of a country’s political,economic and social resources for development.
Good governance ( UNDP 2002) is about striving for the rule of law , transparency, accountability, equity, effectiveness/ efficiency and strategic vision in the exercise of political, economic, administrative authority. Good governance manifesting in the above mentioned is the sine quo non for national peace and development.
Nigeria is engraved with high rate of corruption, nepotism, favouritism, tribalism,debt, poor infrastructures. This is due to the pattern of governance offered by successive government which negates all the known prescriptions of good governance. Nigeria has experienced a very poor economic development. The major bane as deduced to nation’s level is the political and public officers who use public offices not for the service delivery for the people but for their selfish interest.
The laxity in governance has also culminated into the declining industries, creating a hostile business environment causing businesses to relocate or even fold and this has led to the increasing rate of unemployment and underemployment. And this is detrimental to the national peace and stability as crime rate increase rapidly.
There are decrease in social infrastructures and amenities and the ones provided are substandard.
This poor governance is also evident in the poor placement of priorities by the government; a situation where leaders prefer to spend public resources on uneconomic projects rather than spending in economic growth and development.

WAY FORWARD
The practice of good governance which reflect in the areas of rule of law, transparency, accountability, citizen’s participation will guarantees national peace, stability and development in Nigeria and as such should be enthroned.

1. No, these goals were not fully achieved
The United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are 8 goals that UN Member States have agreed to try to achieve by the year 2015.

The United Nations Millennium Declaration, signed in September 2000, commits world leaders to combat poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation, and discrimination against women. The MDGs are derived from this Declaration. Each MDG has targets set for 2015 and indicators to monitor progress from 1990 levels. Several of these relate directly to health.

Progress report on the health-related MDGs
While some countries have made impressive gains in achieving health-related targets, others are falling behind. Often the countries making the least progress are those affected by high levels of HIV/AIDS, economic hardship or conflict.

Millennium Development Goal 1: eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Target 1.C. Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger
Undernutrition which includes fetal growth restriction, stunting, wasting and deficiencies of vitamin A and zinc, along with suboptimal breastfeeding; is the underlying cause of death in an estimated 45% of all deaths among children under 5 years of age. The proportion of underweight children in developing countries has declined from 28% to 17% between 1990 and 2013. This rate of progress is close to the rate required to meet the MDG target, however improvements have been unevenly distributed between and within different regions.

Millennium Development Goal 4: reduce child mortality
Target 4.A. Reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate
Globally, significant progress has been made in reducing mortality in children under 5 years of age. In 2013, 6.3 million children under 5 died, compared with 12.7 million in 1990. Between 1990 and 2013, under-5 mortality declined by 49%, from an estimated rate of 90 deaths per 1000 live births to 46. The global rate of decline has also accelerated in recent years – from 1.2% per annum during 1990–1995 to 4.0% during 2005–2013. Despite this improvement, the world is unlikely to achieve the MDG target of a two-thirds reduction in 1990 mortality levels by the year 2015.

More countries are now achieving high levels of immunization coverage; in 2013, 66% of Member States reached at least 90% coverage. In 2013, global measles immunization coverage was 84% among children aged 12–23 months. During 2000–2013, estimated measles deaths decreased by 74% from 481 000 to 124 000.

Millennium Development Goal 5: improve maternal health
Target 5.A. Reduce by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio
Target 5.B. Achieve, by 2015, universal access to reproductive health
Despite a significant reduction in the number of maternal deaths – from an estimated 523 000 in 1990 to 289 000 in 2013 – the rate of decline is less than half of what is needed to achieve the MDG target of a three quarters reduction in the mortality ratio between 1990 and 2015.

To reduce the number of maternal deaths, women need access to good-quality reproductive health care and effective interventions. In 2012, 64% of women aged 15–49 years who were married or in a consensual union were using some form of contraception, while 12% wanted to stop or postpone childbearing but were not using contraception.

The proportion of women receiving antenatal care at least once during pregnancy was about 83% for the period 2007–2014, but for the recommended minimum of 4 or more visits the corresponding figure drops to around 64%.

The proportion of births attended by skilled personnel – crucial for reducing perinatal, neonatal and maternal deaths – is above 90% in 3 of the 6 WHO regions. However, increased coverage is needed in certain regions, such as the WHO African Region where the figure was still only 51%.

Millennium Development Goal 6: combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
Target 6A. Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS
Target 6B. Achieve, by 2010, universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for all those who need it.
In 2013 an estimated 2.1 million people were newly infected with HIV – down from 3.4 million in 2001. By the end of 2013 about 12.9 million people were receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) globally. Of these, 11.7 million lived in low- and middle-income countries, representing 36% of the estimated 32.6 million people living with HIV in these countries. Should current trends continue the target of placing 15 million people on ART by 2015 will be exceeded.

The decrease in the number of those newly infected along with the increased availability of ART have contributed to a major decline in HIV mortality levels – from 2.4 million people in 2005 to an estimated 1.5 million in 2013. As fewer people die from AIDS-related causes the number of people living with HIV is likely to continue to grow.

Target 6C. Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases
Malaria
About half the world’s population is at risk of malaria, and an estimated 198 million cases in 2013 led to approximately 584 000 deaths – most of these in children under the age of 5 living in Africa.

During the period 2000–2013, malaria incidence and mortality rates of population at risk have both fallen globally, 30% and 47% respectively.

2.

NAME: ONWE, IRENE EBERE
REG NO: 2018/242201
DEPARTMENT: EDUCATION AND ECONOMICS
EMAIL: onwe.irene.242201@unn.edu.ng
1. In September 2000, leaders from about 189 nations ratified the Millennium Declaration. The declaration was an unprecedented global commitment and one of the most significant United Nations documents in recent times. It offers a common and integrated vision on how to tackle some of the major challenges facing the world of our time. The declaration has resulted in Eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) focused on reducing poverty, improving the quality of peoples’ lives, ensuring environmental sustainability, and building partnerships to ensure that globalization becomes a more positive force for all the world’s people. Also specific targets and indicators have been set and put in place for each of the goals, to be achieved by 2015.
In your opinion do you think these goals were achieved? If yes,how? If no, why?

2. Good governance is good for all nations but Nigeria and many developing countries seem to be far behind in their quest for good governance. Discuss!

ANSWER:
Ans no 1. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have been met to an extent, some goals have been achieved while some others are still yet to be achieved, in this study we will talk about these goals, how far they’ve been achieved. The MDGs are eight international development goals to be achieved by 2015 addressing poverty, hunger, maternal and child mortality, communicable disease, education, gender inequality, environmental damage and the global partnership. Most activities worldwide have focused on maternal and child health and communicable diseases, while less attention has been paid to environmental sustainability and the development of a global partnership. Up to now, several targets have been at least partially achieved: hunger reduction is on track, poverty has been reduced by half, living conditions of 200 million deprived people enhanced, maternal and child mortality as well as communicable diseases diminished and education improved. Nevertheless, some goals will not be met, particularly in the poorest regions, due to different challenges (e.g. the lack of synergies among the goals, the economic crisis, etc.). The post-2015 agenda is now under discussion. The new targets, whatever they will be called, should reflect today’s political situation, health and environmental challenges, and an all-inclusive, intersectoral and accountable approach should be adopted.
The most recent UN report on progress towards the MDGs has highlighted several achievements in all health and education areas: the hunger reduction goal is on track; the target of decreasing extreme poverty by half has been met, as well as the goal of halving the proportion of people who lack steady access to drinking water; conditions for more than 200 million people living in favelas have been improved; significant achievements have been made in the fight against communicable diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis and child and maternal mortality have been reduced. Moreover, primary school admission of girls has equalled that of boys and developing countries experienced a reduced debt burden and an improved climate for trade.
However, progress has been highly unequal. The reduction in global income poverty is mainly due to the rapid growth of a few countries in Asia, such as China, India, Indonesia and Vietnam. In many other countries, poverty reduction has been quite slow, or poverty has even increased (8). Sub-Saharan Africa remains the most underdeveloped region (8). Projections indicate that in 2015 more than 600 million people worldwide will still be using unsafe water sources, almost 1 billion will be living in very poor conditions, mothers will continue to die giving birth, and children will die from preventable diseases. Also, environmental sustainability remains a global challenge due to a fast decline of biodiversity and an increase in gas emissions. The goals of primary education and gender equality also remain unfulfilled, with broad negative consequences, given that achieving the MDGs deeply relies on education and women’s empowerment. Moreover, there are severe inequalities that exist among populations, especially between rural and urban areas, or that affect marginalized people (20, 21). MDG8 remains one of the most challenging even if of primary importance for the achievement of all MDGs (8).

The MDGs helped to lift more than one billion people out of extreme poverty, to make inroads against hunger, to enable more girls to attend school than ever before and to protect our planet,” the UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon recently explained.

But he didn’t finish there. “Yet for all the remarkable gains, I am keenly aware that inequalities persist and that progress has been uneven.”

It’s true remarkable progress has been accomplished. Yet, around 1.5 billion people in conflict affected countries and on the extreme margins of society were unreached by the goals and unable to benefit from the tide that lifted their neighbours.

So which goals were met and which fell short? Below, we’ll broadly examine what has been achieved for the main targets within the eight goals using information from The Millennium Development Goals Report 2015.

MDG 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger

The target of reducing extreme poverty rates – people living on just $1.25 a day – by half was met five years ahead of the 2015 deadline. Globally the number of people living in extreme poverty has fallen from 1.9 billion in 1990 to 836 million in 2015.

However, target of halving the proportion of people suffering from hunger has narrowly been missed. The proportion of undernourished people in the developing regions has fallen from 23.3 per cent in 1990 to 12.9 per cent in 2014.

MDG 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education

Primary school enrolment figures have shown an impressive rise, but the goal of achieving universal primary education has just been missed. The primary school enrolment rate in developing regions reached 91 per cent this year, up from 83 per cent in 2000.

MDG 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women

About two two-thirds of developing countries achieved gender parity in primary education. Progress has been particularly strong in Southern Asia. Only 74 girls were enrolled in primary school for every 100 boys in 1990. Today, 103 girls are enrolled for every 100 boys.

MDG 4: Reduce Child Mortality

The global under-five mortality rate has declined by more than half since 1990 – dropping from 90 to 43 deaths per 1,000 live births. This falls short of the targeted drop of two-thirds.

In practical terms this means 16,000 children under-five continue to die every day from preventable causes. A terrible reality made worse by the fact we know what each one of these major killers are, and what can be done to thwart them.

MDG 5: Improve Maternal Health

Since 1990, the maternal mortality ratio has been cut nearly in half. This is an impressive result, but as well with goal 4 it falls short of the two-thirds reduction that was aimed for. There were an estimated 289,000 maternal deaths in 2013.

MDG 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases

The results with MDG 5 are mixed. The target of halting and beginning to reverse the spread of HIV/Aids has not been met – although the number of new HIV infections fell by 40% between 2000 and 2013.

According to the UN, over 6.2 million malaria deaths have been averted between 2000 and 2015, primarily of children under five years of age in sub-Saharan Africa. The global malaria incidence rate has fallen by an estimated 37 per cent and the mortality rate by 58 per cent

MDG 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainably

Between 1990 and 2015, 2.6 billion people gained access to improved drinking water, meaning the target of halving the proportion of people without access to safe water was achieved. Worldwide, 2.1 billion people have gained access to improved sanitation.

MDG 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development

Official development assistance from wealthy countries to developing countries increased by 66 per cent in real terms between 2000 and 2014, reaching $135.2 billion.

Ans no 2.
The role of governance in the polity of a state cannot be over emphasized. It is instructive to note that the growth and development of a state is contingent upon the manner in which the government of the state sets the platform for effective and proper discharge of authority and control. The issue of good governance is a phenomenon that has stunted the growth of many nations of the world with reference to Africa and Nigeria in particular. Nigeria, since independence in 1960, has battled with the issue of good, credible and accountable government in the country. The search for good governance seems to be Nigeria’s most urgent need at this time in her history. Most Nigerians believe strongly that the factor that had crippled the country’s progress in virtually every field of human endeavour is poor leadership and bad governance (Nnamdi, 2009). Politicians who form the government with no developmental plans; and even the ‘party manifesto’ they sold to the electorates during the electioneering campaign are most often not fulfilled. Sadly, the manifestos of most political parties in the country are not ideologically driven. Rather, political actors see their involvement in politics as a means for primitively accumulating wealth. While some view it as a means of investment through the sponsorship of candidates (godfathers) for elections so that when their candidates win, they would recoup a million fold what they spent to get their godsons into office. This has greatly diverted the attention of political office holders from the primary objectives of improving the general welfare of the state to settling political scores with godfathers. Ironically, the government of the United States of America has called on Nigeria to help strengthen good governance in Africa; a subject of perception she (Nigeria) is yet to achieve.
Good governance is integral to economic growth, the eradication of poverty and hunger, and sustainable development. The views of all oppressed groups, including women, youth and the poor, must be heard and considered by the governing bodies because they will be the ones most negatively affected if good governance is not achieved. The level of underdevelopment in Nigeria today is largely adduced to bad governance in the country. In the recent past, it was believed that bad governance in Nigeria was associated with the several years of military rule. But since the transition to democratic rule, there has hardly been any significant improvement in terms of good governance in Nigeria. There is no access to basic infrastructural facilities, public health care, potable water etc. There is a high rate of unemployment, inflation is on the rise and poverty is ravaging the system. The United Nations defined poverty as a situation whereby an individual is forced by circumstances to exist on less than one U.S dollar per day (Igbafe, 2007). The United Nations statistics show that over 100 million Nigerians live in abject poverty. This represents over 67% of the entire population. Also, according to United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Nigeria occupies the 153rd position out of 186 under the Human Development Index. All of these trends and more are attributed to bad governance in Nigeria.
The government in its pursuit for the attainment of good governance in Nigeria has a lot to do to gain the trust of the citizens it governs. This is because the people do not feel the impact of the government in their lives, because the policies of the government are geared towards the elites and famous, the politician and those in positions of power. The masses do not benefit from the policies because they are of the opinion that government makes policies for their selfish gain/interest. The government should create proper awareness for the people because majority of them are not aware of the programmes carried out by the government (for instance, most of the respondents are not aware of the immunity clause for political holders in Nigeria). The Nigerian government should get the people more involved in the affairs of the country so they will have a sense of belonging. Furthermore, it is clear from this study that the citizens of Nigerians have lost hope in the government and do not believe in the attainment of good governance in Nigeria except certain conditions are achieved. One of the conditions is the eradication of corruption. Corruption is the greatest enemy of progress. For a society to progress it must be wiped clean from all elements of corruption. Therefore, before Nigeria can dream of attaining good governance the bad eggs in the government must be wiped out.

Ezema Samuel Nnamdi
REG.NO. 2018/249458
No.1 Answer.
The various levels at which the goals were achieved are as following.
Making Strides in Eradicating Poverty and Hunger
A meaningful path out of poverty requires a strong economy that produces jobs and good wages; a government that can provide schools, hospitals, roads, and energy; and healthy, well-nourished children who are the future human capital that will fuel economic growth. Between 2003 and 2013, the Bank Group supported basic nutrition services for more than 211 million pregnant women, nursing mothers, adolescent girls, and children under 5.  The Bank Group’s fund for the poorest countries –the International Development Association (IDA) – committed a record $22.2 billion in fiscal year 2014 to promote economic growth, increase shared prosperity, and fight extreme poverty.

Some of the MDG 1 Results
Kenya: Supported 245,000 orphans and vulnerable children living in extreme poverty (as of 2011) through a safety net program covering 83,000 households.
Lao PDR: Provided better access to roads, primary education, clean water, and health care for 650,000 people from the poorest rural and remote communities through the Poverty Reduction Fund established in 2003.
Moldova: Empowered 932,000 people (more than one-quarter of the country’s population) through a social investment fund, from 1998 to 2011, to manage their own development needs.
Nepal: Reduced by 50% the number of people living on less than $1.25 a day from 2003 to 2011.
Peru: Aided efforts to reduce stunting in children by 8.3%, from 27.8% in 2007/8 to 19.5% in 2011 — among the fastest rates of reduction seen for stunting globally.
Senegal: Improved food security for 1.3 million children under 5 through a community nutrition program. In addition, almost 300,000 primary school children received weekly micronutrients supplements and deworming medication.
How’s the World Doing?
54%
of developing countries have met or are on track to meet the goal of cutting extreme poverty in half.
700 million
fewer people lived in extreme poverty in 2010 than in 1990.
29%
of countries have halved child malnutrition or are on track.
1.2
billion people around the world still live in extreme poverty.

•2. Making Strides in Education
The World Bank supports education through an average of $2.8 billion a year in new financing for the poorest countries as well as for middle-income countries. Support for primary education has been a priority over the past decade for the International Development Association (IDA), the Bank’s fund for the poorest countries. IDA integrates education into national economic strategies, and creates education systems that empower children to become productive citizens.
Some of the MDG 2 Results
With IDA’s help, countries recruited or trained more than 3.5 million additional teachers from 2002-2012, and built or renovated more than 2 million classrooms for 105 million children, and purchased or distributed about 300 million textbooks from 2000-2010.

Afghanistan: 2.7 million girls were enrolled in school in 2012, up from 191,000 in 2002; nearly 140,000 teachers have been trained, of which 39,000 are women.
Bangladesh: Between 2004 and the end of 2012, “second chance” primary education was provided for more than 790,000 out of school children (more than half of them girls) from the 90 poorest sub-districts of the country.
Chad: Between 2003 and 2012, 2.6 million books were distributed to schools, 400 classrooms were built and equipped, 20,000 people were taught to read and write, and 11,700 community teachers were trained.
How’s the World Doing?
91%
rate of primary school enrollment in developing regions.
58
million children of primary school age remained out of school, as of 2012.
2 million
decline in the number of out-of-school children, between 2007 and 2012.
100
ratio between enrollment rate of girls, and that of boys, for all developing regions, in 2012.

•3.Two-thirds of the Bank’s partner countries have now reached gender parity in primary education, and girls significantly outnumber boys in secondary education in more than one-third of those countries. IDA investments and collaboration with governments have enabled women to access land and secure tenure rights.

Some of the MDG 3 Results
IDA is helping to achieve MDG 3 by investing in girls’ education. Gender parity in primary schools in countries supported by IDA increased from 91 to 96 girls for every 100 boys enrolled between 2000 and 2010.

Afghanistan: 2.7 million girls were enrolled in schools in 2012, up from 191,000 in 2002.
Benin: 60% of pregnant women slept under bed nets in 2010, up from 20% in 2006.
Kyrgyz Republic: Close to 1 million women and girls benefited from community-based micro-enterprises and improved local government between 2007 and 2010.

•4. Making Strides in Child Survival
Investment in reducing child mortality by the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank’s fund for the poorest countries, resulted in nearly 600 million children being immunized from 2003 to 2013.
Some of the MDG 4 Results
With IDA’s help, between 2003 and 2013, more than 117  million people gained access to essential health services;  nearly 195 million pregnant women received antenatal care; and nearly 150 million mosquito nets were purchased and/or distributed in the poorest countries.

Afghanistan: Under-5 mortality dropped from 257 per 1,000 live births in 2002 to 97 per 1,000 in 2012. Full immunization coverage in rural areas tripled from 11% in 2003 to 30% in 2010/11.
Burkina Faso: 100% of children have had access to free vaccinations since 2002, and all women became eligible for free prenatal care in 2003.
Ghana: Under-5 mortality rates fell to 80 per 1,000 live births in 2008 from 111 in 2003, due to improved maternal and child health care; immunization coverage improved to 79% in 2008 from 69% in 2003.
How’s the World Doing?
14,000
fewer under-5 children died each day from diseases such as diarrhea, malnutrition, pneumonia, AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis in 2011 than in 1990.
1 in 9
children die before the age of 5 in sub-Saharan Africa.
65%
of all countries are not on track to meet MDG 4 by 2015.
3 million
newborn infants die each year, most due to preventable or treatable causes.

•5. Making Strides in Maternal Health
As a result of support for the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank’s fund for the poorest countries, from 2003 to 2013 more than 117 million people gained access to essential health, nutrition, or maternal and child services.

Some of the MDG 5 Results
Between 2003 and 2013, more than 117 million people in the poorest countries gained access to essential health services; 195 million pregnant women received antenatal care, and more than 30 million births were attended by skilled health personnel. Countries have also reported impressive results:

Burundi: 25% more women gave birth at health facilities in 2011 than in 2010; prenatal consultations rose by 20% during the same period.
Guinea: 95% of pregnant women in 2012 received prenatal care from a health care provider, up from 83% in 2011.
Lao PDR: 93,000 women received subsidies for prenatal care and hospital delivery, and 536,000 women received free or subsidized health exams between 1997 and 2006.
How’s the World Doing?
800
women die every day due to complications of pregnancy or childbirth.
45%
drop in maternal mortality since 1990.
1/2
of women in developing regions receive recommended health care during pregnancy.
15x
higher maternal mortality ratio in developing regions, as compared to that of developed regions.

•6. Making Strides in Combating Disease
With World Bank Group support, from 2003-2013, more than 1.3 million adults and children with HIV received antiretroviral therapy, nearly 152 million malaria nets were purchased and/or distributed, and 601 million condoms were purchased and/or distributed to prevent HIV, sexually transmitted diseases, and unwanted pregnancies.

MDG 6 Results
IDA is helping to achieve MDG 6 by providing prevention, care, and mitigation services for those affected by infectious disease.

Benin: 64% of children slept under bed nets in 2010, up from 20% in 2006. The number of pregnant women sleeping under bed nets rose from 20 to 60% during the same period.
India: More than 15 million people with tuberculosis were diagnosed and treated during 1998–2012, saving an estimated 2.6 million lives.
Republic of Congo: 77% of pregnant women receiving prenatal care took voluntary HIV tests in 2011, up from just 16% in 2003.
How’s the World Doing?
2.1
million people are newly infected with HIV each year.
12.9
million people worldwide living with HIV had access to antiretroviral therapy as of 2013.
20%
decline in child mortality in countries with improved access to malaria control interventions.
20 million
lives saved due to tuberculosis treatment, between 1995 and 2011.

•7.Making Strides in Environmental Sustainability
Sustainable environment and natural resources management is at the heart of the World Bank’s efforts to end poverty and boost shared prosperity. Biodiversity and natural resources constitute the social safety net of the poor, representing a food bank and often their only source of livelihood. For example, wild-capture fisheries constitute 40% of total animal protein intake for countries in West Africa and sustain more than 3 million people. The World Bank has committed $33 billion in funding for the environment and natural resource management over the past decade, with IDA contributing $7.7 billion for environmental sustainability in the poorest countries.

Addressing climate change is an urgent priority for the World Bank Group. Without bold action now, the warming planet threatens to put prosperity out of reach of millions and roll back decades of development. For that reason, climate risk is now considered in all country assistance and partnership strategies for the poorest countries. About 85% also consider disaster risk. All country strategies increasingly incorporate climate- and disaster-resilient planning and interventions such as “climate smart” agriculture and measures to boost food security and water efficiency.
Some of the MDG 7 Results
The World Bank is the largest external source of financing for water projects. In the last three years (FY11-13), the World Bank’s commitment for water projects totaled $17 billion, with 56% for water supply and sanitation. The World Bank is one of the largest international financiers of biodiversity conservation with a portfolio of 245 projects in 74 countries worth over $1 billion from FY2004 to 2013. In the last six years, the Bank Group has provided $19.2 billion in financing for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.

Bangladesh: A rural electrification program has been installing more than 50,000 solar home systems every month since 2002, and has delivered off-grid solar power to 2.8 million households.
Brazil: More than 24 million hectares of new protected areas were created in the Amazon rainforest, as well as 45.4 million hectares classified as indigenous lands.
Egypt: Polluting brick kilns were converted to natural gas between 2006 and 2013, reducing exposure of approximately 717,500 people to health-damaging particulate matter.
Ethiopia: Tree planting as part of the Productive Safety Net Program helped protect more than 7 million people from famine in times of drought.
Haiti: 1.3 million people, represented by 76 civil protection communities, strengthened their disaster preparedness and response capacity from 2005 to 2011.
How’s the World Doing?
2
billion people gained access to clean drinking water from 1990 to 2010.
48%
of developing countries are on track to hit the drinkable water target.
2.5
billion people still lack access to improved sanitation.
58%
increase in the number of protected areas since 1990

•8. Making Strides in Global Partnership
Over the last 13 years, the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank’s fund for the poorest countries, has been a leader in partnering to reduce the debt burden of developing nations. Under the Enhanced HIPC Initiative, IDA’s share is 20% of the total estimated cost of debt relief. In addition, IDA provides more than 50% of debt relief committed under the MDRI.

The World Bank Group helped developing countries cope with the effects of the 2008 financial crisis and continues to support developing countries in the face of ongoing economic uncertainty, increasing trade-related lending from $1.9 billion at the end of FY12 to $2.7billion in FY13.

Over 74% of the over 1,700 projects in the Bank’s active portfolio now have ICT components – expanding from about $500 million in 2006 to approximately $1.7 billion in 2014 . Since 2001, the IFC has invested about $4.5 billion and mobilized an additional $2.7 billion of financing in private ICT sector projects in developing countries. In addition, the Bank’s investments helped catalyze over $454 billion in private sector investments in ICT in low-income countries between 2005-2011, according to the PPIAF Telecom Sector Database.
Some of the MDG 8 Results
Under the Enhanced HIPC Initiative, IDA has committed more than $16.4 billion of HIPC debt relief. IDA’s aid for trade financing rose from $2.6 billion a year between 2002 and 2010 to an average of $4.4 billion a year in 2011 and 2013.

The International Finance Facility for Immunization (IFFIm), for which the World Bank serves as treasury manager, has raised more than $4.5 billion on capital markets since 2006 to fund immunizations in the poorest countries.

Afghanistan: 18 million people had access to a phone in 2012, up from just 57,000 functioning phone lines in 2002.
Burkina Faso: Child mortality decreased to 104 deaths per 1,000 children in 2009—half the rate of 1999.
Cameroon: 7.2 million urban dwellers had access to better water sources in 2012.
How’s the World Doing?
$76.4
billion in HIPC debt relief had been committed by June 2010 to 36 countries, of which 30 countries have received an additional $45.8 billion under the MDRI.
54%
of revenues were used for poverty-reducing expenditures in HIPCs in 2009, up 10% from 2001.
12%
contraction in global trade in 2009.
6
billion mobile cellular subscriptions worldwide by the end of 2011.

No.2 Answer.
Bad governance is a relationship between those who govern and those who are governed as a consequence of decision-making. This unfavourable relationship is created as a consequence of external factors or decisions such as violation of central or acceptable norms, such as those of liberal democracy, and bad economic policy:. Bad governance collectively encompasses governance in government and corporate settings. It is the opposite of good governance. Bad governance addresses governance in a government setting but bad governance and bad government are different concepts. Bad governance encompasses a variety of situations from corruption, deceit and to passing of unfair policy. From this, it can be noted that different manifestations of bad governance can vary in severity and the potential impact in their respective setting.The World Bank has identified key indicators of governance which are used as a method to measure bad governance.

Bad governance is centralised around the idea of not only corruption within a system but a lack of transparency and accountability, arbitrary policy making and the cheating of those who are governed.

Problems of development are inextricably tied to problems of governance. Unless local, regional, and national governments perform their assigned tasks, and do so in a tolerably efficient manner, little respite will be found from poverty, disease, illiteracy, crime, civil war, and other problems plaguing the developing world. There is only so much that international bodies, nongovernmental organizations, and market forces can do.

This salient fact has been amply acknowledged in recent years. Over the past few decades, scholars and policymakers have turned their attention to problems of governance, including such topics as democratization, corruption control, capacity-building, electoral systems, judicial systems, and so forth. It is now commonplace to observe that development will occur only if a country has “good institutions” in place, and many of these institutions are either intrinsically political or are political by extension. Thus, the establishment of effective property rights depends upon a structure of law and law enforcement; it does not and cannot exist independently of government. Similarly, the development of a strong civil society is virtually impossible without the development of strong formal institutions of government.

Based on World Bank’s governance indicators, the key causes for Bad governance are:

•Lack of Voice and Weak Accountability
Governing bodies refusing to listen the voice of those they govern and refusing to take accountability for their actions leads to bad governance. By ignoring the voice of those being governed, their opinions are no longer heard or taken into consideration by the governing body. Democratic governments focus on accountability as a method to ensure the public understands what´s happening and provides them a way to proceed when things go wrong. Weak accountability in turn causes a distrust between the two parties and can lead to instability. This distrust and uncertainty creates an unfavourable relationship between the parties.

•Political Instability
Bad Governance occurs as a consequence of frequent changes in government or ‘political instability’. Instability in political regimes, such as a democracy, has been proven to coincide with poor governance.

• Corruption
Bad Governance, is often considered to come hand in hand with corruption. Corruption occurs in many sectors ranging from political to economic environments.Corruption can occur in many different ways and forms.The existence of corruption within a governing body causes bad governance as the officials places their personal gains over others.

The impacts and consequences of bad governance are widespread and don’t only effect the settings in which they occur:

•Poor Economic Growth
Bad governance heavily impacts the per capita growth of a country.African countries has experienced this impact the most since World War II. The economic growth of a country is significantly impacted when exposed to indicators of bad governance but difference indicators influence the degree of impact. A lack in regulatory quality, governments ineffectiveness and a lack of control on corruption have been linked to poor economic growth.

•Corruption
Corruption not only is a cause of but can also occur as a consequence of bad governance. There was a distinct link suggested that[12] that higher levels of governance and a better environment to conduct business are impacted by the presence of corruption within an economy. This link suggests that has levels of governance in an economy due to bad governance, the levels of perceived corruption will rise.

Level of corruption compared to the governance average and Doing Business Rank in an Economy, 2008
Economy Control of Corruption Governance Average Doing Business
Australia 96.1 94.2 10th
Brunei 95.7 93.9 8th
Canada 95.7 93.9 8th
Chile 87.0 82.6 36th
Hong Kong 94.2 87.9 4th
Indonesia 31.4 35.5 127th
Japan 85.5 84.3 12th
South Korea 69.9 71.4 22nd
Malaysia 62.8 58.9 25th
Mexico 49.8 46.8 42nd
New Zealand 98.1 95.6 2nd
Papua New Guinea 9.7 26.2 89th
Peru 49.3 42.0 53rd
Philippines 26.1 37.4 136th
Russia 15.5 26.2 112th
Singapore 99.5 87.4 1st
Chinese Taipei 72.9 74.7 58th
Thailand 43.0 43.5 19th
United States 91.8 87.4 3rd
Vietnam 25.1 34.6 87th

1.
No these goals were not fully achieved.
Globally, the number of deaths of children under 5 years of age fell from 12.7 million in 1990 to 6.3 million in 2013 this is not up to a half of what the goals aimed at achieving
In developing countries, the percentage of underweight children under 5 years old dropped from 28% in 1990 to 17% in 2013.
Globally, new HIV infections declined by 38% between 2001 and 2013.
Existing cases of tuberculosis are declining, along with deaths among HIV-negative tuberculosis cases.
In 2010, the world met the United Nations Millennium Development Goals target on access to safe drinking-water, as measured by the proxy indicator of access to improved drinking-water sources, but more needs to be done to achieve these goals.
A look at the estimates would tell that neither of the figures were upto what theMDGS aimed at achieving

2.
Good governance is the process of measuring public institution conduct public affairs and manage public resources and guarantee the realization of human rights in a manner essentially free of abuse and corruption and with due regard for the rule of law. Governance is “the process of decision-making and the process by which decisions are implemented (or not implemented)”.[1] Governance in this context can apply to corporate, international, national, or local governance[1] as well as the interactions between other sectors of society.

The concept of “good governance” thus emerges as a model to compare ineffective economies or political bodies with viable economies and political bodies

Name: Obetta Kingsley
Reg. Number: 2018/249137
Department: Economics

No 1)

The results show that the clearest victories during the MDG era were in matters of life and death. We calculate the number of lives saved beyond “business-as-usual” pre-MDG trends on child mortality, maternal mortality, HIV/Aids, and tuberculosis. We also look at malaria, which is predominantly a subset of child mortality. These indicators show evidence of major accelerations in rates of progress during the 2000s, with the exception of maternal mortality, which experienced more modest acceleration.

No 2)
The failure of governance in Nigeria manifests in the declining capacity of political leaders to recognize systemic risks such as election fraud, terrorist attacks, herder-farmer conflict, armed banditry, and police brutality and put in place the necessary measures to navigate these challenges. In contrast with the current system in which leadership is attained through bribery, intimidation, and violence, Nigeria needs an epistocratic system of governance that is founded on the pedigree of its political leaders and the education of its voters.

In the last 13 years, the MDGs have managed to focus world attention and global political consensus on the needs of the poorest and to achieve a significant change in the Official Development Assistance (ODA) commitments. They have provided a framework allowing countries to plan their social and economic development and donors to provide effective support at national and international level.

As reported above, a major part of the MDGs has been at least partially accomplished and many countries are on the way to achieving the MDGs and trying to adopt a sustainable path. However, in spite of the general positive outputs, global targets will not be met in some regions, particularly sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia. Indeed, MDGs have encountered a range of common challenges.

First, they were not the product of a comprehensive analysis and prioritization of development needs and consequently were sometimes too narrowly focused. The inconsistent progress partly indicates a trend over time to focus on a subset of specific targets that were easier to achieve, implement and monitor . The untied nature of many goals has often affected the creation of the synergies that could arise across these targets and in particular between education, health, poverty and gender. Even if acceleration in one goal is likely to improve progress in others, these synergies are not always evident, and often vary across countries.

Second, this framework has not afforded enough consideration to the potential impacts on environmental, social and economic dimensions. Environmental aspects are addressed under goal 7 but only some topics are covered, neglecting key issues for sustainable development. Most goals focus on the social dimension of development, e.g. MDGs 1, 2 and 6, addressing social problems such as hunger, education, equality, MCH and communicable diseases. However, these goals are also interconnected with environmental and economic factors. While some links are recognized (e.g. the importance of clean drinking water to health), others such as the maintenance of environmental resources or the quality of air are not. MDG8 addresses the implementation of sustainable development but does not consider new forms of financing, technology and capacity building.
Third, the issue of equity has represented one of the main challenges to face. A gender focus is clear only in MDGs 3 and 5, while it is missing throughout the other goals. MDG3 measures gender equality in education, employment and the proportion of women in national legislatures. MDG5 focuses on maternal mortality and access to reproductive health. This limited explicit inclusion in two MDGs is too narrow and clearly indicates that the gender issue and its dynamics have not yet been fully understood nor integrated in policy dialogues. Improving equalities will require health system strengthening, associated with a political and social engagement to address all forms of discrimination.
Fourth, a lack of clear ownership and leadership internationally and nationally might have partially affected the achievement of the MDGs. Even if different countries scale up health services and make progress towards the MDGs at very different rates, we have mainly observed a trend to a global uniform approach. Rather than spreading specific technical interventions tested in one country on large scale, a more specific approach as well as the adoption of alternative models such as ‘learning by doing’ engaging key stakeholders and taking advantages from evidence-based data from pilot projects, might be adopted). Furthermore, not only stakeholders but also public health professionals should be considered as key actors in the process. Indeed, it has been shown that understanding of MDGs among public health professionals was limited. This general lack of information and awareness represents an important challenge. There is an absolute need for more elaborate publicity and awareness about the MDGs among key players if attaining the MDGs is to be a reality.

Fifth, achievement of the MDGs depends much on the fulfilment of MDG8 on global partnership. In his preface to the report, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said, ‘At the just-concluded Rio+20 Conference, commitments were made on an ambitious sustainable development agenda. But to keep those pledges credible, we must deliver on previous commitments. As a world community, we must make rhetoric a reality and keep our promises to achieve the MDGs’. As reported above, almost 200 countries engaged themselves and provided substantial contributions to the cause. However, these commitments have not been always fully fulfilled. Engagement by governments (and donors in general) has been deeply affected by the global economic and financial crisis that has seriously undermined progress towards poverty reduction and MDGs achievement in general, from 2007 on. Furthermore, not only governments but also the private sector plays an essential role in the development of the global partnership. Up to now, more than half of the services used for MDGs have been provided by private sources and the role of the private sector is intended to be boosted in the next period. Thus, it is of primary importance that governments and the private sector work together to mobilize more resources to achieve the MDGs and counter the negative effect that the global financial crisis may have on the targets attained and future achievements. Those investments should be sustainable over a long period and predictable, and innovative financing mechanisms might be taken in account.

Accountability must be an essential part of the framework. A few studies have underlined the problem of corruption in relation to the use of MDGs resources by governments and other organizations. A health care system in a corrupt environment is weak and unstable, and it will be important for the post-2015 period to find solutions to address both the health and the governance aspects of the development agenda at the same time. Emerging governance models can allow larger citizen participation, ownership and influence, as well as intersectoral action. The participation of civil society and its accountability is essential for a strong new policy development and implementation process.
Last but not least, goal measurement is often too narrow, or might not identify a clear means of delivery. A lack of scientifically valid data on some MDGs, such as MDGs 5 and 6, did not allow the improvement achieved to be measured adequately or to be compared with a baseline. Government reports have sometimes been criticized as false and government-driven, leading to a lack of confidence into the official reporting systems. More and better data are definitely needed, especially relating to the poorest and most vulnerable people. However, even the limited data systems available in some developing countries have allowed the making of assessable investments in education, health, essential infrastructure and environment.

Name: Umeh Chinaza Lucy
Reg no: 2018/246901
Department: Education Economics
Course code:Eco 362
Assignment
1.In your opinion do you think these goals were achieved? If yes,how? If no, why?
2. . Good governance is good for all nations but Nigeria and many developing countries seem to be far behind in their quest for good governance. Discuss!

1. Yes, the goals was achieved with the help of the millennium declaration which served as one of the most significant in the United States documents in recent times and offerrs a common and integrated vision on how to tackle some of the major challenges facing the world of as of that time. Which later resulted in eight millennium development goals (MDGs) which focused on reducing poverty, improving the quality of peoples’ lives, ensuring environmental sustainability, and building partnerships to ensure that globalization becomes a more positive force for all the world’s people.

2. Good governance is a powerful key that unlocks the doors of development in any nation. It implies accountability, transparency, prevalence of the rule of law and popular participation. After 58years of independence and 20 years of democratic rule, Nigeria is still struggling with the issue of good governance, Nigeria is backward in education, infrastructural facilities, security, health care, electoral system among others. However there is hope for Nigeria to overcome all her challenges and become developed, this can be achieved through sound education and enthronement of visionary leaders who are focused, selfless and ready to work for the good of Nigeria. With the analysis of secondary data, the paper examines the concept of good governance, its challenges and prospect to development; it observes that corruption is the major challenges of good governance in Nigeria. It therefore recommends among others that government should wage war against corruption by empowering anticorruption agencies to curb the menace of corruption.The economic growth of a country is significantly impacted when exposed to indicators of bad governance but difference indicators influence the degree of impact. A lack in regulatory quality, governments ineffectiveness and a lack of control on corruption have been linked to poor economic growth.
Africa is blessed with 54 independent States, filled with natural and human resources as well as investment worthy attractions. However with all the distinct and admirable qualities of this continent, there is an evident challenge of bad governance.To put into a clear perspective, there is the inability to manage the resources of the people in a country and consequently, the country herself. A Government is the machinery by which law and order is maintained in all affairs of human existence. Thus, the absence of good governance is simply utter mismanagement characterised by arbitrary leadership, lack of regard for the law, institutional failures and so on. In its parts, Africa (represented by countries) has been bedeviled by leaders who are no longer in tune with the purpose of forming a government and good governance.
Bad governance emanates from various factors and this article will briefly elaborate on the trend of bad governance in Africa by highlighting the causes of bad governance, the effects and recommend possible solutions. With the multiplicity of laws and institutions with local and international influence, African States should have the wherewithal to be the pacesetter for fair and balanced governance. However the contrary is the reality. The following are the possible root causes of bad governance in Africa:
1. Absence of Accountability: The relationship between the government and the people governed rests on accountability on the part of those who were elected by the people to serve the nation in any capacity. When the leaders no longer care about the opinions of the people in respect of decision making, there is a breakdown of that cordial relationship.This results into making of arbitrary decisions, taking questionable actions which are more often than not contrary to the interests of the populace. This has been the common trend of most African Leaders especially in the political realm.
2. Corruption: This has undoubtedly been the biggest problem facing African countries. But how can one describe corruption? There are many variations of corruption. As far as governance is concerned, corruption is when a leader uses his position to place himself and chosen individuals at a higher advantage than others without merit.It is when a political head misuses his office to ascribe benefits to himself. When there is corruption in a system no matter how insignificant, it will gradually destroy the integrity of the government. Corruption is easily noticed when law enforcement agencies are paid off by a person just to avoid prosecution. Also when a sitting judge with evident facts to sanction a government official, takes the opposite side of Justice. Corruption is seen when a government leader illicitly flows government revenue into a private account. These are just few examples of what corruption entails. It is rather surprising that developing countries which are more in number in the African continent are filled with corrupt leaders. Thus, there is no proper governance where the government is corrupt with lust for power, wealth or fame.
3. Disregard of the Rule of Law: On the 6th of December 2019, a prominent Nigerian journalist and activist, Omoyele Sowore was arrested during his trial before a court of law by some security operatives who were identified as DSS.
Why are Africans corrupt?
This is an instance of the degrading system of democracy and another layer of bad governance. It will be marked in history as the day that the regard for the rule of law, human rights, the Constitution and the Judiciary were threatened by the same people who were to uphold and defend them. When a person in authority begins to act outside the scope of his powers, there is the certainty that what follows next will be the trend of horrendous administration. African governments especially in some countries have little or no regards for the law, court decisions and fundamental human rights. The issue of corruption can be attributed to the election of non credible leaders into different offices. This brings us to the next points.
4. A Failed Democracy: Africa has suffered the brunt of Western colonization in the past. So when the era of self Independence was ushered in, most States were faced with the challenge of building a government where the people and the elected governors are accountable to one another. Unfortunately, the situation we encounter in African States is nothing more than a failing Democracy. There is hardly free and fair elections or the government reforms electoral laws to suppress competition during elections. At the end, elections and appointments are smeared with tribalism and nepotism. Government is no longer of the people, by the people or for the people. Now leaders who bear important responsibilities only think more of how any action benefits themselves.
5. Incompetence in Leadership: One of the factors behind bad governance in African States is the unappealing sight of the political sector filled with nonchalant leaders. Politics here should be addressed in a wider and more general view.A good political structure is one that is built upon the regard for persons qualified to lead to be afforded the right opportunity to justify the qualification. In simpler words, if a person is entitled to appointment or to run for an election, the person should not be restricted because of gender, ethnic or religious background and other insignificant considerations.
Nowadays, the picture of the government is drawn by the actions of most leaders who do not even have the right capacity or capability to make quality decisions. And this can be easily traced to the fact that key positions in a country are given to those who share the same religion, tribe, gender or other background with the appointer. This ultimately birthes weak political structure and bad governance.
6. Marginalization: So much has been discussed about discrimination in respect of persons and it is imperative to mention that discrimination can be on a large scale. When a group of persons within a country are segregated in certain privileges that other groups have, the end result will be an ineffective government.
causes, effects and solutions to bad governance in Africa, Nigeria
It may be marginalisation of a tier, arm or institution of government or any people with ethnic or religious ties. By this, the government will not be able to act transparently and indiscriminately which will result to poor and unfair management of the resources leading to brutal rebuttals from the group concerned.
1. Poor Economic Growth: Studies have shown and proven that where there is bad management of resources and bad governance of people in general, the economy of any country will sink. The instances are numerous. It is the duty of government to provide for the peace, security and welfare of its people.
When those in authority divert the objective to selfish interests, there will be mismanagement of resources which will cause trusted investors to withdraw their investments leading to scarcity of options to make up for the losses. This is why Africa has been relegated to the background. The supposed giant of Africa, Nigeria, is still a good example. Gone are the times when the dollar rate was equivalent to Nigeria’s currency rate in Naira.

It tells a lot about how far leadership has failed the country. Currently, there are massive unemployment rates, increased poverty and the like which was not the case many years ago. Not even the admired natural resources are worth heavy investment because the bad reputation of the country has defeated the reason why there should be.
2. Breakdown of Civilization: Civilization is what Government was established to create in form. The result of untrustworthy leaders who are not capable or accountable to say the least makes the people unwilling to continue with the leadership. As earlier mentioned, the Government-Citizens relationship is one built on trust. The people come together to divest their self independent powers to certain individuals who can further progress and protect their interests.If those certain individuals are not living up to expectations, the people or citizens have the right to protest against the government. This has been and will continue to be the case even in stable countries. The citizens will no longer find it necessary to bend to the laws of the land if those same laws are not above the leaders.People express their opinions aggressively by destroying government properties, blocking traffic ways, even as far as releasing people from prisons, resulting to absence of law and order. Where good leadership breaks down, Civilization breaks down as well.
3. Weak Political /Governmental Structures: In the eyes of the people within and outside the country, there is an apparent fragile political structure due to the incompetence of leaders. It is not a good image of a country that it cannot produce capable individuals who will enhance the will of the Government by promoting social and economic development. The fact is that a country is not only known or acknowledged for the resources it has but by the competence to manage the resources. It is tragic to notice that when there is a conversation of most respected nations in the world, hardly will anyone in these contemporary times bring up any African State. This is once again due to the fact that there is total lack of confidence from the citizens and non stakeholders around the globe that an African State is capable of managing resources let alone earn a place in world recognition.Bad governance has led to internal conflicts where there are usually uprises from within the country clamouring for secession; a testament of what the political structure looks like. Note that this also applies to institutions established by the government in terms of their inability to rightly act because of the weakness of the creating entity.
Possible solutions to bad Governance in Africa
Having highlighted the reasons behind bad governance and the consequences, this article will attempt to recommend possible solutions which should also be considered feasible as well.
1. The Government should be more accountable to the people. Accountability is one aspect of governance that if lost, can cause a breakdown of law and order. The leaders, whether appointed or elected, should represent the interests of the entire nation in all their functions and not only when it benefits their religion, tribe and so on.
2. There should be increased transparency among the Government and its institutions. When the administrative heads and Governmental leaders are more transparent in their actions, that will automatically be a proactive step to stop corrupt practices in their dealings. On this note, the government should put in stringent measures to proscribe corruption from anyone put in the position of leadership.
3. Institutions for building competent leaders should be established and if already established, should be increasingly financed. As everyone knows, bad leadership equals bad governance. This is not to say that there have been no or there are no good leaders in Africa. The issue is whether this will be a seasonal experience. Institutions should be created solely for the purpose of training men and women to be useful, industrious and competent leaders in any sector that has their interests. There are some that have been established for that purpose but lack the necessary financial boost. They should be financed and monitored by the Government at regular basis.
4. Parliamentary measures should be enforced to put an end to corruption among governmental leaders. The issue of corruption is arguably the most pressing concern in Africa. This is why all hands should be on deck to fight against it in order to protect the future of democracy. The Legislature, being the law making arm of government, should enact laws that not only penalises it but ensure that no one will be an exception. There are laws in existence but are silent in certain matters which gives political governors loopholes to escape. That should be addressed sooner than later. Good governance rests on the rule of law over the governed and the Government.
5. There should be regard for the fundamental rights of citizens particularly the right against discrimination. All genders, ethnic, religious and tribal personalities should be considered when making decisions. They should also be afforded opportunity to work in key positions in government from the local level to the federal level as long as they are qualified.
6. Lastly, there should be no tolerance for incompetent leadership in any office in Government. This statement stands true: Show me your leader and I will tell you what your country will be. A good leader is a competent leader.Especially when it comes to appointment, there should be no allowance for favoritism on any angle in respect of a person who is not qualified for the position. Not even ethical standards should be the sole basis of appointment. A competent leader should be holistic because governance is not just one sided.
Lastly the failure of governance in Nigeria manifests in the declining capacity of political leaders to recognize systemic risks such as election fraud, terrorist attacks, herder-farmer conflict, armed banditry, and police brutality and put in place the necessary measures to navigate these challenges. In contrast with the current system in which leadership is attained through bribery, intimidation, and violence, Nigeria needs an epistocratic system of governance that is founded on the pedigree of its political leaders and the education of its voters.
At the end of the Cold War, African civil society movements striving for more democratic governance began to challenge authoritarian regimes on the continent. Declining living conditions within African countries and the failure of authoritarian African leaders to deliver the promises of economic prosperity they made to encourage the acceptance of development aid fueled the push for change. International donors’ insistence on democratic reform as a precondition for aid gave impetus for Nigerian civil society to push for domestic accountability. Thus, domestic pressure for political pluralism and external pressure for representative governance have both played a role in the calls for democratic reform in Nigeria.
But despite some successes, corruption and socioeconomic disparities within Nigerian democracy continue to run rampant. Since 1999, the democratic space has been dominated by political elites who consistently violate fundamental principles associated with a liberal democratic system, such as competitive elections, the rule of law, political freedom, and respect for human rights. The outcome of the 2019 presidential election further eroded public trust in the ability of the independent electoral commission to organize competitive elections unfettered by the authoritarian influences of the ruling class. This challenge is an indicator of the systemic failure in Nigeria’s governance system. A continuation of the current system will only accelerate the erosion of public trust and democratic institutions. In contrast with the current system in which votes are attained through empty promises, bribery, voter intimidation, and violence, Nigeria needs a governance system that will enhance the education of its voters and the capability of its leaders.
Statistically speaking, Nigeria has consistently ranked low in the World Governance Index in areas such as government effectiveness, political stability and the presence of violence and terrorism, rule of law, and control of corruption. Nigeria is perceived in the 2020 Transparency International Corruption Perception Index as a highly corrupt country with a score of 25/100 while its corruption ranking increased from 146 in 2019 to 149 in 2020 out of 180 countries surveyed. While President Muhammadu Buhari won the 2015 election on his promise to fight insecurity and corruption, his promises went unfulfilled; Boko Haram continues to unleash unspeakable violence on civilians while the fight against corruption is counterproductive.
At the core of Nigeria’s systemic failure is the crisis of governance, which manifests in the declining capacity of the state to cope with a range of internal political and social upheavals. There is an expectation for political leaders to recognize systemic risks such as terrorist attacks, herder-farmer conflict, and police brutality and put in place the necessary infrastructure to gather relevant data for problem solving. But the insufficiency of political savvy required to navigate the challenges that Nigeria faces has unleashed unrest across the nation and exacerbated existing tensions. The #ENDSARS Protests against police brutality in 2020 is one of the manifestations of bad governance.
The spiral of violence in northern Nigeria in which armed bandits engage in deadly planned attacks on communities, leading to widespread population displacement, has become another grave security challenge that has sharpened regional polarization. Because some public servants are usually unaware of the insecurities faced by ordinary Nigerians, they lack the frame of reference to make laws that address the priorities of citizens. The crisis of governance is accentuated by a democratic culture that accords less importance to the knowledge and competence that political leaders can bring to public office. These systemic challenges have bred an atmosphere of cynicism and mistrust between citizens and political leaders at all levels of government.
Political elites in Nigeria also exploit poverty and illiteracy to mobilize voters with food items such as rice, seasoning, and money. The rice is usually packaged strategically with the image of political candidates and the parties they represent. The assumption is that people are more likely to vote for a politician who influences them with food than one who only brings messages of hope. The practice of using food to mobilize voters is commonly described as “stomach infrastructure” politics. The term “stomach infrastructure” arose from the 2015 election in Ekiti state when gubernatorial candidate Ayodele Fayosi mobilized voters with food items and defeated his opponent Kayode Fayemi. It is undeniable that Nigerian political culture rewards incompetent leaders over reform-minded leaders who demonstrate the intellectualism and problem-solving capabilities needed to adequately address systemic issues of poverty and inequality.
Jason Brennan describes the practice of incentivizing people to be irrational and ignorant with their votes as the unintended consequence of democracy. Brennan believes specific expertise is required to tackle socio-economic issues, so political power should be apportioned based on expert knowledge. As Brennan suggests, Nigeria lacks a system of governance in which leadership is based on capability. Rather, the political system in Nigeria is dominated by individuals who gain power through nepotism rather than competence, influence voters with food rather than vision, and consolidate power through intimidation or by incentivizing constituents with material gifts which they frame as “empowerment” to keep them subservient and loyal political followers. By implication, the failure of governance in Nigeria is arguably the result of incompetent leadership.
Nigeria needs a new model of governance in which political leadership is based on the knowledge and competence of both political leaders and the electorate. One solution is to establish what Brennan refers to as epistocracy, which is a system of governance in which the votes of politically informed citizens should count more than the less informed. For Justin Klocksiem, epistocracy represents a political system in which political power rests exclusively on highly educated citizens. This idea drew its philosophical influence from John Stuart Mill, who believed that the eligibility to vote should be accorded to individuals who satisfy certain educational criteria. The notion that educational attainment should be the prerequisite for the electorate to choose their leaders as proposed by Brennan, Klocksiem, and Mill is an important proposition that should be taken seriously.
However, one cannot ignore that such thinking originates from societies where civic education is high and the electorate can make informed choices about leadership. In Nigeria, the majority of citizens are uneducated on political issues. Simultaneously, those who are highly educated are increasingly becoming indifferent to political participation; they have lost faith in the power of their votes and the integrity of the political system. For an epistocratic system to work in Nigeria, there must be significant improvements in literacy levels so that citizens are educated about the issues and can use their knowledge to make informed decisions about Nigeria’s political future.
It is important to mention that Nigeria’s political elites have exploited illiteracy to reinforce ethnic, religious, and political divisions between groups that impede democratic ideals. Since the resultant effect of epistocracy is to instill knowledge, raise consciousness and self-awareness within a polity anchored on the failed system of democracy, decisions that promote the education of uninformed voters are the rationale for an epistocratic system of governance. The Constitution must ensure that only citizens who can formulate policies and make informed decisions in the public’s best interest can run for public office. When the Constitution dictates the standard of epistocratic governance, informed citizens will be better equipped to champion political leadership or determine the qualifications of their leaders. Epistocratic governance will be the alternative to Nigeria’s current dysfunctional democratic system while retaining the aspects of liberal democracy that maintain checks and balances.
We are not, however, oblivious that implementing such an epistocratic system of governance in Nigeria potentially contributes to more inequality given its highly undemocratic and exclusive nature. Our argument takes into consideration the contextual realities of poverty and illiteracy and the realization that poor and illiterate constituents have less power to evaluate the credibility of public servants or hold them accountable. The benefits of electing epistocratic leaders are that many citizens would desire to be educated in preparation for leadership. The more educated the population the more likely it is that political leaders will be held accountable. However, the kind of education that is needed to significantly transform the governance landscape in Nigeria is civic education.
We propose three policies to promote epistocratic governance in Nigeria. First, aspiring leaders must demonstrate the intellectual pedigree to translate knowledge into effective, transparent, and accountable governance that leads to national prosperity. As Rotimi Fawole notes, the bar should be higher for those aspiring to executive or legislative office “to improve the ideas that are put forward and the intellectual rigor applied to the discussions that underpin our statehood.”
Second, the government must increase access to education through government-sponsored initiatives that integrate civic education into school curriculums. Currently, little opportunity exists for young Nigerians, particularly those in underfunded public education systems, to learn about their civic roles at the local, state, national, and international levels, including how to emerge as participating citizens through the academic curriculum.
Third, the government should engage the support of local NGOs to promote civic education across Nigeria in culturally appropriate ways. The NGOs should be empowered to define the legal concept of citizenship and summarize specific civil rights enshrined in the Constitution into a Charter of Rights and Responsibilities modeled after the Canadian Charter. The Charter should include value positions essential to an effective democracy, such as the rights of citizens, social justice, accountable governance, and rule of law. It can then be commissioned as a resource for civics education in Nigeria.
This article recognizes that Nigeria is grappling with governance challenges orchestrated by two decades of a failed democratic project. Governing these challenges requires knowledgeable leaders and an equally informed electorate. Like any new experiment, there are concerns about the viability of epistocracy as a political system, particularly in a Nigerian context fraught with ethnoreligious and political challenges. But Nigeria will only have effective governance when the right people are saddled with the responsibility to govern. However, change cannot be spontaneous. The implementation of an epistocratic system of governance within the Nigerian context must be incremental, bearing in mind that Nigeria’s democracy is still evolving.
Inconcluson there is no question that good governance furthers social and economic progress within a country. Having examined Africa as a case study, it is bizzare to think that things will go back to normal in a few years. However it is a hopeful wish that the government of the day will understand the reason for its creation and act appropriately. Bad governance ruins the capacity of any people, exposes a country to civil unrest, diminishes the reality of democracy amongst other things. The opposite is true when the leaders are capable enough, competent, transparent and accountable. By taking the right steps to ensure change, Africa can once again be the citadel of realized dreams and opportunities that the entire world will have no choice but to acknowledge.

In your opinion do you think these goals were achieved? If yes,how? If no, why?
The goals were achieved, the MDGs have saved the lives of millions and improved conditions for many more. For instance:
Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Globally, the number of people living in extreme poverty declined by more
than half, falling from 1.9 billion in 1990 to 836 million in 2015.
Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education
The primary school net enrolment rate in the developing regions reached 91 percent in 2015.The literacy rate among youth aged 15 to 24 increased globally from 83 percent to 91 percent between 1990 and 2015.
Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
Many more girls are now in school compared to 15 years ago. The developing regions as a whole have achieved the target to eliminate gender disparity in primary, secondary and tertiary education. Women have gained ground in parliamentary representation in nearly 90 per cent of the 174 countries with data over the past 20 years. The average proportion of women in parliament has nearly doubled during the same period.
Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
Since the early 1990s, the rate of reduction of under-five mortality has more than tripled globally.
Goal 5: Improve maternal health
Since 1990, the maternal mortality ratio has declined by 45 per cent worldwide, and most of the reduction has occurred since 2000.More than 71 per cent of births were assisted by skilled health personnel globally in 2014, an increase from 59 per cent in 1990.
Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
New HIV infections fell by approximately 40 per cent between 2000 and 2013, from an estimated 3.5 million cases to 2.1 million. Over 6.2 million malaria deaths have been averted between 2000 and 2015, primarily of children under five years of age in Sub Saharan Africa. The global malaria incidence rate has fallen by an estimated 37 per cent.
Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
In 2015, 91 per cent of the global population is using an improved drinking water source, compared to 76 per cent in 1990. Globally, 147 countries have met the drinking water target, 95 countries have met the sanitation target and 77 countries have met both. Worldwide, 2.1 billion people have gained access to improved sanitation.
Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development
Official development assistance from developed countries increased by 66 percent in real terms between 2000 and 2014, reaching $135.2 billion. In 2014, 79 per cent of imports from developing to developed countries were admitted duty free, up from 65 per cent in 2000.The proportion of external debt service to export revenue in developing countries fell from 12 per cent in 2000 to 3 per cent in 2013.

2. Good governance is good for all nations but Nigeria and many developing countries seem to be far behind in their quest for good governance. Discuss!
Governance and political leadership in Nigeria and many developing countries have been driven by self-interest and other primordial considerations, which take priority over that of the public. The failure of governance in Nigeria manifests in the declining capacity of political leaders to recognize systemic risks such as election fraud, terrorist attacks, herder – farmer conflict, armed banditry, and police brutality and put in place the necessary measures to navigate these challenges. Statistically speaking, Nigeria has consistently ranked low in the World Governance Index in areas such as government effectiveness, political stability and the presence of violence and terrorism, rule of law, and control of corruption. Nigeria is perceived in the 2020 Transparency International Corruption Perception Index as a highly corrupt country with a score of 25/100 while its corruption ranking increased from 146 in 2019 to 149 in 2020 out of 180 countries surveyed.

NAME: EZEAMENYI CHINONSO IFESOROCHUKWU
REG: 2018/251370
DEPT: EDUCATION/ECONOMICS
EMAIL ADDRESS: nonsofavour732@gmail.com
Question 1: Although significant achievements have been made on many of the MDG targets worldwide, progress has been uneven across regions and countries, leaving significant gaps. Millions of people are being left behind, especially the poorest and those disadvantaged because of their sex, age, disability, ethnicity or geographic location. Targeted efforts will be needed to reach the most vulnerable people.
1: Gender inequality persists Women continue to face discrimination in access to work, economic assets and participation in private and public decision-making. Women are also more likely to live in poverty than men. In Latin America and the Caribbean, the ratio of women to men in poor households increased from 108 women for every 100 men in 1997 to 117 women for every 100 men in 2012, despite declining poverty rates for the whole region.Women remain at a disadvantage in the labour market. Globally, about three quarters of working-age men participate in the labour force, compared to only half of working-age women. Women earn 24 per cent less than men globally. In 85 per cent of the 92 countries with data on unemployment rates by level of education for the years 2012–2013, women with advanced education have higher rates of unemployment than men with similar levels of education. Despite continuous progress, today the world still has far to go towards equal gender representation in private and public decision-making.
2: Big gaps exist between the poorest and richest households, and between rural and urban areas In the developing regions, children from the poorest 20 per cent of households are more than twice as likely to be stunted as those from the wealthiest 20 per cent. Children in the poorest households are four times as likely to be out of school as those in the richest households. Under-five mortality rates are almost twice as high for children in the poorest households as for children in the richest. In rural areas, only 56 per cent of births are attended by skilled health personnel, compared with 87 per cent in urban areas. About 16 per cent of the rural population do not use improved drinking water sources, compared to 4 per cent of the urban population. About 50 per cent of people living in rural areas lack improved sanitation facilities, compared to only 18 per cent of people in urban areas.
3:Climate change and environmental degradation undermine progress achieved, and poor people suffer the mostGlobal emissions of carbon dioxide have increased by over 50 per cent since 1990. Addressing the unabated rise in greenhouse gas emissions and the resulting likely impacts of climate change, such as altered ecosystems, weather extremes and risks to society, remains an urgent, critical challenge for the global community. An estimated 5.2 million hectares of forest were lost in 2010, an area about the size of Costa Rica. Overexploitation of marine fish stocks led to declines in the percentage of stocks within safe biological limits, down from 90 per cent in 1974 to 71 per cent in 2011. Species are declining overall in numbers and distribution. This means they are increasingly threatened with extinction. Water scarcity affects 40 per cent of people in the world and is projected to increase. Poor people’s livelihoods are more directly tied to natural resources, and as they often live in the most vulnerable areas, they suffer the most from environmental degradation.

4: Conflicts remain the biggest threat to human development By the end of 2014, conflicts had forced almost 60 million people to abandon their homes—the highest level recorded since the Second World War. If these people were a nation, they would make up the twentyfourth largest country in the world. Every day, 42,000 people on average are forcibly displaced and compelled to seek protection due to conflicts, almost four times the 2010 number of 11,000. Children accounted for half of the global refugee population under the responsibility of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in 2014. In countries affected by conflict, the proportion of out-of-school children increased from 30 per cent in 1999 to 36 per cent in 2012. Fragile and conflict-affected countries typically have the highest poverty rates.
5: Millions of poor people still live in poverty and hunger, without access to basic services Despite enormous progress, even today, about 800 million people still live in extreme poverty and suffer from hunger. Over 160 million children under age five have inadequate height for their age due to insufficient food. Currently, 57 million children of primary school age are not in school. Almost half of global workers are still working in vulnerable conditions, rarely enjoying the benefits associated with decent work. About 16,000 children die each day before celebrating their fifth birthday, mostly from preventable causes. The maternal mortality ratio in the developing regions is 14 times higher than in the developed regions. Just half of pregnant women in the developing regions receive the recommended minimum of four antenatal care visits. Only an estimated 36 per cent of the 31.5 million people living with HIV in the developing regions were receiving ART in 2013. In 2015, one in three people (2.4 billion) still use unimproved sanitation facilities, including 946 million people who still practise open defecation. Today over 880 million people are estimated to be living in slum-like conditions in the developing world’s cities.With global action, these numbers can be turned around.
Question 2:
Promoting good governance that is accountable, transparent, honest, and participatory, that guarantees economic freedom—i.e., the right of citizens to freely exchange goods and contract with each other in business—and that is based on secured property rights, including land rights, is crucial for the progress of Ethiopia and for all of Africa. This is only possible by moving forward with constitutional reforms that place limits on government offi cials to prevent the abuse of power, guarantee economic freedoms, and control the negative incentives that drive corruption. A clear legal delineation and separation of public political activities from private economic activities is necessary to reduce corruption. Corruption can be defi ned as postconstitutional opportunism aimed at getting benefi ts for individuals or a group at the expense of society. Once a constitution is adopted, there is an incentive on the part of groups to benefi t through capture of the state’s redistributive power. One form of corruption, called “rent seeking,” occurs when individuals and groups expend resources to negatively affect the distributional outcome. Effective control of corruption must be based on institutional and constitutional reforms to constrain the ability of the state actors to intervene in private and market transactions. Tackling the problem of corruption, or the abuse of public trust for private gain, is not possible by simply jailing corrupt individuals without changing the incentives for corruption. It is imperative to create a constitution with checks and balances and rule of law. Where corruption exists, the effects typically fall disproportionately on the poor, since the cost of bribes is felt more severely by the poor than by the rich, and on small fi rms, since they feel the pinch more than large fi rms do (Figure 7.2.Overall, the reasons that states with poor governance fail stem from many factors. Failing states may be more rigid in decision making, and they may lack the capability to administer detailed plans. Bureaucratic obstacles may block private-sector initiatives and innovation. It is hard to replicate a private-market incentive system within a government. Branches of government may also be poorly coordinated and lack effective oversight. Excessive state controls may cause black markets to expand through increased incentives for rent seeking and corruption.
Development planning may be manipulated by small, privileged groups for their own benefi t. Combinations of the above factors make it very diffi cult for a state to function effectively and to maintain a sense of societal order.

NAME: URAMA ISAAC ANENECHUKWU
REG. NO. 2018/243823
DEPARTMENT: ECONOMICS
COURSE CODE: ECO 362
LECTURER: RT. HON. MR PRESIDENT (PH.D)
3RD ASSIGNMENT ON ECO 362- DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS

ANSWER TO QUESTION NUMBER 1
Were the Millennium Development Goals a success?
The answers I’ll give to that big Question is *”Yes! Even though there were some lapses in achieving some of the development gaols, but the fact that they failed to achieve some of the goals should not make us neglect the impact of the areas that was met to some extent and how it actually helped to better the economy of developing countries and the world economy at large.
The United Nations has hailed the Millennium Development Goals – or MDGs – as “the most successful anti-poverty movement in history.” So have the goals and targets ushered into life 15 years ago achieved their objectives?
“The MDGs helped to lift more than one billion people out of extreme poverty, to make inroads against hunger, to enable more girls to attend school than ever before and to protect our planet,” the UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon recently explained.
But he didn’t finish there. “Yet for all the remarkable gains, I am keenly aware that inequalities persist and that progress has been uneven.”
It’s true remarkable progress has been accomplished. Yet, around 1.5 billion people in conflict affected countries and on the extreme margins of society were unreached by the goals and unable to benefit from the tide that lifted their neighbours.
So which goals were met and which fell short? Below, we’ll broadly examine what has been achieved for the main targets within the eight goals using information from The Millennium Development Goals Report 2015.
MDG 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger
The target of reducing extreme poverty rates – people living on just $1.25 a day – by half was met five years ahead of the 2015 deadline. Globally the number of people living in extreme poverty has fallen from 1.9 billion in 1990 to 836 million in 2015.
However, target of halving the proportion of people suffering from hunger has narrowly been missed. The proportion of undernourished people in the developing regions has fallen from 23.3 per cent in 1990 to 12.9 per cent in 2014.
MDG 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education
Primary school enrolment figures have shown an impressive rise, but the goal of achieving universal primary education has just been missed. The primary school enrolment rate in developing regions reached 91 per cent this year, up from 83 per cent in 2000.
MDG 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women
Women have been the most affected by the global recession
Women have been most affected by unemployment, underemployment, wage cuts, reduced benefits, decreased demand for migrant workers, lower remittances, lack of assets and credit, higher food, fuel and medicine prices
Governments have cut back on social protections such as healthcare and employment
About two two-thirds of developing countries achieved gender parity in primary education. Progress has been particularly strong in Southern Asia. Only 74 girls were enrolled in primary school for every 100 boys in 1990. Today, 103 girls are enrolled for every 100 boys.
MDG 4: Reduce Child Mortality
The global under-five mortality rate has declined by more than half since 1990 – dropping from 90 to 43 deaths per 1,000 live births. This falls short of the targeted drop of two-thirds.
In practical terms this means 16,000 children under-five continue to die every day from preventable causes. A terrible reality made worse by the fact we know what each one of these major killers are, and what can be done to thwart them.
MDG 5: Improve Maternal Health
Since 1990, the maternal mortality ratio has been cut nearly in half. This is an impressive result, but as well with goal 4 it falls short of the two-thirds reduction that was aimed for. There were an estimated 289,000 maternal deaths in 2013.
MDG 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases
The results with MDG 5 are mixed. The target of halting and beginning to reverse the spread of HIV/Aids has not been met – although the number of new HIV infections fell by 40% between 2000 and 2013.
According to the UN, over 6.2 million malaria deaths have been averted between 2000 and 2015, primarily of children under five years of age in sub-Saharan Africa. The global malaria incidence rate has fallen by an estimated 37 per cent and the mortality rate by 58 per cent
MDG 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainably
Between 1990 and 2015, 2.6 billion people gained access to improved drinking water, meaning the target of halving the proportion of people without access to safe water was achieved. Worldwide, 2.1 billion people have gained access to improved sanitation.
MDG 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development
Official development assistance from wealthy countries to developing countries increased by 66 per cent in real terms between 2000 and 2014, reaching $135.2 billion.
What comes next?
The MDG’s successor – the Sustainable Development Goals – are due to be adopted by world leaders at a summit in New York in late September.
All countries – as well as aid agencies, businesses and the public working in collaborative partnership – will implement this universal agenda for a transformed world. And the first order of business will be “reaching the furthest behind first.”
For World Vision this means reaching vulnerable children in the world’s hardest places to live. They are the children in remote areas, in the midst of intractable conflicts and buffeted by droughts or flooding caused by the effects of climate change.
World Vision believes sustainable development begins with healthy, nourished and well-educated children free from all forms of violence – and the SDGs represent an unprecedented opportunity to make these aspirations a reality. The real work now lies ahead: ensuring these new commitments to transform the lives of the world’s most vulnerable children are kept.
CHALLENGES AND ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS FOR WOMEN AND GIRLS – GAPS
1) The MDGs failed to take into consideration a human rights framework in the accomplishment of their outcomes
Human rights principles must be central to the achievement of MDGs, SDGs and the post-2015 agenda. Acceptable human rights standards should be used in achieving outcomes. For instance, mandatory testing of women for HIV violates their right to bodily integrity and autonomy
Several international human rights agreements provide the necessary framework and ethical basis for the achievement of the MDGs for women and girls. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)
UN conferences have provided critical platforms to embed human rights priorities in the development agenda: Rio, Vienna, Cairo, Copenhagen, Beijing
2) The MDGs are not en-gendered
En-gendering the MDGs would have implied mainstreaming a gender dimension that should result in equal rights and equal opportunities for women through the achievement of all the MDGs and not only MDG 3, and MDG 5
In MDG 1, for example, we know that more women than men fall below the poverty line and that the depth of poverty is greater for extremely poor women. Women face greater difficulties in accessing land and other livelihood resources and that they carry the disproportionate burden of unpaid care work. Yet, in MDG 1, there is no indication of the gender dimensions of poverty
The MDGs also failed to include other key areas within the women’s rights agenda, including violence against women, sexual and reproductive health and rights, women, peace and security issues
The MDG framework does not recognize discrimination and inequality as factors that have led to rural communities, the poorest households and ethnic minorities being left behind
There is no guarantee that achieving MDG goals and targets improve living conditions for the most disadvantaged and marginalized groups
3) MDGs lack an enabling environment
Their achievement has been challenged by global economic policies
The 2015 agenda has to be designed in an environment that reduces the disparity between the agenda’s goals and macroeconomic, trade development and investment polices and fiscal policies
Governments must mobilize the maximum available resources to meet human rights obligations. This means governments must review all sources of revenue including tax revenue
Appropriate financial regulation should be put in place so that women’s rights do not retrogress due to a global, national crises or austerity phases
States that are parties to the ICESCR are also under a “minimum core” obligation to ensure the satisfaction of, at the very least, “minimum essential levels of each of the rights” in the ICESCR. Even in times of severe resource constraints, states must ensure that rights are fulfilled for vulnerable members of society
A consistent approach to the participation of rights holders, including the right to information, freedom of expression, assembly and association, and the accountability of duty-bearers is imperative for women who face negative traditional cultural and behavioral stereotypes that often make their informed participation impossible
Focusing on the duty-bearers will provide accountability at multiple intersecting levels – local, national, regional and international creating an enabling environment for the MDGs
4) Future achievements can benefit from reviewing best practices
Since 2002 German Development Cooperation has supported Cambodia and especially the Ministry of Women´s Affairs (MOWA) in putting policies and strategies in place to substantially reduce gender-based violence. One of the main achievements was the Law on Prevention of Domestic Violence that was passed by the Parliament in 2005
EU Plan of Action on Gender Equality and Women´s Empowerment in Development (2010-2015)
Germany in the MENA region, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Tunisia – “Economic Integration of Women in the MENA Region” focuses on gender inequalities and gender stereotypes at the workplace, media campaigns with public and private stakeholders
4) Gender Equality is under-funded
In 2012 official development assistance (ODA) stood at $126 billion presenting a decline in allocable aid. Aid for gender equality = $22 billion
There is an urgent need to channel more funds towards women’s political and economic empowerment
Limited funding for women’s rights and gender equality is a crucial factor restraining the achievement of the MDGs for women and girls
5. The target of halting and beginning to reverse the spread of HIV/Aids by 2015 has not been fully met, although the number of new HIV infections fell by around 40% between 2000 and 2013.
CONCLUSIONS- GOING FORWARD WE NEED TO:
1. Embed the MDGs in a human rights framework
2. Look at all MDGs through a gender lens and apply the principles of gender-mainstreaming to all MDGs and the 2015 agenda
3. Collect better data (disaggregated)
4. Build accountability into all actions
5. Have gender-responsive budgeting

QUESTION NUMBER 2.
Good governance is good for all nations but Nigeria and many developing countries seem to be far behind in their quest for good governance. Discuss!

ANSWER TO QUESTION NUMBER 2
It is baffling how other countries of the world, especially, Western countries enjoy civilization, good hospitality, citizen welfare, and rule of law while African continent is way back left behind. In recent time, African continent, mainly, Nigeria, has suffered series of military coup, war and colonization.

Holding that our colonial masters have moved on with variety of developments both in technology and economy, and one will ever ask, does Africans need second colonization?

Yes, Africa does not need another colonization but need to look inward to know what is actually wrong with its system of governance, and try to make amendment where necessary. In this brief research basically focused for class presentation, it will concentrate on understanding what good governance means, citing countries that is transparent in their day to day government activities, pointing out causes of bad governance in Nigeria and make summarized recommendation on how to resolve those problems.

Recently the terms “governance” and “good governance” are being increasingly used in development literature. Bad governance is regarded as one of the root causes of all evil within our societies. Major donors and international financial institutions are increasingly basing their aid and loans on the condition that reforms and ensures “good governance” are undertaken.

What is Governance and Good Governance?
Governance is simply means the process of decision-making and the process by which decisions are implemented (or not implemented)

Good Governance is an approach to government that is committed to creating a system founded in justice and peace that protects individuals human rights and civil liberties.
Good governance is to promote and sustain holistic and integrated human development. The central focus is to see how the government enables and authorizes its people, regardless of differences of caste, creed, class, political ideology and social origin to think and take decisions which will be in their best interest and which will enable them to lead a clean, decent , happy and autonomous existence.

Factors of Good Governance
According to the United Nations, Good Governance is measured by the eight factors of Participation, Rule of Law, Transparency, Responsiveness, Consensus Oriented, Equity and Inclusiveness, Effectiveness and Efficiency, and Accountability.
Participation requires that all groups, particularly those most vulnerable, have direct or representative access to the systems of government. This manifests as a strong civil society and citizens with the freedom of association and expression.
Rule of Law is exemplified by impartial legal systems that protect the human rights and civil liberties of all citizens, particularly minorities. This is indicated by an independent judicial branch and a police force free from corruption.
Transparency means that citizens understand and have access to the means and manner in which decisions are made, especially if they are directly affected by such decisions. This information must be provided in an understandable and accessible format, typically translated through the media.
Responsiveness simply involves that institutions respond to their stakeholders within a reasonable time frame.
Consensus Oriented is demonstrated by an agenda that seeks to mediate between the many different needs, perspectives, and expectations of a diverse citizenry. Decisions needs to be made in a manner that reflects a deep understanding of the historical, cultural, and social context of the community.
Equity and Inclusiveness depends on ensuring that all the members of a community feel included and empowered to improve or maintain their well being, especially those individuals and groups that are the most vulnerable.
Effectiveness and Efficiency is developed through the sustainable use of resources to meet the needs of a society. Sustainability refers to both ensuring social investments carry through and natural resources are maintained for future generations.
Accountability refers to institutions being ultimately accountable to the people and one another. This includes government agencies, civil society, and the private sector all being accountable to one another as well.

The Most Five Transparent Nations on Good Governance
The most transparent countries, those with open business and government practices, well-distributed political power and the least corruption, tend to be among the world’s strongest democracies and affluent nations.
It’s wise to pay attention to the connection between corruption and inequality, warns the anti-corruption group Transparency International, because the two “feed off each other to create a vicious circle between corruption, unequal distribution of power in society, and unequal distribution of wealth.” Some nations heed this advice better than others.
According to the U.S. News 2018 Best Countries Rankings, based on a global perception-based survey, these are the five most transparent countries:
5: Sweden
Sweden is one of several Nordic nations that typically does well on international lists about good governance and transparency. The country was ranked No. 4 out of 176 countries and territories surveyed in Transparency Internationals 2016 Corruption Perceptions Index and No, 2 on Reporters Without Borders’s 2017 World Press Freedom Index. The media is protected under Swedens Freedom of the Press Act of 1766, the first press freedom law in the world, according to Freedom House.

4: Finland
Finland has free and fair elections, an independent judiciary and equal rights for women and minorities, according to Freedom House. The country was ranked No. 3 out of 176 countries and territories surveyed in Transparency Internationals 2016 Corruption Perceptions Index. Finland is also No. 3 on the Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index, which reflects the degree of freedom that journalists, news media and others enjoy in each country.
3: Switzerland
Switzerland is a Central European nation that does well on lists measuring transparency and good governance. The country is a direct democracy in which civil liberties are respected, according to Freedom House, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the expansion of freedom and democracy. Switzerland was ranked No. 5 out of 176 countries and territories surveyed in Transparency Internationals 2016 Corruption Perceptions Index.
2: Canada
Canada is one of the “most free” countries in the world, according to Freedom House, with “a strong history of respect for political rights and civil liberties.” The country ranks No. 22 on the Reporters Without Borders 2017 World Press Freedom Index, and No. 9 on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index 2016.
1: Norway
The Scandinavian country of Norway is regularly listed as one of the least corrupt countries in the world. The nation took the top spot on the Reporters Without Borders 2017 World Press Freedom Index and ranked No. 6 on Transparency Internationals 2016 Corruption Perceptions Index. “Norway has one of the most robust democracies in the world,” according to Freedom House.

CAUSES OF BAD GOVERNANCE IN NIGERIA
Ethnic/regional interest: – taking closer look at the rotation of power amongst past leaders from different regions, you will observe how lopsided some sensitive offices are filled up. Not minding federal character system, national interest, and constitutional provision on allocation of power, majority of the key offices were filled up with people from one region. Critical example is the Mohammadu Buhari appointment of Security Chiefs, His Chief staff, INEC Chairman etc. This depicts high level of region and ethnical interest and it could be a reference point for other region that will clinch to power to continue in same direction. This act is corruption on its own.

Nepotism/informal relationship: – The days of ethical ways of employment which demands merit has really gone. Today Nigeria has redefined employment process where the gateway to accept both graduate and nongratuate, competent and non-compotent employees into organization, especially government owned establishments, without minding the retrogressive movement and low productivity will cause. Nigeria can not expect to be better when it can not maintain a platform to scrutinize for qualified applicants. Good example of this informal relationship is traceable to government of Mr. Buhari where three job portfolios were given to one man. Mr. Fashola who read law handling position – Housing, Works, and Power – meant for Civil Engineers whilst there are technocrats to mount these positions in order to yield positive results. And you keep wondering why Nigeria infrastructural developments remain stagnant.

Lack of implementation: – This avenue has given room for embezzlement of project funds. We have seen lite of projects, East-West road that has taken long over 10 years now, series of budgets made to that respect yet no visible accomplishment. A lot of them.

Lack of rule of law: – Rule of Law gives rise to good governance but is unfortunate that Nigeria does not encourage rule of law. We have series of evidence that has proven that Nigeria does not maintain rule of law. Amnesty International in 2016 accused Mr Buratai, the Army Chief of staff of killing over 300 Shiites alleged to have obstructed Buratai’s vehicular movement during prayer hours. Transparency International also rated Nigeria low on several occasions. Including of unarmed peacefully protesting IPOB members said Amnesty international.

Leadership incompetence: – Majority of Nigerian leaders does not meet leadership qualifications necessary to equip them into representative offices. In 2016, Mr. Buhari was requested to present his school certificate, as the president of Nigeria, he declined, and put up a counter motion, defended it with 13 Senior Advocates of Nigeria and 30 Lawyers. Till today, no single certificate has been presented to clarify that doubt. Nigeria deserve technocrats, learned men who can withstand the pressure of challenging economy and global competition.

Ambiguous constitution: – Nigerian constitution is too ambiguous and does not meet the problem on ground. The constitution was a copy over during military regime, and the context of military and democracy does not align. According to Good Ebere Jonathan, the just past president of Nigeria, during one his 2015 campaign, he revealed that the constitution has so much authority and as a president he didn’t use up to 5% of it. Adding that if he employ the provisions kept for the president alone at 50% percent that his enemies and attackers will run into exile. If Nigeria constitution will reserve such alone to the president, why won’t the president intimidate other arms of government like the judiciary and legislature?

Secular system: – The secular system of Nigeria deprives its citizens the opportunity to hold its bad leaders questionable. In Egypt, Masi won election through the back door, the people of Egypt in one voice carried out massive revolution, despite the military presence, masi was dethroned and imprisoned. Nigerians cannot carry out successful revolutionary protest that can cause a change because its people are divided by religion, belief, culture, language at high interest. It takes a nation to do that than a country, mainly merged without ancestral trace.
Lack of ancestral trace:- Nigeria has no definite history that defined how they come to being, that protects their value, that gives in natural love and oneness. This has naturally created a discord even between the managers of 1914 amalgamation. It will always be easy for a Yoruba man to forgive a Yoruba man during dispute, so also Igbo man to Igbo man and Hausa man to Hausa man but if other way round, it will be difficult following absence of natural love, values, belief, biding culture, and past bloody experience held against each other.

Religious intolerance: The issue of religious intolerance will never be emphasized. It’s a phenomenal issue and global dent. Countries that are divided between religion and language are still fighting till today around the world, and some are best resolved by separating them into countries. I think this will remain a pointer if nothing is quickly done about it. For exams, in the Nigerian constitute, Shari’a was mentioned and recognised but Christianity never mentioned. This is foundational and must be paid attention into.

Centralized system/absence of true federalism: – Whenever I hear about federal republic of Nigeria, what next come to my mind is true federalism. According to Goodluck Jonathan, too much is reserved for the president, and the centralized system gives him more edge and power to get act foolishly when feels like.

Lack of dependence on its on citizen/expatriate syndrome: – largely, Nigerian leaders does not recognise its citizens as resource rather consumer. They prefer and depends largely on foreigners instead of its citizens. Majority of government used engineers are foreigners even it is privileged to do technology/knowledge transfer to have its own citizens fill those gaps occupied by foreigners.

Over dependence on foreign countries:- Nigeria do not have confidence on itself, it largely depends on other countries to do everything for them. Takes loan, buy arms, etc. The countries balance of payment if always at debt serving lane than other way.

Third-world stigma/mentality:- The earlier we start thinking less of we bearing that word ‘Third-world’ country, the better will stand to see our global challenges. We hide so much under the word to keep getting assistance from the acclaimed civilized countries.

Continental front/long term goal: African Union has not embraced challenge to compete with other continents, no visible long term visionary goals to help countries under it prioritize their and champion it.

External interest:- Some countries selfish interest could also be a big challenge to constrain Nigeria from development. For example, British government, I think they like the condition of Nigeria and will also want it to remain confused and disjointed so that they can be able to keep achieving their aims.

Excess blood spillage/civil war cleansing:- If we look physically to unravel problems befalling Nigeria is good to also look spiritual. Of the truth, too much blood of innocent citizens has flowed in the soil of Nigeria and could be causing spiritual undertone. Nigeria deserve cleansing.

Transferred hatred/wrong historical indoctrination:- Some parents blindly indoctrinate their children by giving out some historical messages/stories in order to retaliate the past. The example of it is the killing of ‘Biafrans’ during 1967 – 1970 Civil War, average Igbo man sees Hausa man as his enemy. Calabari man will not like to accept Igbo man because of passed on histories of how Igbos almost overtake their land. That since then shows Igbos to be greedy therefore not accepted I their midst. This and others like it continue to cause disunity between neighbors, communities, states. Such existing issues can never allow development to strive. If Igbo man sees what will benefit Hausa man he will block it, so also the Calabaris to Igbos. etc.
Shari’a/Christianity dichotomy and the constitution: The constitution recognizes the word Shari’a and it appears many times while the word Christianity was not found. This gives rise to running of parallel government in Nigeria by forming of Shari’a police and Shari’a law. This issues in its little way adds pressure into the system of governance that can discourage development.

Unemployable graduates/lack of entrepreneurial spirit:- Today Nigerian youths lacks so any things that could give foundation to their rise, coupled with poor certificates. When they go into politics, they go with same blindness, with vision to see necessary projects for the country.

Lack of motivational culture in organization:- Public and private organizations lacks motivational culture necessary to make works put their best. For example, Nigeria Police Force will always give reasons to be collecting morning on the road because indebtedness and poor salaries. These at macro level transcends into bad government.

Poor government rules and regulations/poor economic policy:- government inability to enact good policies, rule and regulations to help business strive competitively makes it possible for government officials to hide under the regulations to perform poorly.

Lack of confidence on the youth/untapped talents domicile in young Nigerians:- Nigeria does not see average youth as a catalyst to make a change in the system, therefore fails to equip them for economical benefits.

Lack of Social media culture/social media:- Nigerians are just realizing the importance of social media as a tool to fight poor governance than the usual selfie upload and download system. The stream handle can be used to record evidence of crime which could be exhibit to fight bad public office holder.
High political tussle/touts as party members:- The political atmosphere of Nigeria is too hostile for technocrats to come in. The use of thugs during g and after elections constitutes 50% of crime in Nigeria. God fathers compensate political thugs with political office thereby making the system ungovernable.

Bitter Politics/uninclusive government/winner takes it all syndrome:- The Winner takes it all system of Nigeria Politics has caused more harm than good. It scares opposition away, including their experienced members that can bring expected change to governance. Opposition automatically becomes enemy and that goes with hatred.

Greediness/hunger/desperation:- Some persons needs not to come close to power because of the way the see politics. They see politics as avenue to make money than to serve. Some out of desperation to become rich man/woman goes extra mile to breach rule of law to accomplish its selfish interest.

Lopsided power sharing:- How can government achieve good governance when selection of office holder is based on my region than capable hands. Poor performance will definitely make no positive improvement in the life of the government.

Problems Facing Nigeria as a Country
Poverty: In Nigeria poverty is a creation of man due to the mismanagement of the commonwealth of the nation. Most Nigerian citizens are poor people living amidst wealth. Nigeria has more than enough to fund capital projects but choose to borrow. They supplies electricity to other countries like Niger, Benin Republic etc and stay in darkness back home. They export agricultural products yet having insufficient food to feed the citizen.

Political Godfatherism: Godfatherism is a term used in Nigeria to describe the strongman- dominated politics in the country (Albert, 2005)
Godfatherism in Nigerian politics is a ‘behavior in which economically, politically, and socially well-placed individual influence political and economic processes’ ( Joseph, 1987).
Its all about sharing the national cake.
Corruption:
Insecurity and:
Poor economy:

Recommendations
1. Nigerian leader should first of all be law abiding and should lead by example as this would help it’s citizens to follow their examples.
2. Nigeria should be less dependent on Foreign Aides, excessive borrowing.
3. Nigeria should patronize its products and give grants to small scale industries to boast innovations.
4. If killings persist, Nigeria should be divided into regions to solve some long lasted crisis causing everyday blood spills like Herdsmen/Farmers clash, Biafra issues, etc and to encourage global business competition.
5. The Federal government of Nigeria should be decentralized to encourage competition within member states and stabilize central government Local government Autonomy, State Policing, resource control etc.
6. Reduce the presence of touts around corridor of power.
7. Remove state of origin to encourage coexistence
8. Maintain Rule of Law
9. Institute Youth Entrepreneur Commission to over see the rising problem of youth so also to reduce crime. Consider soft stipend to help deuce vices pressure.
10. Make regulations to guide use of internal engineers as against expatriates. Visible economic policy.
11. Depend largely on its internal potentials.
12. Nigeria should propose new constitution that will be contextually compiled and complements the democratic system currently in use than military adopted provisio
Encourage birth control
Adopt capital punishment for public office holder (holistically, not as with hunt apparatus or tool).
Make Bachelor of Science a criterion for presidential position.

REFERENCES
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/342699225_Good_Governance_The_Problem_of_Nigeria/link/5f01bbe392851c52d619bdbb/download
UNDP (1997) Governance for Sustainable Human Development. United Nations Development Programme
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/best-transparency?slide=7
creativelearning.org/blog/2016/11/08/what-is-good-governance/

Obiesie Mmesoma Rejoice
2018/245427
Economics Education
In September 2000, leaders from about 189 nations ratified the Millennium Declaration. The declaration was an unprecedented global commitment and one of the most significant United Nations documents in recent times. It offers a common and integrated vision on how to tackle some of the major challenges facing the world of our time. The declaration has resulted in Eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) focused on reducing poverty, improving the quality of peoples’ lives, ensuring environmental sustainability, and building partnerships to ensure that globalization becomes a more positive force for all the world’s people. Also specific targets and indicators have been set and put in place for each of the goals, to be achieved by 2015.
1. In your opinion do you think these goals were achieved? If yes,how? If no, why?
No,
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) therefore have been the world´s only time-bound and quantifiable targets for addressing extreme poverty in its many dimensions: income poverty, hunger, disease, lack of adequate shelter, and social exclusion, while promoting gender equality, education, and environmental sustainability. This eight goal initiative was planned to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, while aiming to achieve universal primary education, promote gender equality, reduce child mortality, improve maternal health, combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases, ensure environmental sustainability and develop a global partnership for development. Based on these goals, the world has galvanized previously unprecedented efforts to meet the needs of the world’s poorest and most disadvantaged.
Nigeria, like most other nations of the world, signed this treaty and promised to work towards the realization of this goal. To achieve this, a number of steps were taken, including the release of central government funds. Offices were created and individuals appointed to key positions to work towards the MDG targets. However, at the end of the MDG period in 2015, the big question is where is Nigeria in all this as a nation? As a review of the MDGs in Nigeria by Olabode and colleagues in 2014 concluded that Nigeria would not attain the MDG targets because Nigeria have failed to meet any of the targets due to a multiplicity of health system-related, political and systemic challenges. It is questionable as to whether infant deaths have reduced in Nigeria and if there has been a significant change in malaria-induced mortality and morbidity. It seems that maternal death rates have not significantly changed. With the Federal Government yet to pay teachers’ salaries, whether schools have higher enrolment is a moot point. With the regular healthcare workers’ strikes, attempts to reduce national mortality rates have been severely hampered. it will be a disservice to Nigeria and Nigerians for anyone that is the government or international organizations to claim that any of the eight MDG targets were actually met in Nigeria to date.

2. Good governance is good for all nations but Nigeria and many developing countries seem to be far behind in their quest for good governance. Discuss!
For sometime now, there has been a recurrent and sustained argument that the Nigerian state, like its counterparts in Africa and other countries of the developing world, underperforms due to lack of state capacity to deal with the contemporary complexities of governance. Governance and political leadership in Nigeria have been driven by self-interest and other primordial considerations, which take priority over that of the public. The state has failed in three major areas: security of lives and properties, promotion of the rule of law, and provision of visionary leadership. The “petroleum-rich” Nigerian state, confronted by sociopolitical instability, high degree of corruption, mass hostility to the “public,” and poor macroeconomic management, continue to display the attributes of a state in crisis (Akinola, 2008). Successive governments in Nigeria, like in many African states, lack the political will to initiate or sustain policy or structural transformation, or to embark on sound economic reform to reposition the state for greatness. With the weakness of the Nigerian state and its ineffectiveness, it has become challenging to eradicate impoverishment, engage in infrastructural development, and stem the tides of insurgency and terrorism, which have the potency to derail the country’s moderate political development. So in conclusion, Nigeria won’t be able to experience good governance so long corruption continues to exist among their leaders and even within the people been governed.

Name: Ukachukwu Divine Amarachi
Reg number: 2018/242426
Department: Economics
1. To an extent the MDGs have been able to achieve their goals. There has been an improvement in the welfare of the people. They have been able to reduce poverty, reduce hunger. Infant death has been reduced though there is still room for more improvement.
2. Good governance is the process of measuring how public institution conduct public affairs and manage public resources and guarantee the realization of human rights in a manner essentially free of abuse and corruption and with due regard for the rule of law. It is the system by which entities are directed and controlled. It is concerned with structure and processes for decision making, accountability, control and behaviour at the top of an entity.
The Principles of Good Governance;
1.Rule of law: The Rule of Law states that nobody is above the law but we can see that in developing countries like Nigeria some politicians bend the rules for their own benefits.
2. Transparency: Transparency is full disclosure of both public and private information. But in this developing countries it is the opposite. The leadership keeps hoarding information from the public.
3. Responsiveness: This is when the government respond to the needs of the citizens on time but it is not so in developing countries like Nigeria.
4. There is no consensus of orientation.
5. Effectiveness and efficiency: The government of developing countries are neither effective nor efficient
6. Accountability: These government of developing countries are not countable to the people.

Following the principles of good governance we can see most of these developing countries have been unable to meet up to the standard of good governance thereby keeping them far behind.

NNADEBE JANE AMARACHI
2018/241863
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

YES, I think these goals were achieved, albeit, not all of it.
According to the united National, it hauled it as “the most successful anti-poverty movement in history.”
The UN secret general explained that the MGDs has helped to alleviate about 1.5 billion people from poverty, to make inroads against hunger, to enable more girls to attend school than ever before and to protect our planet.
Though, for all its remarkable gains some fell short.

MDG 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger
The target of reducing extreme poverty rates – people living on just $1.25 a day – by half was met five years ahead of the 2015 deadline. The proportion of undernourished people in the developing regions has fallen from 23.3 per cent in 1990 to 12.9 per cent in 2014.

MDG 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education
The primary school enrolment rate in developing regions reached 91 per cent this year, up from 83 per cent in 2000.

MDG 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women
Only 74 girls were enrolled in primary school for every 100 boys in 1990. Today, 103 girls are enrolled for every 100 boys.

MDG 4: Reduce Child Mortality
The global under-five mortality rate has declined by more than half since 1990 – dropping from 90 to 43 deaths per 1,000 live births. This falls short of the targeted drop of two-thirds.

MDG 5: Improve Maternal Health
From 1990 to 2015, the maternal mortality declined by 45 % worldwide. Globally, more than 71 % of births were assisted by skilled health personnel in 2014, an increase from 59 % in 1990.

MDG 6: Combat Hiv/Aids, Malaria And Other Diseases
The number of new HIV infections fell by approximately 40 % between 2000 and 2013. The global malaria incidence rate fell by an estimated 37 % and the mortality rate by 58 %. Between 2000 and 2013, tuberculosis prevention and treatment interventions saved an estimated 37 million lives.

MDG 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability
The world has now met the MDG target relating to access to safe drinking-water. In 2012, 90% of the population used an improved source of drinking-water compared with 76% in 1990. Progress has however been uneven across different regions, between urban and rural areas, and between rich and poor.

MDG 8: Develop a global partnership for development
Surveys undertaken from 2007-2013 show the average availability of selected generic medicines in 21 low- and middle-income countries was only 55% in the public sector.

NO 2

Good governance manifesting in areas of rule of law, transparency, accountability, citizens participation among others are sine qua non for national peace and development. However, ‘poverty of leadership’ in most of the Nigeria’s 57 years of existence has not only hindered the nation’s development, but continued to threaten its peace and stability. While it is widely believed that bad governance is prevalent in autocratic and oligarchic systems, it is evident now that bad governance does exist much more in democracies.
Governance and political leadership in Nigeria have been driven by self-interest and other primordial considerations, which take priority over that of the public. The state has failed in three major areas: security of lives and properties, promotion of the rule of law, and provision of visionary leadership. In conclusion, the nature and characters of the political leadership explains the Nigerian state incapacity for effective governance.

CHALLENGES OF GOOD GOVERNANCE IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES.
1. Dismal State of Press Freedom:
Authoritarian governments continue to use legal pressure, imprisonment, and other forms of harassment to suppress independent reporting.
2. Lack of Voice and Weak Accountability.
3. Political Instability.
4. Corruption.
5. Poor Economic Growth.
6. Corruption.
7. Transparency.
8. Dealing with Corruption

Name: Isiguzo Purity Ezinne.
Reg.no: 2018/242353
Economics Dept.

Answer
At the beginning of the new millennium, World leaders
gathered at the United Nations to shape a broad vision to
fight poverty in its many dimensions. That vision was translated into the eight Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs), and it has remained the overarching development
framework for the world for the past 15 years.

The MDGs final report below acknowledges
uneven achievements and shortfalls in many areas. The
work is not complete, and it must continue in the new
development era.

Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger-

•Extreme poverty has declined significantly over the last two decades. In 1990,
nearly half of the population in the developing world lived on less than $1.25 a day;
that proportion dropped to 14 per cent in 2015.

• Globally, the number of people living in extreme poverty has declined by more
than half, falling from 1.9 billion in 1990 to 836 million in 2015. Most progress has
occurred since 2000.

• The number of people in the working middle class—living on more than $4 a
day—has almost tripled between 1991 and 2015. This group now makes up half the
workforce in the developing regions, up from just 18 per cent in 1991.

• The proportion of undernourished people in the developing regions has fallen
by almost half since 1990, from 23.3 per cent in 1990–1992 to 12.9 per cent in
2014–2016.

Goal 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education-

•The primary school net enrolment rate in the developing regions has reached 91 per
cent in 2015, up from 83 per cent in 2000.

• The number of out-of-school children of primary school age worldwide has fallen
by almost half, to an estimated 57 million in 2015, down from 100 million in 2000.

• Sub-Saharan Africa has had the best record of improvement in primary education
of any region since the MDGs were established. The region achieved a
20 percentage point increase in the net enrolment rate from 2000 to 2015,
compared to a gain of 8 percentage points between 1990 and 2000.

• The literacy rate among youth aged 15 to 24 has increased globally from 83 per
cent to 91 per cent between 1990 and 2015.

Goal 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women-

•Many more girls are now in school compared to 15 years ago. The developing
regions as a whole have achieved the target to eliminate gender disparity in
primary, secondary and tertiary education.

• In Southern Asia, only 74 girls were enrolled in primary school for every 100 boys in
1990. Today, 103 girls are enrolled for every 100 boys.

• Women now make up 41 per cent of paid workers outside the agricultural sector, an
increase from 35 per cent in 1990.

• Between 1991 and 2015, the proportion of women in vulnerable employment as a
share of total female employment has declined 13 percentage points. In contrast,
vulnerable employment among men fell by 9 percentage points.

• Women have gained ground in parliamentary representation in nearly 90 per cent
of the 174 countries with data over the past 20 years. The average proportion of
women in parliament has nearly doubled during the same period. Yet still only one
in five members are women.

Goal 4: Reduce Child Mortality-

•The global under-five mortality rate has declined by more than half, dropping from
90 to 43 deaths per 1,000 live births between 1990 and 2015.

• Despite population growth in the developing regions, the number of deaths of
children under five has declined from 12.7 million in 1990 to almost 6 million in
2015 globally.

• Since the early 1990s, the rate of reduction of under-five mortality has more than
tripled globally.

• In sub-Saharan Africa, the annual rate of reduction of under-five mortality was over
five times faster during 2005–2013 than it was during 1990–1995.

• Measles vaccination helped prevent nearly 15.6 million deaths between 2000 and
2013. The number of globally reported measles cases declined by 67 per cent for
the same period.

• About 84 per cent of children worldwide received at least one dose of measles containing vaccine in 2013, up from 73 per cent in 2000.

Goal 5: Improve Maternal Health-

•Since 1990, maternal mortality ratio has declined by 45 per cent worldwide,
and most of the reduction has occurred since 2000.

• In Southern Asia, the maternal mortality ratio declined by 64 per cent between
1990 and 2013, and in sub-Saharan Africa it fell by 49 per cent.

• More than 71 per cent of births were assisted by skilled health personnel globally in
2014, an increase from 59 per cent in 1990.

• In Northern Africa, the proportion of pregnant women who received four or more
antenatal visits increased from 50 per cent to 89 percent between 1990 and 2014.

• Contraceptive prevalence among women aged 15 to 49, married or in a union,
increased from 55 per cent in 1990 worldwide to 64 per cent in 2015.

Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other Diseases-

•New HIV infections fell by approximately 40 per cent between 2000 and 2013,
from an estimated 3.5 million cases to 2.1 million.

• By June 2014, 13.6 million people living with HIV were receiving antiretroviral
therapy (ART) globally, an immense increase from just 800,000 in 2003. ART
averted 7.6 million deaths from AIDS between 1995 and 2013.

• Over 6.2 million malaria deaths have been averted between 2000 and 2015,
primarily of children under five years of age in sub-Saharan Africa. The global
malaria incidence rate has fallen by an estimated 37 per cent and the mortality rate
by 58 per cent.

• More than 900 million insecticide-treated mosquito nets were delivered to
malaria-endemic countries in sub-Saharan Africa between 2004 and 2014.

• Between 2000 and 2013, tuberculosis prevention, diagnosis and treatment
interventions saved an estimated 37 million lives. The tuberculosis mortality rate
fell by 45 per cent and the prevalence rate by 41 per cent between 1990 and 2013.

Goal 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability-

•Ozone-depleting substances have been virtually eliminated since 1990, and the
ozone layer is expected to recover by the middle of this century.

• Terrestrial and marine protected areas in many regions have increased substantially
since 1990. In Latin America and the Caribbean, coverage of terrestrial protected
areas rose from 8.8 per cent to 23.4 per cent between 1990 and 2014.

• In 2015, 91 per cent of the global population is using an improved drinking water
source, compared to 76 per cent in 1990.

• Of the 2.6 billion people who have gained access to improved drinking water since
1990, 1.9 billion gained access to piped drinking water on premises. Over half of the
global population (58 per cent) now enjoys this higher level of service.

• Globally, 147 countries have met the drinking water target, 95 countries have met
the sanitation target and 77 countries have met both.

• Worldwide 2.1 billion people have gained access to improved sanitation. The
proportion of people practicing open defecation has fallen almost by half since
1990.

• The proportion of urban population living in slums in the developing regions fell
from approximately 39.4 per cent in 2000 to 29.7 per cent in 2014.

Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development-

•Official development assistance from developed countries increased by 66 per cent
in real terms between 2000 and 2014, reaching $135.2 billion.

• In 2014, Denmark, Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom
continued to exceed the United Nations official development assistance target of
0.7 per cent of gross national income.

• In 2014, 79 per cent of imports from developing to developed countries were
admitted duty free, up from 65 per cent in 2000.

• The proportion of external debt service to export revenue in developing countries
fell from 12 per cent in 2000 to 3 per cent in 2013.

• As of 2015, 95 per cent of the world’s population is covered by a mobile-cellular
signal.

• The number of mobile-cellular subscriptions has grown almost tenfold in the last 15 years, from 738 million in 2000 to over 7 billion in 2015.

• Internet penetration has grown from just over 6 per cent of the world’s population
in 2000 to 43 per cent in 2015. As a result, 3.2 billion people are linked to a global
network of content and applications.

Given the MDGs report of 2015, as shown above, I am of the view that although significant achievements have been made on
many of the MDG targets worldwide, yet progress has been
uneven across regions and countries, leaving significant
gaps. Millions of people are being left behind, especially
the poorest and those disadvantaged because of their
sex, age, disability, ethnicity or geographic location.

Targeted efforts will be needed to reach the most
vulnerable people, as such
leaders and stakeholders in every
nation will have to work together, redoubling efforts to achieve
a truly universal and transformative agenda. This is the
only way to ensure a sustainable future and a dignified
life for all people everywhere.

Therefore, I conclude that the Millennium Development Goals were not wholly met.

Thank you.

NAME: UGWU SERAH IZUNNA.
DEPARTMENT: ECONOMICS
REG NUMBER: 2018/247399
COURSE CODE: ECO 362.
COURSE TITLE: ECONOMICS DEVELOPMENT II.

ASSIGNMENT.

In September 2000, leaders from about 189 nations ratified the Millennium Declaration. The declaration was an unprecedented global commitment and one of the most significant United Nations documents in recent times. It offers a common and integrated vision on how to tackle some of the major challenges facing the world of our time. The declaration has resulted in Eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) focused on reducing poverty, improving the quality of peoples’ lives, ensuring environmental sustainability, and building partnerships to ensure that globalization becomes a more positive force for all the world’s people. Also specific targets and indicators have been set and put in place for each of the goals, to be achieved by 2015.

In your opinion do you think these goals were achieved? If yes,how? If no, why?

2. Good governance is good for all nations but Nigeria and many developing countries seem to be far behind in their quest for good governance. Discuss!
ANSWER.
Millennium Development Goals
In September 2000, leaders of 189 countries gathered at the United Nations headquarters and signed the historic Millennium Declaration, in which they committed to achieving a set of eight measurable goals that range from halving extreme poverty and hunger to promoting gender equality and reducing child mortality, by the target date of 2015.

ACHIEVING THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPING GOALS.
Yes the millennium development goals were achieved because;

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) commit the international community to an expanded vision of poverty reduction and pro-poor growth, one that vigorously places human development at the centre of social and economic progress in all countries.

Through critical analysis of target setting, equity, environment and power dimensions. IIED provides a particular focus on poverty reduction, water and sanitation, slum upgrading and tenure security, and ensuring that environment lies at the heart of all sustainable development strategies.

We aim to show how best to include the basic fundamentals of life (access to land, shelter, food, power and rights) in the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) process and build on local organisations’ ability to address the priorities of local people. This implies a strengthening of local capacity to assess changes using key indicators designed and monitored at local levels.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) commit the international community to an expanded vision of poverty reduction and pro-poor growth, one that vigorously places human development at the centre of social and economic progress in all countries. The MDGs also recognise the importance of creating a global partnership for change, as high-income nations must reform their domestic and international policies related to agriculture, trade, and sustainable development; enhance the effectiveness of their aid programmes; and help poor countries to reduce their debt burdens. For their part, low-income nations must address fundamental issues related to governance, rights and social justice. In all cases, countries must set their own strategies and policies, together with their global partners, to ensure that poor people receive their fair share of the benefits of development.

WHAT ARE THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS AND HOW ARE THEY BEEN ACHIEVED?
The Millennium Development Goals are an ambitious agenda for reducing poverty and improving lives that world leaders agreed on at the Millennium Summit in September 2000. For each goal one or more targets have been set, most for 2015, using 1990 as a benchmark.

The Millennium goal were achieved in the follow ways.

(1) Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Target for 2015: Halve the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day and those who suffer from hunger..
They helped in reducing the rate of huger and poverty by improving in agricultural growth.

(2). Achieve universal primary education.
Targets: That all boys and girls complete a full course of primary school.
This was achieved because government approved free education to primary school. This helped both the rich and the poor to see the essence of education ..
And also it helped the poor people who cannot afford the expenses of education to have access to go to school.

(3). Promote gender equality and empower women
Targets for 2005 and 2015: Eliminate gender disparities in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005, and at all levels by 2015.
This target was achieved because women are allowed in the academic pursuit, unlike before that they regarded women’s education as useless.. That is why they assumed that women education ends in kitchen.

(4). Reduce child mortality
Target for 2015: Reduce by two-thirds the mortality rate among children under five.
This helped to reduce the number of children that are been born.

(5). Improve maternal health
Target for 2015: Reduce by three-quarters the ratio of women dying in childbirth.
The goal was achieved by reducing the rate of women dying during childbirth, by improving in their health care, providing some adequate drugs to take during pregnancy.

(6). Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
Target for 2015: Halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS and the incidence of malaria and other major diseases.
The goal helped in reduction of the number of victims that died because of HIV/AIDS or malaria.

(7). Ensure environmental sustainability
Targets: Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reverse the loss of environmental resources.
By 2015, reduce by half the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water.
By 2020 achieve significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers.

(8). Develop a global partnership for development
Targets:
Develop further an open trading and financial system that includes a commitment to good governance, development and poverty reduction nationally and internationally. Address the least developed countries’ special needs, and the special needs of landlocked and small island developing States.
Deal comprehensively with developing countries debt problems.
Develop decent and productive work for youth.
In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable essential drugs in developing countries.
In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies especially information and communications technologies.
IIED has published a series of briefing papers on MDG related issues – see below.

MDGs Conference 2005
In December 2005 IIED organised an international conference to share what IIED and partners have learned about local institutions that work and their critical role in achieving real and lasting improvements in the lives of the poorest people as well as effective management of natural resources. And to identify priorities for the proposed MDG-based national plans and processes to be put in place as a result of the 2005 UN World Summit decision, and also for the Paris Declaration on aid effectiveness.

Hitting the poverty reduction targets or missing the point?
In November 2003 IIED organised an international conference to explore how tensions between global targets and local needs can be used creatively – as opposed to leading to paralysis or mis-direction. Participants came from a wide variety of contexts, with strong representation from Southern organisations focusing on local sustainability and also from donor agencies and international institutions. Key messages from this conference.

Number 2.
Understanding the Concept of Governance
The concept of “governance” is not new. However, it means different things to different people, therefore we have to get our focus right. The actual meaning of the concept depends on the level of governance we are talking about, the goals to be achieved and the approach being followed.

The concept has been around in both political and academic discourse for a long time, referring in a generic sense to the task of running a government, or any other appropriate entity for that matter. In this regard the general definition provided by Webster’s Third New International Dictionary (1986:982) is of some assistance, indicating only that governance is a synonym for government, or “the act or process of governing, specifically authoritative direction and control”. This interpretation specifically focuses on the effectiveness of the executive branch of government.

The working definition used by the British Council, however, emphasises that “governance” is a broader notion than government (and for that matter also related concepts like the state, good government and regime), and goes on to state:

“Governance involves interaction between the formal institutions and those in civil society. Governance refers to a process whereby elements in society wield power, authority and influence and enact policies and decisions concerning public life and social upliftment.”

“Governance”, therefore, not only encompasses but transcends the collective meaning of related concepts like the state, government, regime and good government. Many of the elements and principles underlying “good government” have become an integral part of the meaning of “governance”. John Healey and Mark Robinson1 define “good government” as follows: “It implies a high level of organisational effectiveness in relation to policy-formulation and the policies actually pursued, especially in the conduct of economic policy and its contribution to growth, stability and popular welfare.

Good government also implies accountability, transparency, participation, openness and the rule of law. It does not necessarily presuppose a value judgement, for example, a healthy respect for civil and political liberties, although good government tends to be a prerequisite for political legitimacy”.

We can apply our minds to the definition of governance provided by the World Bank in Governance: The World Banks Experience, as it has special relevance for the developing world:

“Good governance is epitomized by predictable, open and enlightened policy-making, a bureaucracy imbued with a professional ethos acting in furtherance of the public good, the rule of law, transparent processes, and a strong civil society participating in public affairs. Poor governance (on the other hand) is characterized by arbitrary policy making, unaccountable bureaucracies, unenforced or unjust legal systems, the abuse of executive power, a civil society unengaged in public life, and widespread corruption.”
The World Bank’s focus on governance reflects the worldwide thrust toward political and economic liberalisation. Such a governance approach highlights issues of greater state responsiveness and accountability, and the impact of these factors on political stability and economic development. In its 1989 report, From Crisis to Sustainable Growth, the World Bank expressed this notion as follows:

“Efforts to create an enabling environment and to build capacities will be wasted if the political context is not favourable. Ultimately, better governance requires political renewal. This means a concerted attack on corruption from the highest to lowest level. This can be done by setting a good example, by strengthening accountability, by encouraging public debate, and by nurturing a free press. It also means … fostering grassroots and non-governmental organisations such as farmers’ associations, co-operatives, and women’s groups”.
Apart from the World Bank’s emphasis on governance, it is also necessary to refer to academic literature on governance, which mostly originates from scholars working with international development and donor agencies. The majority of these scholars has concentrated almost exclusively on the issue of political legitimacy, which is the dependent variable produced by effective governance. Governance, as defined here, is “the conscious management of regime structures, with a view to enhancing the public realm”.

The contribution of Goran Hyden to bring greater clarity to the concept of governance needs special attention. He elevates governance to an “umbrella concept to define an approach to comparative politics”, an approach that fills analytical gaps left by others. Using a governance approach, he emphasises “the creative potential of politics, especially with the ability of leaders to rise above the existing structure of the ordinary, to change the rules of the game and to inspire others to partake in efforts to move society forward in new and productive directions”.

His views boil down to the following:

Governance is a conceptual approach that, when fully elaborated, can frame a comparative analysis of macro-politics.
Governance concerns “big” questions of a “constitutional” nature that establish the rules of political conduct.
Governance involves creative intervention by political actors to change structures that inhibit the expression of human potential.
Governance is a rational concept, emphasising the nature of interactions between state and social actors, and among social actors themselves.
Governance refers to particular types of relationships among political actors: that is, those which are socially sanctioned rather than arbitrary.
To conclude, it is clear that the concept of governance has over the years gained momentum and a wider meaning. Apart from being an instrument of public affairs management, or a gauge of political development, governance has become a useful mechanism to enhance the legitimacy of the public realm. It has also become an analytical framework or approach to comparative politics.

Nigeria’s Governance System and its Implication on the National Peace, Stability
and Development Unarguably, a strong correlation exists among governance, peace, stability and
development. Thus, the developmental failure being witnessed in Nigeria is a direct
consequence of the pattern of governance offered by the successive nation’s managers.
The governance method adopted by the Nigeria’s political leaders negates all known
prescriptions of good governance. A critical view of system of governance in Nigeria
revealed an aberration of global acceptable governance norms. In other words,
governance system in Nigeria is a complete departure from governance indicators (see
The World Bank: Worldwide Governance Indicators;
Arising from deficit and anomaly in governance is the erosion of internal security
across the country. Security lapses have continued to manifest in the areas of grave
activities of insurgents. The insurgents such as the dreadful Boko haram with its series
of bombing, and violent attack, have succeeded in mass destruction of lives and
properties especially in the North-eastern part of the country. There is also emergence
of different insurgents in the Niger Delta areas which engage in kidnapping of peoples
and destruction of oil installations. Besides are anti-insurgents’ activities of the Nigeria
security agencies which have equally led to killings of peoples and destructions of
properties. All these activities have continued to fuel the wave of crimes among the teeming youths of the nation. It is not surprising therefore that, the vibrant youths’
population have their energies misdirected to negativity because people managing the
nation have no plan for them and their future. Thus, the youth are easily recruited into
different insurgents group or into any other veritable crimes activities that will earn them incomes for their survival.
The gigantic debt in which the nation finds itself is connected with poor governance.
Ordinarily the nation should not have had cause to go about borrowing, given the enormous wealth that is naturally endowed with the country, especially the crude oil. What the nation’s managers have done with the nation wealth could be better understood by the assertion made by Amundsen (2010) who avows that the between 1960 and 1999 the sum of $380 billion had vanished into the pockets of the nation managers. Amundsen (2010) further assertively claims thus:Nigeria is heavily affected by the so-called ‘resource curse’: despite an estimated USD 400 billion in oil income since independence in 1960, the country has experienced…a very poor economic development, and it has a population more impoverished now than it was 50 years ago.
Thus, it could be rightly deduced that the major bane to the nation’s development is
the political and public officers who use public offices not for the services delivery for
peoples, but for their selfish interest (Obo, Coker & Omenka, 2014). For this reason,
Agagu and Ola (2011) referred to them as harbingers of “the scourge of poverty and
crisis” that pervades the nations’ and inhibiting its developments. Corruption and
unethical practices have continued to hinder public officers from meeting up with their
responsibilities to the people they always professed they are serving. Corruption
impedes economic development, the growth of democratic institutions, and the ability
of developing countries to attract foreign investment (Ssekandi, n.d.).
The laxity in governance has also culminated into the declining industries. For instance,
poor governance resulting in creating hostile business environment have been one the
reasons that led to relocation or folding up of businesses in the country. Gone are the
days when companies and organisation such as Peugeot Automobile Nigeria;
Volkswagen Nigeria; Dunlop Nigeria Limited; Michellin Nigeria; BATA; Lennards;
Kingsway; A.G. Leventis; and Phillip Nigeria among others were flourishing in Nigerian, but now these companies and organisations are not in the country again. In a similar vein, industries such as Steel Rolling Mill, Osogbo; Steel Rolling Mill,
Ajaokuta; Arewa Textile Mill; Nigeria Airways all are now moribund. For not making
Nigeria Airways to work, the nation is losing as much as $2 billion to foreign airlines
annually (Tokunbo, 2017). And of recent are such companies especially airlines who
are pulling out of Nigeria with the reason of unfavourable economic policy by the
government. These airlines include United Airlines, British Airways, Spanish National
Airline Iberia, Air France-KLM, Qatar Air, and Etihad. Besides, are oil companies
including Chevron, ExxonMobil, Ground Petroleum, and Pan Ocean among others.
Consequently, many people have continued to lose their jobs. For instance, within these
oil companies alone more than 3,000 oil workers have been sacked
This is adding to the already escalated number of unemployed youths. As at 2016, the Youth
Unemployment/Underemployment rate stood at 42.24 % as at the first quarter of 2016
(National Bureau of Statistics, 2016), with the continuous sack of workers by different
companies and organisations, the tempo at which the rate of unemployment is going
can be detrimental to the national peace and stability, as ‘the youths can be ignited anytime’ (Obasanjo, 2013), and destabilised the fragile peace of the nation. The unpalatable problem of joblessness has made the youths to involve daily in crimes as
economic activities, viz money laundering, drugs peddling and trafficking in people (The Endowment of the United States Institute of Peace, 2010).Another resultant effect of the system of governance on Nigerians is the perceptions of government by the people. Government are seen as an unreliable propagandist which cannot be trusted for its words. People have developed a kind of mistrust in
government, as government promises are seen as rhetoric or utopian. People ‘in whom
political power reside’ could no longer believe whatever government is saying. They are reneging to participate in political activities especially in voting during elections as there has not being anything to show for their political activities. This, perhaps, accounted for low turnout of voters in many of the recent elections in the country.
Government’s ineptitude and lack of concern for the people has culminated in a situation where the people are deprived of social infrastructures and amenities. Where
there are claims of the provision of amenities by the government, most of these amenities are either substandard or has already collapsed. Poor governance equally
reflects in the area of poor placement of priorities by the government; a situation where leaders prefer to spend public scarce resources on uneconomic projects. These-so￾called leaders prefer to embark on such projects that will earn them immediate
monetary gains, instead of investing on peoples’ dire-need infrastructures such as
schools, hospitals, portable water, and accessible roads. Besides, basic infrastructure such as regular electricity supply is lacking, consequently many production industries
are running at a loss. This has led to the closure of businesses in Nigeria, while others
have relocated to other nations with relative regular supply of electricity.
In addition to the above are poor road networks. Roads construction and maintenance are always budgeted for on yearly basis, but the money budgeted always ends up in
public officers’ personal pockets, while roads are only built and maintained on papers.
Even, few of the roads being constructed across the nation are substandard, that
collapse easily after few months of the completion. It is not news that most of the
nation’s highways are death traps. Many of the accidents that have occurred on these
roads that have led to loss of peoples’ lives and their properties could have been averted
if the roads are well constructed and properly maintained. Poor, irregular and inadequate water supply is also a result of poor governance. In addition, water supply is another project which the public officers are using to siphon
the public money. Most of the politicians do embark on water projects as their communities or constituency projects. Many of them normally construct bore holes
which would supply water for few days before the bore holes stop supplying water to
the people. Further to the foregoing are poor health services and health facilities. It is a known fact that most of the government hospitals can only be likened to mere consulting clinics.
That is why public officeholders do fly abroad for medical attention. Although huge
amount of money is always reflected in the nation’s annual budget for hospitals
maintenance, but substantial part of the monies is always diverted and mismanaged,
leaving paltry sum of money for the hospitals need. For instance, despite the money
voted for Aso Rock clinics and other federal government hospitals, the reigning
President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari still prefer seeking medical attention abroad.
Suffice to say that, it is the masses of the nation that poorly funded hospitals are
reserved for. The nation’s education sectors are not excluded from the effect of poor governance.
The educational sectors are suffering from underfunding and poor funding. Many
primary and secondary schools in Nigeria are not good shape due to neglect by the
successive governments. This has led to the proliferation of private schools that are mainly for profits and thus, run schools as business ventures. In the tertiary institutions,
the story is not different. The academic and their non-academic counterparts in the
higher institutions, from time to time embark on strike action for reasons related to
funding of the institutions and salaries and allowances for the staff. The resultant effect
is the continuous falling in the standards of higher education in Nigeria. This was why
none of the nation’s universities was listed among the first one thousand university in
the world. The first Nigeria’s university listed was the University of Ibadan, the oldest
university in Nigeria, which was on number 1032nd in the July edition of the Ranking
Web of Universities in the world
The governance pattern has impoverished the large number of the nation’s citizens.
The poverty continues to deal ruthlessly with majority of Nigerians. The outstanding
revelation from nation number two citizen, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo that about
110 million Nigerians (61%) are still living below poverty line testifies to the fact that
poverty is really ravaging the nation while the masses appears helpless (Osibanjo,
2015). It should be noted, however, that there are some parts of the country where all necessary amenities are being put in place. These are reserved areas for the wealthy political class
and their allies under different names, such as Government Reservation Areas (GRA’s), Banana Island, Victoria Island, Ikoyi, Lekki Beach areas, Maitama, Asokoro villa among others. Social amenities are concentrated in all these reserved areas to the detriment of other places populated by ordinary Nigerian citizens. Besides social amenities are the heavy presence of securities and security apparatuses to monitor and to make the environment secure appropriately.

HINDRANCES TO GOOD GOVERNANCE IN NIGERIA

The first factor in the pool of hindrances to the attainment of good governance in Nigeria is organized

corruption. Corruption has been broadly defined as a perversion or change from good to bad. Specifically,

corruption or corrupt behaviour involves the violation of established rules for personal gains and profit (Sen, 1999 cited in Igbafe, 2011). According to Maria Costa (2013), a Brazilian scholar cited in Agwu (2011) she
stated that “fighting corruption is a pre-condition for good governance and the rule of law, which in turn are foundation stones of sustainable development”. The high rate of corruption at various levels of government has greatly stunted the growth of the economy. Political and public office holders see their positions as avenues for illegal wealth accumulation to the detriment of the common Nigerian. That is why people see political appointment or election into public office as a ‘do or die’ affair because it appears to be the only way of getting access to the national cake (Agwu, 2011). The political and economic arrangement being practiced in Nigeria has entrusted a dis-proportionate amount of the nation’s wealth in the hands of a few individuals. The income
gap between the rich and the poor is very wide and it keeps increasing by the day. The over attractiveness of political offices has made persons without any burning sense of vision or will for the state to vie for political
positions. They are only motivated by the financial benefits accruing to the positions.
Corruption fosters unaccountable governance as leadership strives to prevent the masses from getting to know how much funds are acquired and how they are put to use. According to Transparency International, corruption thrives where temptation to fraudulent activities coexist with permissiveness. Where institutional checks on power are missing, where decision making remains obscure; where civil society is thin on the ground; where
great inequalities in the distribution of wealth condemn people to live in poverty (Igwe, 2012). Most politicians now engage in what is known as rent seeking. Rent seeking occurs when people seek to use government for their private gain (Almond et. al, 2006). Rents are benefits created through government intervention in the economy￾for example, tax revenue or profits created because the government has restricted competition. As Almond et al. (2006) further posit, “rent seeking may be a particularly serious problem in poor societies, where politics is often the surest or most effective way to get rich, and the courts and mass media may be too weak to constrain government officials from abusing their power.” The culture of impunity and social injustice has allowed corruption to thrive in governance. Corruption is a symptom of fundamental failure of governance and so the
higher the corruption, the more sustainable development becomes elusive (Agwu, 2011). Corruption increases poverty and disproportionately affects those in the low income group because it pulls resources from the national treasury into the hands of a few individuals who are politically powerful. This of course has led to loss of government revenue, poor governance, failure of state institutions, brain drain and electoral malpractices, absence of law and order, civil unrest, poor investment channels, business failure, unemployment, poverty and unsustainable development (Agwu, 2011). Section 308 of the Nigerian Constitution (the immunity clause) which states that political office holders are immune from any criminal and civil offence for the period that they are in office has in a way helped to propagate corruption in government. Good governance is only spoken of when a person or group of persons is in power and has the authority to effectively and efficiently control the resources of the state. If they cannot be held accountable for misappropriation of resources or the abuse of power while in office, then good governance may be a mirage. The second factor in the pool of hindrances to the attainment of good governance is the lack of party ideology. In
most democratic states, political parties form the government; that is after a general election has taken place
which brings politicians into public offices. An ideology is a system of social beliefs. That is, a closely organized
system of beliefs, values, and ideas forming the basis of a social economic, or political philosophy or program. In terms of governance, ideology can be seen as a group of ideas that informs government’s policies and actions (Chigwe, 2012). Sadly, the lack of ideology in the various political parties existing in the country is brought to bear in governance. Most political parties do not have a clear cut agenda of what they intend to pursue if voted into power. Rather they make promises made by politicians of old. The promise of good access roads, steady power supply, good public health care, and infrastructural facilities still dominate campaigns. An ideology is meant to serve as a driving force as well as a guideline for a party when it finally forms the government. When a political party without ideologies forms the government, automatically, that government would most likely lack an ideology. The crises in the ruling party in Nigeria that resulted in the factionalizing of the party are a reflection of lack of ideologies. It is a party in which party members project their individualistic and parochial tendencies. This is why when politicians finally take oath of office, they do not fulfill their electioneering campaign promises rather they concentrate on looting public funds. The Nigerian constitution is one of the few in the world that makes provision for the existence of the party system and of political parties in a democratic regime. In Europe and North America, parties grow and develop as autonomous political institutions for the articulation and aggregation of common interest, ideas, values and challenges of governance to those who subscribe to them (Oyovbaire, 2007). And because of the over reliance on support from the government…these political parties are largely known for their bareness in ideas and ideological disposition, and owned by a handful of persons with which to trade and bargain for material benefits (Oyovbaire, 2007). The third factor in the pool of hindrances is the federal character principle otherwise known as quota system. The federal character principle was enshrined in the 1979 Constitution and reaffirmed in subsequent constitutions of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The essence of the federal character principle according to Agbodike (1998),
cited in Iyekekpolo et al., (2011) is to ensure social harmony among all Nigerians and to promote the stability and national integration of the nation. This policy provides that the six geo-political zones in the country must be represented in every cadre of the public service. This is aimed at fostering unity and national integration in Nigeria being a country with ethnic pluralism and cultural diversity. But this has come at a very high cost to governance in Nigeria. The formula has not adequately addressed the problems of the different and unequal ethnic groups. Unfortunately, this principle has been used to accelerate the promotion of mediocre and
incompetent civil servant into government (Iyekekpolo et. al., 2011). This is because appointments into very sensitive public offices are sometimes not based on merit but on the geo-political zone a person is from to which that office has been zoned. This has enthroned mediocrity and jettisoned meritocracy thereby handing good governance a death sentence as people who may be more qualified for an appointment stand disqualified by reason of the part of the country they hail from. Appointment into departments and agencies of government are politicized. Politicians rather than technocrats and bureaucrats are being made to head key ministries and government parastatals. To this end, people find themselves in positions they do not necessarily qualify for but because they are politically connected. The implication of this is that decision making sometimes is parochial, unilateral and self-serving. The federal character principle has been manipulated by, and channeled to serve the overall interest of the petty bourgeois ruling class. It is the members of their class who formulate and operate the principle.

SUMMARY.
The type of governance so far rendered to Nigeria is not ‘good’. This has continued to
manifest in the areas of nation’s development viz – bad roads networks, epileptic electricity supply, lack of portable water, poor healthcare delivery, falling educational system among others. Poor governance is also manifest in the areas of unemployment, poverty, hunger, diseases, violent, loss of dearly ones, loss of properties, and dislocation from one’s home as results of insurgents’ activities. The seeming inability to redeem the situation by the crop of leaders ascending the throne of governance in Nigeria poses danger for the future of the nation.
The study concluded that only the practice of good governance, manifesting in the areas
of rule of law, transparency, accountability, citizens’ participation among other can
guarantee national peace, stability and development in Nigeria. The study thus recommended that proactive steps should be taken for the enthronement of good governance. This could be achieved if people in whom power reside can unite and design active methods of exposing corrupt public officeholders whether when they are in offices or after they have left. Forming and designing peoples’ oriented code of ethical behaviour which the people themselves will be able to enforce its provisions will be helpful.

Name: Nzenwa Ngozi Beatrice
Registration Number: 2018/249548
Department: Social Science Education
Unit: Economics and Education
Email: paulbeatrice3417@gmail.com

ASSIGNMENT:
(1) In your opinion do you think these goals were achieved? If yes,how? If no, why?

(2) Good governance is good for all nations but Nigeria and many developing countries seem to be far behind in their quest for good governance. Discuss!

DISCUSSION:
1. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are eight objectives with quantifiable targets and clear cutoff times for working on the existences of the world’s least fortunate individuals. To meet these objectives and kill destitution, heads of 189 nations marked the the millennium development goals statement at the Assembled Countries Thousand years Highest point in 2000.

These goals includes;
MDG 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
MDG 2: Achieve universal primary education
MDG 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
MDG 4: Reduce child mortality
MDG 5: Improve maternal health
MDG 6: Combat HIV and AIDS, malaria and other diseases
MDG 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
MDG 8: Develop a global partnership for Development.

Many non-industrial nations made a colossal accomplishment in accomplishing these objectives, for instance; Ethiopia accomplished the majority of the wellbeing MDGs: a 67% decrease in less than five mortality, a 71% decrease in maternal mortality proportion, a 90% decrease in new HIV diseases, a diminishing in intestinal sickness related passings by 73% and an over half decrease in mortality because of tuberculosis. The major fruitful nations incorporate China (whose destitution populace declined from 452 million to 278 million) and India. The World Bank assessed that MDG 1A (dividing the extent of individuals living on under $1 every day) was accomplished in 2008 essentially because of the outcomes from these two nations and East Asia.

In general, the world accomplished 3 and a half targets: MDG Target 1 for instance – dividing the portion of the total populace living in outrageous neediness – is an especially significant one and keeping in mind that a great many people don’t know about it, the world has really accomplished this objective. Around the world, the quantity of passings of youngsters under 5 years old tumbled from 12.7 million of every 1990 to 6.3 million out of 2013. In agricultural nations, the level of underweight youngsters under 5 years of age dropped from 28% in 1990 to 17% in 2013. Worldwide, new HIV contaminations declined by 38% somewhere in the range of 2001 and 2013. Existing instances of tuberculosis are declining, alongside passings among HIV – negative tuberculosis cases. In 2010, the world met the Assembled Countries Thousand years Advancement Objectives focus on admittance to safe drinking-water, as estimated by the intermediary sign of admittance to further developed drinking-water sources, yet more should be done to accomplish the sterilization target.

Involving Nigeria as a contextual investigation to know whether these objectives were accomplished:
Nigeria was among the 189 nations from across the world that embraced the Assembled Countries. Thousand years Revelation in New York in September 2000, which prompted the reception of the eight time-bound Thousand years Improvement Objectives (MDGs) and their monitorable pointers.

In Subtleties;
MDG 2: Accomplish widespread essential instruction:
The net enrolment in essential training (as tamed in Nigeria to mean six years of essential tutoring and three years of junior optional schooling) has had a fluctuating history of a vertical pattern to the mid-point evaluation year. This positive pattern was anyway stopped in later years because of the disturbances achieved by the Boko Haram uprising. The uprising prompted the obliteration of many schools with the younger students establishing a huge
size of the inside dislodged populace.

MDG 3: Advance orientation balance and enable ladies:
The quest for orientation equality in essential schooling in Nigeria has seen solid advancement when seen against the predominant male centric culture and practices in many pieces of the country. There has been a consistent expansion in the proportion of young ladies to young men in essential schooling in Nigeria with the end-point status of 94% in 2013 being a huge accomplishment contrasted with the 82% accomplished in 1991. The measurements from both the World Bank and Different Marker Bunch Overview (MICS) support the high orientation equality list recorded by Nigeria. The accomplishment at the fundamental instruction level has not been reproduced at the tertiary level where there is feeble advancement despite the fact that the approach climate has been steady at each level of the instructive pipeline.

MDG 4: Diminish kid mortality:
Nigeria’s endeavors pointed toward diminishing avoidable kid passings have been met with steady and supported advancement. The under-five death rate (U5MR) has improved amazingly from 191 passings for each 1000 live births in 2000 to 89 passings for every 1000 live births in 2014 as the end-point status. Considering the end-point status of U5MR, Nigeria misses the mark regarding the 2015 objective of 64 passings for each 1000 live births by 28%, Thus others. Overall terms, the report demonstrates that Nigeria has gained obvious headway in the fulfillment of MDGs over the most recent 14 years, especially, in the space of widespread essential training enrolment; accomplishing orientation equality in schooling; diminishing the spread of HIV and AIDS.

2. Governance is an idea that has been around for a really long time and is normally utilized by numerous people. There is practically no agreement on the authority meaning of governance because its utilization frequently relies upon the expected reason, individuals included, and the socio-world of politics of the term.

As per the United Nations (UN), governance alludes to the exercises of all political and authoritative specialists to oversee their country. In the mean time, as expressed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), governance is an idea where a nation is made due, including monetary, arrangement, and legitimate viewpoints.

In this manner, by and large, governance has the significance: the dynamic cycle and the most common way of figuring out which approaches will be carried out and not executed.

Definition of Good Governance
During the 1990s, the World Bank turned into the primary worldwide organization to embrace the idea of good governance into loaning plans for non-industrial nations and acquaint thought with the overall population. In its 1992 report entitled “Government and Development”, the idea of good governance was composed as the manner by which power is utilized to manage the monetary and social assets of a country for advancement.

Presently, the term good governance has regularly been utilized by public and global associations. Good governance plans to limit defilement, consider the assessments of minorities, pay attention to the voices of the mistreated individuals in the dynamic cycle, and react effectively to the necessities of the local area now and later on.

Eight Standards of Good Governance
Refering from the United Countries Monetary and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), the idea of good administration has eight standards.

1. Cooperation
Cooperation in the idea of good governance here is a chance for everybody to voice their viewpoints through organizations or portrayals. Likewise, everybody, no matter what, has the privilege to opportunity of affiliation and articulation.

2. Law and order
To execute good governance the legitimate structure in the nation should be implemented fair-mindedly, particularly concerning basic liberties regulation.

3. Straightforwardness
Straightforwardness implies that each arrangement taken and executed by the public authority should be done under existing guidelines. Moreover, there should be an assurance that any data connected with the strategy can be gotten to by everybody, particularly the people who are straightforwardly impacted by the approach.

4. Responsiveness
Good governance needs establishments and cycles to endeavor to serve all partners inside a sensible time.

5. Consensus oriented
This fifth standard is connected with the dynamic cycle. At the point when the dynamic cycle can’t oblige everybody’s desires, then, at that point, at least, the choice should be a choice that can be acknowledged by everybody and doesn’t hurt anybody.

6. Value and comprehensiveness
Great administration guarantees equity for the local area. Everybody has a similar chance to keep up with and work on their government assistance.

7. Viability and productivity
Each dynamic interaction and its foundations should have the option to create choices that meet each local area need. Local area assets should likewise be used ideally by the public authority.

8. Responsibility
All organizations engaged with great administration have full liability to the general population for working on the nature of society.

In conclusion, It very well may be inferred that good governance is an optimal idea to accomplish its objectives. However, obviously, carrying out good governance isn’t generally so natural as it shows up on paper. There are a couple of nations that have demonstrated fruitful in executing this idea in their administration. Quick and mindful activity from different gatherings will without a doubt be exceptionally useful in executing good governance. Therefore, when a country fails to exhibit the above mentioned qualities of a good governance such country is said to be far from the experience of good governance. Bad governance has a way of affecting every sector thereby resulting to poor economic growth as well as resulting to an increase in the presence of corruption in the economy.

Gwom Paul Jacob
2018/243820
Economics
Evaluating Nigeria’s Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MGDs) 673 development agenda known as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs which was launched September 25, 2015 and commenced operation in 2016 comprises of 17 targets with the aim to improve livelihood, stability of the economy and environment, and protect the planet for future generations (Sachs, 2012; Emas, 2015:2-3; Waziri, 2015). The goals are as follows:
1) End poverty in all ramifications
2) End hunger, food security and promote sustainable agriculture
3) Good Health and Wellbeing
4) Quality Education and life-long opportunities
5) Gender Equality and Women empowerment
6) Clean Water and Sanitation for all
7) Accessible, Affordable, Reliable and Sustainable energy for all
8) Promote Decent Work and Economic Growth
9) Promote sustainable industrialization
10) Reduce Inequalities within and among countries
11) Build inclusive safe and sustainable cities and communities
12) Promote sustainable consumption and production pattern
13) Urgent action to address Climate Change
14) Conservative and Sustainable use of marine resources, oceans and seas
15) Protect, Restore and Promote terrestrial ecosystem and halt biodiversity loss.
16) Promote peaceful and inclusive society, rule of law, effective and accountable society while ensuring sustainable development
17) Strengthen mean of implementation and global partnership for sustainable development.
The goals which are in line with Spangenberg (2005) and Rio Earth Summit (1992) is seen as a prerequisite for sustainable development. It emphasises on the economic, environmental, social and institutional issues of the society. Spangenberg argues that the four systems have to maintain its capability to survive and evolve in meeting up with impending demands. It should be considered that the SDGs is a broader version of the MDGs by taking into consideration loopholes of the MDGs and relative challenges of the society. For instance, the Goal 2 of the MDGs focused on achieving universal primary education inadvertently

Name: Ik-Ukennaya Ezekiel
Reg. No:2018/249 788
Department: Economics
Email:ezekielikukennaya4@gmail.com

Eco.362 (1-2-2022–Online Discussion/Quiz 3—Evaluating the Performance of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Good Governance)

Comment:
Question 1
The millennium development goals ( MDGS) were not achieved because the targets of these goals were not met . Between the year 2000 and 2015, a lot of people still leaved in extreme poverty and hunger. However, the pursuit of the goals made some level of positive impacts. In the efforts to achieve universal primary education, a lot of children were enrolled through free education program and establishment of more schools even in rural areas by the government. Gender equality in education were pursued and the enrollment of the girl child increased tremendously even though, not all girls and boys completed the course of primary education in 2005 and at all levels in 2015. For example, the northern part of Nigeria did not support Western education and girl child education. The incedence of child mortality was reduced due to the provision of improved health care services for children.. Maternal mortality also decreased due to provision of improved medical facilities and maternal health care services ( for example, antenatal services).
The six goal of the ambitious development agenda which stressed on combating HIV/ AID , malaria and other major diseases yielded positive result as awareness programs were created to enlighten people on the dangers, causes and how to prevent the deadly virus , malaria and other major diseases.
On the other hand, the efforts to achieve environmental sustainability largely failed as majority of people in rural areas lacked access to safe drinking water; even few boreholes provided within the time did not last long .The goal to achieve global partnership for development was not achieved as it’s core targets were not and still not achieved even in the present time.Globalization has not still become a more positive force for all the World’s people. Developing countries have been unable to compete favourably with developed countries and it has lead to high level of poverty in less developed countries .Many developing countries including Nigeria were still heavily indebted, there has been lack of decent and productive work, poor public health services and low level of computer literacy.
The failure to achieve the MDGs led to the launch and pursuit of Sustainable Development Goals ( SDGs) which is people’s centered and planet sensitive initiatives to make the world a better place to live on or before the year 2030

Question 2
Failure of Developing countries in their quest for good governance

Nigeria and many developing countries seem to be far behind their quest for good governance because they lack the qualities of good governance. They make laws but they do not allow the law to rule. There is lack of transparency, accountability, effectiveness and efficiency in their institutions of governance. Government do not respond to the needs of the masses, the people do not participate in decision making and implementation, there is no equity and inclusive governance and this has made the people unable to believe that they are stakeholders. All these led to criminalization of policies, high level of corruption, gender inequality ( for example, gender based violence), growing incedence of violence, delay in justice, concentration of administrative system in the central government( making them to have enormous power), marginalization of socially and economically backward section of the society.
The aftermath these is persistent failure in the quest for good governance in Nigeria and many developing countries.

MOLOKWU CHIAMAKA GOODNESS
ECONOMICS
2018/242393
ASSIGNMENT

1. The United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are 8 goals that UN Member States have agreed to try to achieve by the year 2015.
The United Nations Millennium Declaration, signed in September 2000, commits world leaders to combat poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation, and discrimination against women. The MDGs are derived from this Declaration. Each MDG has targets set for 2015 and indicators to monitor progress from 1990 levels. Several of these relate directly to health.
While some countries have made impressive gains in achieving health-related targets, others are falling behind. Often the countries making the least progress are those affected by high levels of HIV/AIDS, economic hardship or conflict.

Millennium Development Goal 1: eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Target 1.C. Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger
Undernutrition which includes fetal growth restriction, stunting, wasting and deficiencies of vitamin A and zinc, along with suboptimal breastfeeding; is the underlying cause of death in an estimated 45% of all deaths among children under 5 years of age. The proportion of underweight children in developing countries has declined from 28% to 17% between 1990 and 2013. This rate of progress is close to the rate required to meet the MDG target, however improvements have been unevenly distributed between and within different regions.

Millennium Development Goal 4: reduce child mortality
Target 4.A. Reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate
Globally, significant progress has been made in reducing mortality in children under 5 years of age. In 2013, 6.3 million children under 5 died, compared with 12.7 million in 1990. Between 1990 and 2013, under-5 mortality declined by 49%, from an estimated rate of 90 deaths per 1000 live births to 46. The global rate of decline has also accelerated in recent years – from 1.2% per annum during 1990–1995 to 4.0% during 2005–2013. Despite this improvement, the world is unlikely to achieve the MDG target of a two-thirds reduction in 1990 mortality levels by the year 2015.
More countries are now achieving high levels of immunization coverage; in 2013, 66% of Member States reached at least 90% coverage. In 2013, global measles immunization coverage was 84% among children aged 12–23 months. During 2000–2013, estimated measles deaths decreased by 74% from 481 000 to 124 000.

Millennium Development Goal 5: improve maternal health
Target 5.A. Reduce by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio
Target 5.B. Achieve, by 2015, universal access to reproductive health
Despite a significant reduction in the number of maternal deaths – from an estimated 523 000 in 1990 to 289 000 in 2013 – the rate of decline is less than half of what is needed to achieve the MDG target of a three quarters reduction in the mortality ratio between 1990 and 2015.
To reduce the number of maternal deaths, women need access to good-quality reproductive health care and effective interventions. In 2012, 64% of women aged 15–49 years who were married or in a consensual union were using some form of contraception, while 12% wanted to stop or postpone childbearing but were not using contraception.
The proportion of women receiving antenatal care at least once during pregnancy was about 83% for the period 2007–2014, but for the recommended minimum of 4 or more visits the corresponding figure drops to around 64%.
The proportion of births attended by skilled personnel – crucial for reducing perinatal, neonatal and maternal deaths – is above 90% in 3 of the 6 WHO regions. However, increased coverage is needed in certain regions, such as the WHO African Region where the figure was still only 51%.

Millennium Development Goal 6: combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
Target 6A. Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS
Target 6B. Achieve, by 2010, universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for all those who need it.
In 2013 an estimated 2.1 million people were newly infected with HIV – down from 3.4 million in 2001. By the end of 2013 about 12.9 million people were receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) globally. Of these, 11.7 million lived in low- and middle-income countries, representing 36% of the estimated 32.6 million people living with HIV in these countries. Should current trends continue the target of placing 15 million people on ART by 2015 will be exceeded.
The decrease in the number of those newly infected along with the increased availability of ART have contributed to a major decline in HIV mortality levels – from 2.4 million people in 2005 to an estimated 1.5 million in 2013. As fewer people die from AIDS-related causes the number of people living with HIV is likely to continue to grow.

Target 6C. Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases
MALARIA
About half the world’s population is at risk of malaria, and an estimated 198 million cases in 2013 led to approximately 584 000 deaths – most of these in children under the age of 5 living in Africa. During the period 2000–2013, malaria incidence and mortality rates of population at risk have both fallen globally, 30% and 47% respectively. The coverage of interventions such as the distribution of insecticide-treated nets and indoor residual spraying has greatly increased, and will need to be sustained in order to prevent the resurgence of disease and deaths caused by malaria. Globally, the MDG target of halting by 2015 and beginning to reverse the incidence of malaria has already been met.
TUBERCULOSIS
The annual global number of new cases of tuberculosis has been slowly falling for a decade thus achieving MDG target 6.C to reverse the spread of the disease by 2015. In 2013, there were an estimated 9 million new cases and 1.5 million deaths (including 360 000 deaths among HIV-positive people). Globally, treatment success rates have been sustained at high levels since 2007, at or above the target of 85%. However, multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), which emerged primarily as a result of inadequate treatment, continues to pose problems.

Millennium Development Goal 7: ensure environmental sustainability
Target 7C: By 2015, halve the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. The world has now met the MDG target relating to access to safe drinking-water. In 2012, 90%of the population used an improved source of drinking-water compared with 76% in 1990. Progress has however been uneven across different regions, between urban and rural areas, and between rich and poor. With regard to basic sanitation, current rates of progress are too slow for the MDG target to be met globally. In 2012, 2.5 billion people did not have access to improved sanitation facilities, with 1 billion these people still practicing open defecation. The number of people living in urban areas without access to improved sanitation is increasing because of rapid growth in the size of urban populations.

Millennium Development Goal 8: develop a global partnership for development
Target 8E. In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable essential medicines in developing countries. Many people continue to face a scarcity of medicines in the public sector, forcing them to the private sector where prices can be substantially higher. Surveys undertaken from 2007-2013 show the average availability of selected generic medicines in 21 low- and middle-income countries was only 55% in the public sector. Even the lowest-priced generics can put common treatments beyond the reach of low-income households in developing countries. The greatest price is paid by patients suffering chronic diseases. Effective treatments for the majority of the global chronic disease burden exist, yet universal access remains out-of-reach.

2. Good governance for sustainable human development is a multidimensional process involving socioeconomic and political transformation of societies; it is aimed at enhancing human progress in all its dimensions, including freedom of political and economic choice. A program of good governance, along with education on how to achieve peaceful transformation and confl ict resolution, should be instituted across schools, universities, and colleges to teach citizenship, the qualities of a civil society, and responsible ethical conduct.
HINDRANCES OF GOOD GOVERANCE IN NIGERIA
bribe and corruption – this snatches away the opportunity from the deserving to the less eligible candidate in any field.
poor economy – unemployment and reservation
uneducated people – poor education system and not access to education by everyone is a failure for the nation.
inequality – discriminating on the basis of gender, class , creed and religion is major cause for backwardness.

The importance of good governance comes from its relationship with the development of a country and the reduction of poverty, in particular. Setting an agenda for reaching good governance is of huge interest but also a complex task, hence while governments believe they apply the elements/principles of good governance in their decision-making, cultural differences do cause conflict especially in a heterogeneous society like Nigeria with diverse religion, language, culture, history and belief systems (Grindle, 2004).
However heterogeneous, the Nigerian society has the need to secure sustainable development and the welfare of the people cannot be compromised. Hence people of different tribes, languages, colour, history and customs have need for those things that make live worth living provided for them by the government whom they entered into contract with. This is done through governance, which the UNDP defines as the exercise of economic, political and administrative authority to manage a country’s affairs at all levels, comprising the mechanisms, processes and institutions through which citizens and groups articulate their interests, exercise their legal rights, meet their obligations and mediate their differences. By implication governance is administered at three levels: Economic governance which includes decision-making processes that affect a country’s economic activities and its relationships with other economies, with major implications for equity, poverty and quality of life; Political governance which is the process of decision-making to formulate policy; and administrative governance which is the system of policy implementation (Waziri, 2009).

NAME: UDEZE OBIANUJU CHARITY
DEPARTMENT: EDUCATION ECONOMICS
REG NO: 2018/244283
COURSE: DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS

Question 1:
In September 2000, leaders from about 189 nations ratified the Millennium Declaration. The declaration was an unprecedented global commitment and one of the most significant United Nations documents in recent times. It offers a common and integrated vision on how to tackle some of the major challenges facing the world of our time. The declaration has resulted in Eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) focused on reducing poverty, improving the quality of peoples’ lives, ensuring environmental sustainability, and building partnerships to ensure that globalization becomes a more positive force for all the world’s people. Also specific targets and indicators have been set and put in place for each of the goals, to be achieved by 2015.
In your opinion do you think these goals were achieved? If yes,how? If no, why?
Answer:
No, the goals were not achieved.
The Millennium Development goals were set up to be achieved between 2000 and 2015 but as we obviously can see, these goals have not been achieved in greater proportion of the world’s populations. The reasons are as follow:
Goal 1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.
This goal has to do with reducing poverty. It has two targets and each of these targets has their indicators
Target 1: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than one dollar a day
Indicators
a. Proportion of population below $1 (PPP) per day (a)
b. Poverty gap ratio
c. Share of poorest quintile in national consumption

Target 2: Achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people
Indicators
a. Growth rate of GDP per person employed
b. Employment-to-population ratio
c. Proportion of employed people living below $1 (PPP) per day
d. Proportion of own-account and contributing family workers in total employment
From the above goal, it is appalling that the MDG goal on reducing poverty were not achieved especially in the underdeveloped and developing countries. A lot of people still live below 1dollar per day and the unemployment to population ratio has widened. A lot of people are unemployed not to talk of those who are underemployed.
Goal 7. Ensure environmental Sustainablility
Now, this goal deals with ensuring environmental sustainability. It has 3 targets with the various indicators for each target.
Target 1. Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reverse the loss of environmental resources
Indicators
a. Proportion of land area covered by forest
b. CO2 emissions, total, per capita and per $1 GDP (PPP) Consumption of ozone-depleting substances
c. Proportion of fish stocks within safe biological limits Proportion of total water resources used
Target 2 Reduce by half the proportion of people with sustainable access to safe drinking water
Indicators
a. Proportion of population using an improved drinking water source
b. Proportion of population using an improved sanitation facility
Target 3: By 2020, to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers
Indicators
a. Reducing the proportion of urban population living in slums
The environment is not getting better as the CO2 emissions into the environment has been on the increase because of industrial activities.
People’s lives are not getting better either as this emissions and the unsafe drinking water continues on the increase.
Even the so called ragolis water people take are not safe for the health because of the preservative.
Finally Goal 8. Develop a global partnership for development.
This is the last goal of the MDGs and it has 4 targets which are as follow:
Target 1: Develop further an open, rule-based, predictable, non-discriminatory trading and financial system. It includes a commitment to good governance, development and poverty reduction – both nationally and internationally
Target 2: Address the special needs of the least developed countries
Includes: tariff and quota free access for the least developed countries’ exports; enhanced programme of debt relief for heavily indebted poor countries (HIPC) and cancellation of official bilateral debt; and more generous ODA for countries committed to poverty reduction
Target 3: special needs of landlocked developing countries and small island developing States (through the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States and the outcome of the twenty-second special session of the General Assembly)
Target 4: Deal comprehensively with the debt problems of developing countries through national and international measures in order to make debt sustainable in the long term
Some of the indicators listed below are monitored separately for the least developed countries (LDCs), Africa, landlocked developing countries and small island developing States.
The true of the matter is that the goals be it reducing poverty, improving the quality of people’s lives, ensuring environmental sustainability and building partnership to ensure that globalisation becomes a more positive force for all the world’s people as poverty has been on the increase, a lot of people are suffering, the environment is getting worst due to unsafe emissions and there are still trade barriers in a lot of countries in the world today.
Meanwhile these goals were meant to have been achieve by 2015 but we are in 2022 and the economy is still like this.

Question 2.
Good governance is good for all nations but Nigeria and many developing countries seem to be far behind in their quest for good governance. Discuss!
Good governance is good for all nation need but Nigeria and many developing countries seem to be far behind their quest for good governance.
First, what is governance?
Governance simply means how decisions are made and implemented.
According to the United Nations (UN), governance refers to the activities of all political and administrative authorities to govern their country. Meanwhile, as stated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), governance is a concept in which a country is managed, including economic, policy, and legal aspects.
by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), governance is a concept in which a country is managed, including economic, policy, and legal aspects.
Thus, in general, governance has the meaning: the decision-making process and the process of determining which policies will be implemented and not implemented.
What is good governance?
Good governance is the way in which power is used to regulate the economic and social resources of a country for development.
Good governance has 8 principles which must be present for it to take place.
They are:
1. Participation
2. Rule of law
3.Transparency
4. Responsiveness
5. Concensus Oriented
6. Equity and Inclusiveness
7. Effectiveness and efficiency
8. Accountability

Now reason why Nigeria and the many developing countries are far behind in their quest for good governance is majorly as a result of corruption and their neglence of the above principles without which no good governance will be achieved.
Note that the three actors in governance are the government, the military and the civilians (citizens). Now for good governance to take place both the government(the rulers), military (those that maintain law and order) and the citizen(the rules) must walk together following these principles carefully.
Using our case study Nigeria, and taking the first principle which is participation, a lot of people do not participate in the political activities such as election. I don’t blame the citizens because they feel or know that their opinions may not count. Which has already defiled the first principle that must be present for good governance to take place.
Second, it is assumed that the law is supreme, no body is above the law and everybody is equal before the law but some people believe they are above the law which is also trampling on another important criterion for good governance to take place.
Another issue is transparency and accountability. Both the government, military and citizens are not transparent and accountable.
The government dupe the treasury, the military who are meant to protect the interest of the citizens extort the citizen whom they are ment to be protecting and the citizens evade and avoid the payment of taxes.
The above and many others are the reasons why Nigeria and many developing countries are far from good governance.
So, to get things right and attain good governance, Nigeria and the other developing countries should get back to the drawing board and carefully begin to observe this principles of good governance. This will not be easy because corruption has eaten deep into developing countries like Nigeria but it is still attainable.

NAME: AJULUCHUKWU JOY IFEOMA
REG NO: 2018/241840
DEPARTMENT: ECONOMICS
EMAIL: ajuluifeoma1@gmail.com

QUESTION NO. 1
GOAL 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger;
Globally, the number of people living in extreme poverty has declined by more than half from 1.9 billion in 1990 to 836 million in 2015.
The number of people in the working middle class—livingonmorethan$4 per day has almost tripled between 1991 and 2015.This groupnowmakesuphalfthe workforceinthedevelopingregions,upfromjust18percentin1991, there by reducing hunger
Extreme poverty has declined significantly over the last two decades. In 1990, nearly half of the population in the developing world lived on less than $1.25 a day; that proportion dropped significantly in 2015.
The proportion of undernourished people in the developing regions has fallen by almost half since 1990, from 23.3 percent in 1990–1992 to 12.9 percent in 2014–2016..
GOAL NO.2: Achieve universal primary education.
The primary school net enrolment rate in the developing regions has reached 91 percent in 2015, up from 83 per cent in 2000. Sub-Saharan Africa has had the best record of improvement in primary education of many regions since the MDGs were established.
The literacy rate among youth aged 15 to 24 has increased globally from 83 percent to 91 percent between 1990 and 2015.
GOAL NO.3: Promote Gender equality and empower women.
Many more girls are now in school compared to 15 years ago, Even in Nigeria there are more girls in schools than boys. The developing regions as a whole have achieved the target to eliminate gender disparity in primary, secondary and tertiary education.
Women now make up 41 per cent of paid workers outside the agricultural sector, an increase from 35 percent in 1990. Between 1991 and 2015, the proportion of women in vulnerable employment as a share of total female employment has declined 13 percentage points. In contrast, vulnerable employment among men fell by 9 percentage points.
Women have gained ground in parliamentary representation in nearly 90 percent of the 174 countries. The average proportion of women in parliament has nearly doubled during the same period. The gap between women and men has narrowed.
GOAL NO.4: Reduce child mortality.
The global under-five mortality rate has declined by more than half, dropping from 90 to 43 deaths per 1,000 live births between 1990 and 2015. Since the early 1990s, the rate of reduction of under-five mortality has increased significantly as a result of vaccines introduced to prevent child illness like measles, polio etc. In sub-Saharan Africa, the annual rate of reduction of under-five mortality was over five times faster during 2005–2013 than it was during 1990–1995.
GOAL NO.5 : Improve maternal Health
Since 1990, the maternal mortality ratio has declined by 45 percent worldwide, and most of the reduction has occurred since 2000. In Southern Asia, the maternal mortality ratio declined by 64 percent between 1990 and 2013, and in sub-Saharan Africa it fell by 49 percent. More than 71 per cent of births were assisted by skilled health personnel globally in 2014, an increase from 59 per cent in 1990.
In Northern Africa, the proportion of pregnant women who received four or more antenatal visits increased from 50 percent to 89 percent between 1990 and 2014.
Contraceptive prevalence among women aged 15 to 49, married or in a union, increased from 55 percent in 1990 worldwide to 64 per cent in 2015.

GOAL NO.6: Combat HIV/AIDS,malaria and other diseases
New HIV infections fell by approximately 40 per cent between 2000 and 2013, from an estimated 3.5 million cases to 2.1 million by June 2014, 13.6 million people living with HIV were receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) globally, an immense increase from just 800,000 in 2003. ART averted 7.6 million deaths from AIDS between 1995 and 2013.
The global malaria incidence rate has fallen by an estimated 37 percent, More than 900 million insecticide-treated mosquito nets were delivered to malaria-endemic countries in sub-Saharan Africa between 2004 and 2014.
Between 2000 and 2013, tuberculosis prevention, diagnosis and treatment interventions saved an estimated 37 million lives. The tuberculosis mortality rate fell by 45 per cent and the prevalence rate by 41 per cent between 1990 and 2013.
GOAL NO.7: Ensure environmental sustainability.
Ozone-depleting substances have been virtually eliminated since 1990, and the ozone layer is expected to recover by the middle of this century.
In 2015, 91 percent of the global population is using an improved drinking water source, compared to 76 percent in 1990. Of the 2.6 billion people who have gained access to improved drinking water since 1990, 1.9 billion gained access to piped drinking water on premises. Over half of the global population (58 percent) now enjoys this higher level of service
Globally, 147 countries have met the drinking water target, 95 countries have met the sanitation target and 77 countries have met both.
Worldwide, 2.1 billion people have gained access to improved sanitation. The proportion of people practicing open defecation has fallen almost by half since 1990.

GOA L NO. 8: Develop a global partnership for development
In 2014, Denmark, Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom continued to exceed the United Nations official development assistance target of 0.7 percent of gross national income. In 2014, 79 percent of imports from developing to developed countries were admitted duty free, up from 65 per cent in 2000.
The proportion of external debt service to export revenue in developing countries fell from 12 percent in 2000 to 3 percent in 2013.
The number of mobile-cellular subscriptions has increased significantly in the last 15 years,from 738 million in 2000 to over 7 billion in 2015.
Internet penetration has increased from over 6 percent of the world’s population in 2000 to 43 percent in 2015.
To some extent d MDGs has been achieved in some countries but there is still lapses which call for improvement.

QUESTION NO:2.
Good governance is good for all nations but Nigeria and many developing countries seem to be far behind in their quest for good governance, discuss.

Indeed good governance is very important for all Nations good governance is like an engine that drives development and prosperity of any nation as it provides an enabling environment for economic growth since people can easily participate in the decision-making and implementation of policies.
Nigeria and other developing countries are far behind because they lack the ingredients of good governance. A government is said to be good and it possesses the following characteristics;
1. Transparency: the activities and demons of the government should be made known to the public.
2. Consensus-oriented: meaning that the decision of the government should be based on mutual agreement with the general public.
3. Accountability: a good government should be accountable to the people.
4. Effectiveness and efficiency: a government is said to be good if its process and institutions are able to produce the needs of the people and at the same time make efficient use of resources.
5. Rule of law: rule of law is if a legal framework that is impartial to guide actions and decisions of a nation, it ensures that Justice is not denied and Justice is not delayed.
6. Equity and inclusiveness: people must be carried along in the businesses of the Nation; they should be stakeholder in the country’s activities.
From the above explained point it is clear that Nigeria and other developing countries are still far behind as far as good governance is concerned. What we see in Nigeria and other developing nation is a growing incident of violence especially in Nigeria, delay in justice which contradict the rule of law, marginalization of socially and economically backward people; marginalization makes it difficult for good governance to be achieved as it contradicts equity and social inclusiveness.

Name: Onyeabo Michael Chukwuebuka

Reg No: 2018/248280

Department: Economics

In my opinion, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)were partly achieved. So the program is not a total failure but also I can’t say it was successful. More than half of the goals were not achieved even though efforts were made.

Efforts were made towards Eradicating Extreme Poverty and Hunger. Though globally the number of people living in extreme poverty fell from 1.9 billion in 1990 to 836 million in 2015, however, the target of halving the proportion of people having less than a dollar per day was narrowly not achieved.

one of the goals that were successfully achieved was universal primary education. Primary school enrolment figures have shown an impressive rise. The primary school enrolment rate in developing regions reached 91 percent in 2015, up from 83 percent in 2000. The success of this goal was partly because gender disparity in primary and secondary education was eliminated. About two two-thirds of developing countries achieved gender parity in primary education. Progress has been particularly strong in Southern Asia. Only 74 girls were enrolled in primary school for every 100 boys in 1990. Today, 103 girls are enrolled for every 100 boys. This means that the gender disparity in education was closed at the global level.

The global under-five mortality rate has declined by more than half since 1990, dropping from 90 to 43 deaths per 1,000 live births. This falls short of the targeted drop of two-thirds. In practical terms, this means 16,000 children under five continue to die every day from preventable causes. A terrible reality is made worse by the fact we know what each one of these major killers is, and what can be done to thwart them. The child mortality rate was reduced but the goal was not achieved because the target was missed.

Just like goal 4, there was also improvement in maternity health however, goal 5 falls short of the two-thirds reduction that was aimed for. There were an estimated 289,000 maternal deaths in 2013. Also, the target of halting and beginning to reverse the spread of HIV/Aids has not been met, although the number of new HIV infections fell by 40% between 2000 and 2013.

Between 1990 and 2015, 2.6 billion people gained access to improved drinking water, meaning the target of halving the proportion of people without access to safe water was achieved. Worldwide, 2.1 billion people have gained access to improved sanitation.

With these, I can’t actually say whether the Millennium Development Goals were achieved or not. But one clear thing is that there was an improvement.

Good governance is good for all nations but Nigeria and many developing countries seem to be far behind in their quest for good governance. Discuss!

Nigeria and many developing countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America lacks the ingredients that promote good governance and some ingredients include the following

Rule of law: For good governance to strive in an environment there must be a fair legal framework that will guide the activities of that environment or nation.
Transparency – the government must make known to the people what they ought to know about the government and this is something that lacks in Nigeria and other developing countries. So, good governance cannot strive in such an environment.
Accountability – the government of many developing nations including Nigeria is not accountable to the people, therefore, such an environment cannot encourage good governance.

Apart from the lacking ingredients mentioned above, the following are challenges to good governance in developing countries including Nigeria.

Corruption
Gender inequality and discrimination
Criminalization of politics
Growing incidents of violence
Delay of justice
Marginalization of economic and socially backward people
The concentration of administrative system

NAME: EZENWA CHIBUZO FRANKLIN
REG NO: 2018/242324
DEPT: EDUCATION/ ECONOMICS
EMAIL: chibuzofranklin20@gmail.com
Assignment
Answers
In 2000,nations around the world renewed their commitment to creating a better,freer,safer world. As part of this commitment,developed and developing countries agree to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs identify key areas of human development, provide a framework for coordinated action, and set clear targets to measure progress. As we near the 2015 deadline,many developing countries have already made extraordinary progress, improving the lives of millions of people.But not all countries or all regions of the world are on track to meet the MDGs. As a region, sub-Saharan Africa is off track on every goal.1 The news is not all bad: for example, Malawi is making progress against child mortality and Ghana against hunger. But successes like these can become obscured by a tendency to see sub-Saharan Africa as a monolith rather than a region of 47 individual countries.Strong economic growth in India means that it—and the broader South Asia region—has already achieved the poverty goal. Far less progress has been made on other goals, in particular reducing child mortality and improving maternal health.
In Latin America, several of the MDGs have already been met, notably ensuring universal primary school enrollment and empowering women (generally in the sectors of education, business and politics). The region has not made progress on other MDGs, though, such as halting and reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases.
Around the world, only East Asia has made progress toward MDGs ensuring environmental sustainability. Six other regions are off track or making no progress toward this goal.Developing nations face many challenges to achieving the MDGs. Some are specific to individual countries or regions,others broadly shared. These challenges make development substantially more difficult and raise the likelihood that some countries will not be able to meet the MDGs. Another factor that exacerbates all of these conditions is the sudden increase in food and fuel prices.Common challenges can be grouped into the following categories:

• Poor Starting Conditions: Countries whose human development indicators are at the lowest levels must make the greatest investments to achieve the MDGs Not surprisingly, though, these are the countries with the fewest resources and the least capacity for rapid scale-up of programs in sectors such as health and education.
• Weak Governance and Institutions: Governments in developing countries have primary responsibility for promoting equitable, sustainable economic growth and human development. Governments that are unaccountable inefficient, and/or do not respect human rights make growth and human development much more difficult.
• Conflict and Instability: Conflict not only stops development butreverses progress,exacerbating hunger, poverty and disease and sharply increasing rates of premature death. Countries emerging from conflict have an opportunity to make rapid improvements in human development, but these are fragile opportunities that are easily passed up.
• Environmental Degradation: Many developing countries face heightened environmental risks. Deforestation,overfishing, droughts, and floods are longstanding problems in some regions. Global climate change has potentially devastating long-term consequences since higher temperatures harm many crops.

Bad governance is a relationship between those who govern and those who are governed as a consequence of decision-making. This unfavourable relationship is created as a consequence of external factors or decisions such as violation of central or acceptable norms, such as those of liberal democracy, and bad economic policy:.Bad governance collectively encompasses governance in government and corporate settings. It is the opposite of good governance. Bad governance addresses governance in a government setting but bad governance and bad government are different concepts. Bad governance encompasses a variety of situations from corruption, deceit and to passing of unfair policy. From this, it can be noted that different manifestations of bad governance can vary in severity and the potential impact in their respective setting.The World Bank has identified key indicators of governance which are used as a method to measure bad governance.
Bad governance is centralised around the idea of not only corruption within a system but a lack of transparency and accountability, arbitrary

Name: Akachukwu Christian Nonso
Dept:. Economics
Reg no:2018/249531
Course:Eco 362

In September 2000, leaders from about 189 nations ratified the Millennium Declaration. The declaration was an unprecedented global commitment and one of the most significant United Nations documents in recent times. It offers a common and integrated vision on how to tackle some of the major challenges facing the world of our time. The declaration has resulted in Eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) focused on reducing poverty, improving the quality of peoples’ lives, ensuring environmental sustainability, and building partnerships to ensure that globalization becomes a more positive force for all the world’s people. Also specific targets and indicators have been set and put in place for each of the goals, to be achieved by 2015.
In your opinion do you think these goals were achieved? If yes,how? If no, why?
(Ans)
Yes, due to the following reasons which we be examined statistically:
At the Millennium Summit in 2000, world leaders adopted eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to be achieved within 15 years. In 2015, the UN took stock on the basis of data from several UN organisations. Its main conclusions were published in the final MDG report of 2015.
Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Extreme poverty declined significantly in the two decades before 2015. In 1990, nearly half of the people in developing countries lived on less than $ 1.25 a day. By 2015, that share was down to 14 %. Globally, the number of people living in extreme poverty declined by more than half, falling from 1.9 billion in 1990 to 836 million in 2015. The share of undernourished people was almost halved – from 23.3 % in 1992 to 12.9 % in 2016. The number of people in the working middle class – whose purchasing power per person is above four dollars – almost tripled between 1991 and 2015.

Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education
The net enrolment rate for primary schools reached 91 % for all developing countries, up from 83 % in 2000. Around the world, about 100 million children of primary-school age did not go to school in 2000. That number dropped to an estimated 57 million in 2015. The greatest improvements occurred in sub-Saharan Africa.

Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
In 2015, many more girls were in school than 15 years earlier. As a whole, the developing regions succeeded in eliminating gender disparity in primary, secondary and tertiary education. In Southern Asia, only 74 girls were enrolled in primary school for every 100 boys in 1990. By 2015, 103 girls were enrolled for every 100 boys.

Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
The global under-five mortality rate went down by more than half, dropping from 90 to 43 deaths per 1,000 live births from 1990 to 2015. The number of globally reported measles cases was reduced by 67 % in this period. In 2013, about 84 % of children worldwide received at least one dose of measles-containing vaccine. The respective figure for 2000 was 73 %.

Goal 5: Improve maternal health
From 1990 to 2015, the maternal mortality declined by 45 % worldwide. Globally, more than 71 % of births were assisted by skilled health personnel in 2014, an increase from 59 % in 1990.

Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
The number of new HIV infections fell by approximately 40 % between 2000 and 2013. In June 2014, 13.6 million people living with HIV were receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) internationally, a huge increase from just 800,000 in 2003. ART averted 7.6 million deaths from AIDS between 1995 and 2013. Over 6.2 million malaria deaths were prevented between 2000 and 2015, primarily of children under five years of age in sub-Saharan Africa. The global malaria incidence rate fell by an estimated 37 % and the mortality rate by 58 %. Between 2000 and 2013, tuberculosis prevention and treatment interventions saved an estimated 37 million lives. The tuberculosis mortality rate fell by 45 % and the prevalence rate by 41 % between 1990 and 2013.

Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
Terrestrial and marine protected areas in many regions have increased substantially since 1990. In Latin America and the Caribbean, coverage of terrestrial protected areas rose from 8.8 % to 23.4 % between 1990 and 2014. In 2015, 91 % of the world population had safe drinking water, compared with 76 % in 1990. While 147 countries met the drinking water target, 95 countries met the sanitation target, and 77 countries met both.

Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development
Rich nations’ official development assistance (ODA) increased by two thirds in real terms from 2000 to 2014, reaching $ 135.2 billion. In 2014, Denmark, Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom exceeded the UN target of spending 0.7 % of gross national income on ODA.

All summed up, the MDGs led to considerable progress around the world. To keep up the momentum, the UN adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as the follow-up agenda.)

2. Good governance is good for all nations but Nigeria and many developing countries seem to be far behind in their quest for good governance. Discuss!
(ans)
The pursuit of good governance in Nigeria should focus on encouraging trustworthy and competent electoral candidates, says Toluwalola Kasali, committed to serving in the public’s interest. Disenchantment with the political system, especially among the rapidly growing youth population, makes the challenge increasingly urgent.
The human cost of bad governance
Nigeria’s poor socio-economic performance, human rights abuses, widespread poverty, insecurity, corruption and lack of trust in the political system have led to disenchantment amongst the electorate, especially the youth who make up 51% of the 84 million registered voters. This matters in a fast-growing population of over 200 million, with more than 60% of people under 25.

There can be two possible effects from such disenchantment on voter turn-out in the 2023 elections; it can motivate high turn-out in which people demand better governance or lead to apathy and low turn-out. It is expected that the high stakes at play will mobilise the former.
There is a need for people to participate in choosing political leaders who will serve the public’s interest and promote good governance.

The human cost of bad governance is evident in the low level of basic infrastructure, weak healthcare and educational system, high unemployment and the number of out-of-school children, amongst others. Across the socio-economic class divide, there is a feeling that the effects of bad governance will catch up with everyone someday. The recent protests by young Nigerians against police brutality, the EndSARS protests, exposed the gross human rights abuses suffered by many Nigerians at the hands of the institution created to protect them. More than about the police itself, the protests demonstrated the youth’s discontentment with governance throughout the country.

Nigerians are now demanding that the government tackles the root causes of poverty, insecurity, human rights abuses and socio-economic instability – through the levers of good governance. Moving ahead to the 2023 elections, attention must be focused on the overlooked question of who becomes a political leader to achieve these goals.

Why are political leaders important?
Over the past five electoral cycles since Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999, less attention has been paid to ‘who’ becomes a political leader, particularly the quality of people elected as members of the Local Government Council, State Assembly, House of Representatives and Senate, as well as those elected as Governors and the President.

While good governance depends on building strong institutions that provide the framework for politicians to act in the public’s interest, it also depends on choosing competent and trustworthy politicians who have the strength of character to uphold the values of the institutions in the first place. For one reason, elected officials can choose to undermine institutions’ integrity for self-dealing and personal gain. The Nigerian electorate should, therefore, demand and elect political leaders who are competent and honest, but how can this be guaranteed?

Reg No: 2018/241822
Department: Economics
Course Code: Eco 362
Course Title: Development Economics 2

1. In September 2000, leaders from about 189 nations ratified the Millennium Declaration. The declaration was an unprecedented global commitment and one of the most significant United Nations documents in recent times. It offers a common and integrated vision on how to tackle some of the major challenges facing the world of our time. The declaration has resulted in Eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) focused on reducing poverty, improving the quality of peoples’ lives, ensuring environmental sustainability, and building partnerships to ensure that globalization becomes a more positive force for all the world’s people. Also specific targets and indicators have been set and put in place for each of the goals, to be achieved by 2015. In your opinion do you think these goals were achieved? If yes,how? If no, why?

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) commit the international community to an expanded vision of poverty reduction and pro-poor growth, one that vigorously places human development at the centre of social and economic progress in all countries. The MDGs also recognise the importance of creating a global partnership for change, as high-income nations must reform their domestic and international policies related to agriculture, trade, and sustainable development; enhance the effectiveness of their aid programmes; and help poor countries to reduce their debt burdens. For their part, low-income nations must address fundamental issues related to governance, rights and social justice. In all cases, countries must set their own strategies and policies, together with their global partners, to ensure that poor people receive their fair share of the benefits of development. The Millennium Development Goals are an ambitious agenda for reducing poverty and improving lives that world leaders agreed on at the Millennium Summit in September 2000. For each goal one or more targets have been set, most for 2015, using 1990 as a benchmark.
Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Target for 2015: Halve the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day and those who suffer from hunger.
Achieve universal primary education
Target for 2015: Ensure that all boys and girls complete primary school.
Promote gender equality and empower women
Targets for 2005 and 2015: Eliminate gender disparities in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005, and at all levels by 2015.
Reduce child mortality
Target for 2015: Reduce by two-thirds the mortality rate among children under five.
Improve maternal health
Target for 2015: Reduce by three-quarters the ratio of women dying in childbirth.
Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
Target for 2015: Halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS and the incidence of malaria and other major diseases
Ensure environmental sustainability
Targets: Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reverse the loss of environmental resources.
By 2015, reduce by half the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water.
By 2020 achieve significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers.
Develop a global partnership for development
Targets:
Develop further an open trading and financial system that includes a commitment to good governance, development and poverty reduction nationally and internationally. Address the least developed countries’ special needs, and the special needs of landlocked and small island developing States.
Deal comprehensively with developing countries’ debt problems.
Develop decent and productive work for youth.
In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable essential drugs in developing countries.
In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies – especially information and communications technologies.
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – an idea of the UN – proved to be a historical moment for international development in 2000. Once the proposition received a positive response, 189 countries signed a pact – The Millennium Declaration. In 2000, the MDGs were implemented in Pakistan to address the issue of extreme poverty and to provide the basic human rights of health, education and security.
While the country made some progress in the health sector as shown by its health indicators, Pakistan was still lagging far behind other countries that had similar levels of income or had started with similar set targets. In order to further improve its service delivery in key areas of healthcare, the government implemented special programmes like the Lady Health Worker Programme (LHW), the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI), the National Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health Programme (MNCH), Programme for HIV/AIDS Control and Programme for Malaria Control. However, the country has failed to meet its health-related MDGs.
The health sector and reforms in Pakistan have suffered many snags due to changing administrative mechanisms and financial arrangements made during the devolution period. The process of reforms had started from the city district government plan of 2001 but once the devolution process started in 2010, the arena of health was partially handed over to the provincial government in 2011.
In the initial post-devolution phase, the provinces did not have any interprovincial coordination offices which posed a real challenge for the implementation of the reforms. Since the funding was kept within the ambit of the federal government till 2014, there were financial constraints for vertical programmes like MNCH, LHW.
Moreover, no institution claimed ownership of these programmes. Each federating unit had to devise its own policies in the absence of any benchmark of standards and there was no system of operation after the implementation of the policies. The entire situation resulted in lack of clarity over job responsibilities at different levels and eventually failed to achieve the set targets of the MDGs. The shifting role of the organisations in managing the strategies and plans appeared to be a vital factor towards the poor progress of the MDGs.
Pakistan’s spending on the health sector – far less than the WHO’s recommended figure of $34 per capita for low and middle income countries – was another factor that caused the failure of the MDGs. This amount is insufficient not only according to the standards of developing countries, but also when compared to the standards of poor South Asian countries. Pakistan’s health-related spending (the total expenditure on health as a percentage of the GDP is 2.8 percent) is the lowest among all South Asian countries, including Nepal and Bhutan.
According to the World Bank, the annual population growth rate in Pakistan is 2.1 percent. This rapid rise in population has undermined most of the health development initiatives because the plans and resources set forth are on the basis of an estimated number of people and do not take into account the resource-to-population growth ratio. Moreover, limited resources, coupled with the fast and haphazard pace of urbanisation and the subsequent environmental degradation has created difficulties in the development of planning and healthcare service delivery.
The health workforce is a critical factor in the long-term planning, implementation and maintenance of healthcare services. Human resource policies therefore need to lay out a medium- to long-term path to provide the sector with skilled, motivated and accountable health workers. It has been seen that there is no effective mechanism for HR planning and development in the health department. Unfavourable contractual recruitment policy and uncertainty of career progression have made the government service unattractive, resulting in compromised quality of service delivery by the HR staff.
Women’s empowerment and their socio-economic status – prerequisites for social development – also affect the progress of the MDGs. Women in Pakistan lack sufficient knowledge about healthcare. The lack of policymakers’ oversight, the dearth of education and awareness among citizens, particularly among women, and limited research and development have aggravated the situation.
Weak governance and mismanagement remain key concerns at all levels. The lack of a transparent performance-assessment system, limited efforts to harness the potential of the private sector and the weak regulation of healthcare delivery also contributed to the slow progress of the MDGs.
The year 2015 marked the completion of the monitoring period for the MDGs which are now replaced by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In February 2015, the government of Pakistan adopted the SDGs through a unanimous parliamentary resolution. This strategic shift put considerable responsibility on the government and its development partners to address the unmet agenda of the MDGs while initiating the SDGs through development cooperation for strengthening public institutions, social policies and planning development programmes.
It is evident that improving the health of the population – which in turn enhances physical work capacity and cognitive development – contributes to productivity, economic development and poverty reduction. Since the population of Pakistan is unhealthy, there is a dire need to take a holistic approach to address the issue. Following the process of prioritisation, limited capacities and resources when well-directed can produce the required results.
The country needs to pay close attention to setting clear targets and following through with them when chalking out the health policy and working on its implementation.

2. Good governance is good for all nations but Nigeria and many developing countries seem to be far behind in their quest for good governance. Discuss!
According to Healey & Mark in Sahni, & Uma (2003) good governance implies a high level of organizational effectiveness in relation to policy-formulation and the policies actually pursued, especially in the conduct of economic policy and its contribution to growth, stability and popular welfare, implying accountability, transparency, participation, openness and the rule of law. By implication, good governance portrays good management, good performance and good stewardship of public money. From this perspective, it suffices that good governance is an indeterminate term that describes how public institutions conduct public affairs and manage public resources. The concept pays attention to the process of decision-making and the process by which decisions are implemented or not implemented (UNESCAP, 2009). The attention paid to the process of decision making and its implementation is in cognizance of abuse of human rights, corruption, lack of transparency, lack of responsiveness, and lack of accountability that pervade Africa and Nigeria is not excluded. These variables, kalbaq (2015) regard as elements of bad governance which are the root causes of all evil and suffering within our societies and are the complete opposite of the elements of good governance. However, in an attempt to avert bad governance, development researchers and practitioners have focused on “good governance” as both means of achieving development and a development objective in itself. Thus, as an international development organization, the World Bank see good governance as “epitomized by predictable, open and enlightened policy making; a bureaucracy imbued with a professional ethos; an executive arm of government accountable for its actions; and a strong civil society participating in public affairs; and all behaving under the rule of law. It is characterized by participation, consensus orientation, rule of law, transparency, accountability, responsiveness, effectiveness and efficiency, equity and inclusiveness (World Bank, 1994).
According to Fukuyama (2013), there are two dimensions to qualify governance as good or bad: the capacity of the state and the bureaucracy´s autonomy. They both complement, in the sense that when the state is more capable, for instance through the collection of taxes, there should be more autonomy because the bureaucrats are able to conduct things well without being instructed with a lot of details. In less capable states, however, less discretion and more rules setting are desirable. Another way to think about good governance is through outcomes. Since governments carry out goals like the provision of public goods to its citizens, there is no better way to think about good governance other than through deliverables, which are precisely the one demanded by citizens, like adequate security, standard health care services, quality education, portable water, the enforcement of contracts, protection of property, protection of the environment and their ability to vote and get paid fair wages (Rotberg, 2014).
In Rothstein´s book “The quality of government: corruption, social trust, and inequality in international perspective” he relates good governance to the concept of impartiality, which is basically when the bureaucrats perform their tasks following the public interest rather than their self-interest (Rothstein, 2011). Similarly, good governance might be approximated to provision of public services in an efficient manner, higher participation given to certain groups in the population like the poor and the minorities, the guarantee that citizens have the opportunity of checks and balances on the government, the establishment and enforcement of norms for the protection of the citizens and their property and the existence of independent judiciary systems (Grindle, 2004).
In contemporary Nigeria, a discourse on good governance is convivial, given her current economic, political, and social dimensions especially with regard to issues of state and governance. Development scholars have pointed out that good governance is a prerequisite for successful development which every country crave for. However, the meaning of the concept has been changing overtime. This is why a discourse on “Good Governance” has to be in cognizance of the paradigm shift in good governance discourse. In the 1980s for instance, the concept of good governance was taken up from a more normative perspective, with emphasis on development criteria which sought to guide the repair of the failures of the decreasingly legitimate top down governance structures, by focusing on alternative modes of actor constellations helping to resolve common issues from different perspectives (Pierre, 2000; Hill, 2013). By the 1990s it was used from a more analytical perspective in the social sciences as a mean of assessing public policy arrangements (Kooiman, 2003). This perspective drives this discourse hence in the exact words of Anton (n.d), good governance as a concept has been in existence since the end of the cold war and its meaning has been changing in response to issues of dire importance. Hence before 1990, the International Monetary Fund (1997) used the concept to describe the economic standing of creditor countries. But in 1998, a study on Africa found out that even national economy that conformed to reasonable rules of economic management did not necessarily develop positively whenever negative governmental and administrative influences were present. In keeping with the paradigm shift consequent upon the evolving nature of the concept of good governance, the World Bank responded to that finding and formulated a more positive and proactive strategy for good governance that addressed four areas: the management of the public administration, responsibility and accountability in the public sector, legal framework conditions, and the transparency of public activities. Within this period, good governance was extendedly conceptualized to be applied to the political system, the exercise of governmental authority, and the ability of a government to formulate and implement political designs. But in 2002, the World Bank Institute developed governance indicators that included corruption control as its rider. The concept was expatiated by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, the United Nation, and the European Union (Anton, n.d).
The OECD (2009) asserted that governance had acquired a key status as late as 1997. The European Union, on its part, mentions the term ‘good governance’ in three documents – the Cotonou Agreement of 2000, the EU Commission’s communication on ‘Governance in Developing Countries’ of 2003, and the European Consensus on Development Policy of December 2005 (EU, 2014), and the concept of good governance was used to describe the political conduct of governments. It is worthy of note that, good governance has been a key item of the UN Development Programme since 1999 (UNDP, 2014). Consequent upon the changes in the meaning of the concept of good governance, it becomes necessary, not just to examine the definitions of good governance as are awash in the literature but to be more critical in evaluating their contexts. Hence, Mashupye & Shadrack (2009) observed that ‘good governance’ is a value-laden concept that is characteristically nebulous; enabling it to connote different things to different people, depending on the context in which it is used bearing in mind that while concepts are ‘tools of thinking’ contexts are ‘the environments or frameworks in which the concepts operate’. It connotes that the conviviality of the concept of good governance, not withstanding, its meaning is lucid and lucidity in the meanings of a concept is fundamentally important for shaping debate and enriching discourses (Pauw, 1999). This is because the concept of good governance has become popular in recent decades, in response to the notion that ‘more effective governance regimes or systems need to be created to overcome government failure, market failure and system failure or a combination of the three (Rogers & Hall 2003). More importantly, major donors and international financial institutions are increasingly basing their aid and loans on policies that ensure “good governance (UNESCAP, 2009).
Therefore, we do not only evaluate the various definitions of the concept of good governance, but also extends its scope to the externalities that cause shift from the conventional definition of good governance and such externalities may be regarded as the environment in which the concept of good governance is asserted. This is due to the differences in culture, approach and expectations of people of different climes and times. This discourse is anchored on two theories of governance viz: the good governance theory and cultural theory of governance. While the good governance theory lends credence to the conceptual definitions of good governance, the cultural theory on the other hand, illuminates the externalities that culminated to the contextualization of good governance.
Good governance manifesting in areas of rule of law, transparency, accountability, citizens participation among others are sine qua non for national peace and development. However, ‘poverty of leadership’ in most of the Nigeria’s 57 years of existence has not only hindered the nation’s development, but continued to threaten its peace and stability. While it is widely believed that bad governance is prevalent in autocratic and oligarchic systems, it is evident now that bad governance does exist much more in democracies. Therefore, the study analysed the twin concepts of governance and good governance; assessed the nature of governance offered by the nation’s leaders; and its effects on the national peace and development. Using secondary data, the study revealed that, unethical practices, arbitrary rule and corruption which pervade public offices are products of bad governance. The study further revealed that, bad governance in Nigeria has brought about unemployment, poverty, crimes, internal violence, insurgents activities, diseases, loss of lives etc

References
1. https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/191044-why-have-the-mdgs-failed
2. https://gh.bmj.com/content/2/2/e000318
3. https://www.un.org/en/chronicle/article/importance-mdgs-united-nations-leadership-development
4. https://www.researchgate.net › … › Good Governance

Eco.362 (1-2-2022–Online Discussion/Quiz 3—Evaluating the Performance of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Good Governance)

NAME: OKELEKE CHINEMEMMA VICTORY
REG NO:2018/247843
DEPT: ECONOMICS
Email: okelekevictory@yahoo.com

Question
In September 2000, leaders from about 189 nations ratified the Millennium Declaration. The declaration was an unprecedented global commitment and one of the most significant United Nations documents in recent times. It offers a common and integrated vision on how to tackle some of the major challenges facing the world of our time. The declaration has resulted in Eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) focused on reducing poverty, improving the quality of peoples’ lives, ensuring environmental sustainability, and building partnerships to ensure that globalization becomes a more positive force for all the world’s people. Also specific targets and indicators have been set and put in place for each of the goals, to be achieved by In your opinion do you think these goals were achieved? If yes,how? If no, why?
(2) Good governance is good for all nations but Nigeria and many developing countries seem to be far behind in their quest for good governance. Discuss!
ANSWER
(1) MDGs focus on ensuring environmental sustainability: the target here are
• Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programs; reverse loss of environmental resources
• Reduce by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking of water.
• Achieve significant improvement invest of at least 100 million sum dwellers by 2020.
(2) Another Target of MDGs was to improve maternal health: the target here is to reduce by three-quarter the maternal mortality return.
To do this, women should be given good foods, good facilities should be used during their child delivery etc.
(3) MDGS focus on combating HIV/AIDs, malaria and other diseases: the target is to reduce by half and Begin to reverse or reduced the spread of HIV/AIDS. Halt and Begin to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases. The important question is how can these targets be achieved?
(4) Although the existence of COVID 19has covered HIV/AIDs disease, it still exists. For HIV/AIDS always to do that are:
(a) Giving people proper orientation programs on how HIV/AIDs spread and then how to prevent it (ways to prevent such as using your personal blade, avoid unprotected sex, avoid blood transfusion etc.) Go for regular check up and take you drugs always
(b) Government should fund research on how to develop more drugs such as petro viral drugs)Although already in existing,that can combat the HIV/AIDs.
(c) Encourage full Abstinence from sex.
(d) Effective information dissemination so that they do not have it will know and those that will not spread.
(5) Another goal of MDGs is to achieve universe primary education: it was after this that universe basic education UBE started booming up. The goal was that at least all individuals should attend the basic primary education or school to learn at least how to read and write. The target here was to ensure that all Boys and girls complete full course of primary school and it has to be free. This goal to an extent has been on board in Nigeria but to an extent. With the number of school enrollment in Nigeria is an indicator that this goal is achieve

In summary I would not say all the goals were achieved, but there have been improvement in term of areas listed to an extent in the coyn6. For instance, child mortality has reduced because of consistent provision of immunization and pillion vaccination provision of proper health care facilities etc.
Women also increase there attendence of ante natal care all these have reduced child mortality and also material mortality. In the case of gender equality there have been programs and education encourage gender equality in Nigeria. However,in the case of extreme poverty eradication, Nigeria rather regressed. This has been listed and recognized as. The country with the highest numbered of poverty and this is not good for the country. It known over 70% of Nigerians are still living in extreme poverty. For the universe basic education provision, primary school have been created in so many local government especially in the defect has to the rural areas, the major problem here is that everyone have not been fully in corporated into primary education. Nevertheless the less significant progress was and has been made .
For the debt relief; in October 2005, Nigeria and the Paris club agreed a final agreement for deliberate worth of $18 billion and an overall reduction of Nigeria debts stocks by $30billion. As of 2020 total public debit is about 32 trillion.there are various indicator of good life
(a) Access to good water
(b) Access to better and quality health care
(c) Access to clothing
(d) Access to education
(e) Access to finance (money)
(f) Access to electricity
It is know that the poor can be located here or that the need of the poor are well recognized here. When the debit is sustainable, the government is able to meet all it’s current and future payment obligation without exceptional financial assistance or going into the default or the initial arrangements.

2. According to World Bank defines good governance in terms of the traditions and institutions by which authority in a country is exercised. This includes 1) the process by which governments are selected, monitored and replaced; 2) the capacity of the government to effectively formulate and implement sound policies; and 3) the respect of citizens and the state for the institutions that govern economic and social interactions among them (Kaufmann, Kraay and Zoido-Lobatón, 1999). There are various principles of Good governance which when violated will lead to the difference between the government of the developed countries and that one of Developing countries.
The principles are as follows.
Participatory;
Consistent with the rule of law;
Transparent;
Responsive;
Consensus-oriented;
Equitable and inclusive;
Effective and efficient; and
Accountable

1.Transparency exists where the process of decision-making by those in power can be scrutinized by concerned members of society. Transparency rests on a partnership: officials must make information available, and there must be people and groups with reasons and opportunities to put information to use.
Nigeria government is not in any way transparent and this affect the Level of Development in the nation so as well as other developing countries of the world.
2. Consensus-oriented exists where the process of decision-making by those in power can be scrutinized by concerned members of society. Transparency rests on a partnership: officials must make information available, and there must be people and groups with reasons and opportunities to put information to use. Another challenge in developing countries like Nigeria is lack of consensus between the governed and leaders and this impede development
3.Responsiveness exists where institutions and processes readily serve all stakeholders in a prompt and appropriate manner so that the interests of all citizens are protected. Responsiveness also refers to identifying and addressing built-in discriminatory practices affecting ethnic or minority groups, including gender responsiveness, and the participation of all genders in governance. The opposite is the case in Nigeria. The government not respond actively to the need and interest of the Masses.
4.Rule of law is the exercise of state power using, and guided by, published standards that embody widely supported social values, avoid particularism and enjoy broad-based public support (Johnston, 2002). It means that legal frameworks exist, there is law and order, the justice system is independent and effective, property rights and contracts are enforced, human rights norms are implemented, and there are constitutional constraints on the power of the executive. It is obvious that Nigeria is not governor by any strict rule and regulations. Those in power or government is above the rule which is not to be suppose unlike the developed countries.

NAME: IFIEGBU ONONUJU JULIE STAR.
REG NO: 2017/245848( DEFERRED STUDENT)
DEPARTMENT: ECONOMICS EDUCATION.
EMAIL: juliexfib@gmail.com.

QUESTION:
In September 2000, leaders from about 189 nations ratified the Millennium Declaration. The declaration was an unprecedented global commitment and one of the most significant United Nations documents in recent times. It offers a common and integrated vision on how to tackle some of the major challenges facing the world of our time. The declaration has resulted in Eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) focused on reducing poverty, improving the quality of peoples’ lives, ensuring environmental sustainability, and building partnerships to ensure that globalization becomes a more positive force for all the world’s people. Also specific targets and indicators have been set and put in place for each of the goals, to be achieved by 2015.
In your opinion do you think these goals were achieved? If yes,how? If no, why?

2. Good governance is good for all nations but Nigeria and many developing countries seem to be far behind in their quest for good governance. Discuss!

ANSWER.

1) Yes!!! Sort of, the goal were achieved:

At the turn of the millennium, the world’s nations set themselves development goals with the ambition to reach these in the following 15 years. Referencing the historic moment of their inception the UN named them the Millennium Development Goals or MDGs for short. The goals encompassed development in a broad sense, from increasing economic welfare of the poorest, to health and education, to humanity’s impact on the environment.
Now for the first time we can look back and see how the world has actually done. This is only possible now – three years after the end of the MDG era in 2015 – as it often takes several years until the relevant data is available at a global level. Early assessments had to rely on extrapolations of earlier trends. As you can see in our analysis, today the most recent available data on many aspects is from 2015. So how did the world do? Did we actually achieve the MDGs that we set ourselves?
The MDGs comprised of 8 Goals, measured by 18 Target
Looking at the good news first. Overall, the world achieved 3 and a half targets: MDG Target 1.A – halving the share of the world population living in extreme poverty – is a particularly important one and while most people are not aware of it, the world has actually achieved this goal. The achievement of MDG 3 meant that the gender disparity in education was closed at the global level. And MDG Target 6.C on malaria and tuberculosis was achieved as the world was able to reduce the global rate of new infections. For MDG 7 the world achieved half of this goal – while the goal for sanitation was missed, the world did reach the goal on providing access to safe drinking water.
The United Nations has hailed the Millennium Development Goals – or MDGs – as “the most successful anti-poverty movement in history.” “The MDGs helped to lift more than one billion people out of extreme poverty, to make inroads against hunger, to enable more girls to attend school than ever before and to protect our planet,” the UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon recently explained. It’s true remarkable progress has been accomplished. Yet, around 1.5 billion people in conflict affected countries and on the extreme margins of society were unreached by the goals and unable to benefit from the tide that lifted their neighbors.
So which goals were met and which fell short?
Below, we’ll broadly examine what has been achieved for the main targets within the eight goals using information from The Millennium Development Goals Report 2015.
MDG 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger
The target of reducing extreme poverty rates – people living on just $1.25 a day – by half was met five years ahead of the 2015 deadline. Globally the number of people living in extreme poverty has fallen from 1.9 billion in 1990 to 836 million in 2015.However, target of halving the proportion of people suffering from hunger has narrowly been missed. The proportion of undernourished people in the developing regions has fallen from 23.3 per cent in 1990 to 12.9 per cent in 2014.
MDG 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education
Primary school enrolment figures have shown an impressive rise, but the goal of achieving universal primary education has just been missed. The primary school enrolment rate in developing regions reached 91 per cent this year, up from 83 per cent in 2000.
MDG 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women
About two two-thirds of developing countries achieved gender parity in primary education. Progress has been particularly strong in Southern Asia. Only 74 girls were enrolled in primary school for every 100 boys in 1990. Today, 103 girls are enrolled for every 100 boys.
MDG 4: Reduce Child Mortality
The global under-five mortality rate has declined by more than half since 1990 – dropping from 90 to 43 deaths per 1,000 live births. This falls short of the targeted drop of two-thirds. In practical terms this means 16,000 children under-five continue to die every day from preventable causes. A terrible reality made worse by the fact we know what each one of these major killers are, and what can be done to thwart them.
MDG 5: Improve Maternal Health
Since 1990, the maternal mortality ratio has been cut nearly in half. This is an impressive result, but as well with goal 4 it falls short of the two-thirds reduction that was aimed for. There were an estimated 289,000 maternal deaths in 2013.
MDG 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases
The results with MDG 5 are mixed. The target of halting and beginning to reverse the spread of HIV/Aids has not been met – although the number of new HIV infections fell by 40% between 2000 and 2013.According to the UN, over 6.2 million malaria deaths have been averted between 2000 and 2015, primarily of children under five years of age in sub-Saharan Africa. The global malaria incidence rate has fallen by an estimated 37 per cent and the mortality rate by 58 per cent
MDG 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainably
Between 1990 and 2015, 2.6 billion people gained access to improved drinking water, meaning the target of halving the proportion of people without access to safe water was achieved. Worldwide, 2.1 billion people have gained access to improved sanitation.
MDG 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development
Official development assistance from wealthy countries to developing countries increased by 66 per cent in real terms between 2000 and 2014, reaching $135.2 billion.

2)Good governance is good for all nations but Nigeria and many developing countries seem to be far behind in their quest for good governance. Discuss!
Development Scholars have pointed out that good governance is a prerequisite for successful development which every country crave for. However, the meaning of the concept has been changing overtime. This is why a discourse on “Good Governance” has to be in cognizance of the paradigm shift in good governance discourse. .
An understanding of the concept ‘Governance’ will be of great assistance to the understanding of good governance concept. In both political and academic discourse the concept ‘governance’ has been used to refer to the task of running a government, or any other appropriate entity. The Webster’s Third New International Dictionary (1986) defined governance as “the act or process of governing, via authoritative direction and control”. By implication, the focus is on the effectiveness of the executive branch of government. In this regard, governance, not only encompasses but transcends the collective meaning of related concepts like the state, government, regime and good government, hence an integral part of the meaning of “governance are the elements and principles underlying “good Governance. Good governance implies a high level of organizational effectiveness in relation to policy-formulation and the policies actually pursued, especially in the conduct of economic policy and its contribution to growth, stability and popular welfare, implying accountability, transparency, participation, openness and the rule of law. By implication, good governance portrays good management, good performance and good stewardship of public money. From this perspective, it suffices that good governance is an indeterminate term that describes how public institutions conduct public affairs and manage public resources. The concept pays attention to the process of decision-making and the process by which decisions are implemented or not implemented.
Characteristics of Good Governance

These features are that good governance is participatory, consensus oriented, accountable, transparent, responsive, effective and efficient, equitable and inclusive and follows the rule of law. It assures that corruption is minimized, the views of minorities are taken into consideration and that the voices of the most vulnerable in society are heard in decision-making. It is also responsive to the present and future needs of society. These characteristics are thus:
1. Participation: Good governance is participatory. Anyone affected by or interested in a decision should have the opportunity to participate in the process for making that decision. Participation by both men and women is a key cornerstone of good governance. Participation could be either direct or through legitimate and trusted intermediate institutions or representatives. It is important to point out that representative democracy does not necessarily mean that the concerns of the most vulnerable in society would be taken into consideration in decision making. Participation needs to be informed and organized. This means freedom of association and expression on the one hand and an organized civil society on the other hand.

2. Rule of Law: Good governance follows the rule of law. This means that decisions are consistent with relevant legislation or common law. Good governance requires fair legal frameworks that are enforced impartially. It also requires full protection of human rights, particularly those of minorities. Impartial enforcement of laws requires an independent judiciary and an impartial and incorruptible police force.

3. Transparency: Good governance is transparent, hence people should be able to follow and understand the decision-making process. Transparency means that decisions taken and their enforcement are done in a manner that follows rules and regulations. It also means that information is freely available and directly accessible to those who will be affected by such decisions and their enforcement. It also means that enough information is provided and that it is provided in easily understandable forms and media. This means that they will be able to clearly see how and why a decision was made, what information, advice and consultation council considered, and which legislative requirements was followed.

4. Responsiveness: Good governance is responsive, thus requiring that institutions and processes should try to serve all stakeholders within a reasonable timeframe. Thus, to ensure good governance, government should always try to serve the needs of the entire community while balancing competing interests in a timely, appropriate and responsive manner.

5. Consensus Oriented: There are several actors and as many view points in a given society. Good governance requires mediation of the different interests in society to reach a broad consensus in society on what is in the best interest of the general public and how this can be achieved. This can only result from an understanding of the historical, cultural and social contexts of a given society or community.

6. Equity and Inclusiveness: A society’s well being depends on ensuring that all its members feel that they have a stake in it and do not feel excluded from the mainstream of society. This requires all groups, but particularly the most vulnerable, have opportunities to improve or maintain their well being.

7. Effectiveness and Efficiency: Good governance means that processes and institutions produce results that meet the needs of society while making the best use of resources at their disposal. In this regard, government should implement decisions and follow processes that make the best use of the available people, resources and time to ensure the best possible results for their community. The concept of efficiency in the context of good governance also covers the sustainable use of natural resources and the protection of the environment.

8. Accountability: Accountable is a key requirement of good governance that should not only focus on governmental institutions but also the private sector and civil society organizations must be accountable to the public and to their institutional stakeholders. This is because an organization or an institution is accountable to those who will be affected by its decisions or actions. But because accountability cannot be enforced without transparency and the rule of law, it becomes pertinent that government or organization leaders live up to their obligation to report, explain and be answerable for the consequences of decisions it has made on behalf of the community it represent However.

9. Strategic Vision: Leaders and the public should have a broad and long-term perspective on good governance and human development, together with a sense of what is needed for such development. There should also be an understanding of the historical, cultural and social complexities in which that perspective is grounded .

Having x-rayed the characteristics of good governance, the next section will inform the above listed features of good governance are hardly visible in Nigeria and many developing countries.
The factor in the pool of hindrances to the attainment of good governance in Nigeria and developing countries is organized Corruption. Corruption has been broadly defined as a perversion or change from good to bad. Specifically, Corruption or corrupt behavior involves the violation of established rules for personal gains and profit. Fighting corruption is a pre-condition for good governance and the rule of law, which in turn are Foundation stones of sustainable development. The high rate of corruption at various levels of government has Greatly stunted the growth of the economy. Political and public office holders see their positions as avenues for Illegal wealth accumulation to the detriment of the common counties especially Nigeria.. That is why people see political Appointment or election into public office as a ‘do or die’ affair because it appears to be the only way of getting Access to the national cake The political and economic arrangement being practiced in Nigeria Has entrusted a dis-proportionate amount of the nation’s wealth in the hands of a few individuals. The income Gap between the rich and the poor is very wide and it keeps increasing by the day. The over attractiveness of Political offices has made persons without any burning sense of vision or will for the state to vie for political Positions. They are only motivated by the financial benefits accruing to the positions.
Corruption fosters unaccountable governance as leadership strives to prevent the masses from getting to know How much funds are acquired and how they are put to use. According to Transparency International, corruption Thrives where temptation to fraudulent activities coexist with permissiveness. Where institutional checks on Power are missing, where decision making remains obscure; where civil society is thin on the ground; where Great inequalities in the distribution of wealth condemn people to live in poverty. Most politicians Now engage in what is known as rent seeking. Rent seeking occurs when people seek to use government for their private gain . Rents are benefits created through government intervention in the economy for example, tax revenue or profits created because the government has restricted competition. As Almond et al.(2006) further posit, “rent seeking may be a particularly serious problem in poor societies, where politics is often the surest or most effective way to get rich, and the courts and mass media may be too weak to constrain government officials from abusing their power.” The culture of impunity and social injustice has allowed corruption to thrive in governance. Corruption is a symptom of fundamental failure of governance and so the higher the corruption, the more sustainable development becomes elusive. Corruption increases poverty and disproportionately affects those in the low income group because it pulls resources from the national treasury into the hands of a few individuals who are politically powerful. This of course has led to loss of government revenue, poor governance, failure of state institutions, brain drain and electoral malpractices, absence of law and order, civil unrest, poor investment channels, business failure, unemployment, poverty and unsustainable development .

Reference.
https://www.wvi.org/united-nations-and-global engagement/article/were-mdgs-success.

https://dj.univdanubius.ro/index.php/AUDA/article/view/139/338

Name: Eze Amarachi Ruth
Reg no: 2018/248529
Department: Economics

Assignment
1.
So how did the world do? Did we actually achieve the MDGs that we set ourselves?

Yes these goals were achieved.
The MDGs comprised of 8 Goals MDG Target 1.A – halving the share of the world population living in extreme poverty – is a particularly important one and while most people are not aware of it, the world has actually achieved this goal. The achievement of MDG 3 meant that the gender disparity in education was closed at the global level. And MDG Target 6.C on malaria and tuberculosis was achieved as the world was able to reduce the global rate of new infections. For MDG 7 the world achieved half of this goal – while the goal for sanitation was missed, the world did reach the goal on providing access to safe drinking water.
One of the core tensions in assessing outcomes over the MDG period is to distinguish between the amount of progress achieved and changes in the rate of progress.

For example, the UN celebrated improved access to drinking water as an early MDG success. But were countries already on course to achieve this as of 2000? We conducted many tests for differences in mean rates of progress and found that trends varied considerably across issues and geographies. Positive changes were concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa and low-income countries (as classified by the World Bank in 2000).

2. Good governance plays an essential role in achieving multidimensional poverty-reduction goals. Economic growth helps to reduce poverty only in good governance states in most cases.
Good governance demands that government must be not only representative, but responsive, as well, to the needs of governed. A strong sense of responsiveness and commitment to serve the governed is required on the part of the government. It emphasizes on the effective delivery of services to the satisfaction of the people. It provides moral legitimacy, apart from constitutional validity and credibility to the goals, as well as instrumentalities of government. It comprehends within itself all sections of governance and all sections and regions of society.

Most developing countries are far behind in their quest for good governance because of some challenges.
Some of the challenges of good governance could be as follows:

1) Corruption at various levels.
2) Centralization of power and authority.
3) Criminalization of politics.
4) Violations of human rights.
5) Weak legislators with criminal records, poor knowledge about development issues and low level of education.
6) Poor people’s participation in development processes.

NAME: EZECHUKWU RITA CHIOMA
REG NO: 2018/250327
DEPARTMENT: ECONOMICS

ECO 362 (DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS 2) THIRD ASSIGNMENT

ANSWER TO QUESTION NO 1
In my own opinion, the eight millennium development goals were achieved to some extent, thou the targets were not reached. So many initiatives, programs and policies were carried out in various state of the federation in fulfillment of the millennium development goals. The number of citizens that lived in poverty were reduced unlike before the millennium development goals was put forward. The universal basic education for children was achieved through free compulsory primary school education which increased the number of children with basic primary education to like sixty four percent. The case of gender inequality was resolved as more females were found to have been enrolled in academic activities, politics and other things unlike before the MDG’s. Furthermore, child mortality was drastically reduced due to the introduction of free child vaccination by the government. Also, through improved medical services and technology, maternal mortality ratio has reduced thou not by three-quarter as stated in the target. Finally, HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases were controlled by government through sensitization of the masses on the mode of transmission of these diseases and how one can protect him/herself, distribution of free mosquito net and so on.
In summary, the millennium development goals were achieved to some extent, thou not as stated in the targets for the goals.

ANSWER TO QUESTION NO 2
Nigeria and many developing countries are far behind in their quest for good governance, despite the fact that good governance is feasible and good for all nations. Good governance entails running the affairs of the state in the best way it should be done devoid of any form of corruption. Corruption seems to be the feature of every person in places of leadership in many developing countries like Nigeria. The reason behind this is not far fetched as justice and rules of the state are being perverted, tramped upon and taken for granted. One commits crime and receives little or no punishment for that, this leaves people with the impression that the law has no stand so no need for accountability and good governance.
Furthermore, many developing countries like Nigeria is in a state where no one is assured of the future. Prices of things keeps going up, people looses their job anyhow, no one is assured of a better country. When someone then finds him/herself in places of authority, they try to accumulate wealth for their family, children, grand children and even great grand children. However, in developing countries, the reverse seems to be the case. The state of the economy of developing countries makes corruption inevitable to some extent.
Moreover, developing countries are lacking far behind in their quest for good governance as a result of lack of transparency in the administration of the affairs of the state. When there is transparency in the administration, leaders tends to be more cautious as every of their actions can be questioned.
In summary, all the issues relating to developing countries lacking behind in their quest for good governance centers on corruption and poor disciplinary measures/poor rule (constitution) implementation.

NAME:UGWU CHIDIEBERE LOVETH
REG NO:2018/242902
DEPARTMENT:EDUCATION AND ECONOMICS

NO1
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – an idea of the UN – proved to be a historical moment for international development in 2000. Once the proposition received a positive response, 189 countries signed a pact – The Millennium Declaration. In 2000, the MDGs were implemented in Pakistan to address the issue of extreme poverty and to provide the basic human rights of health, education and security.
While the country made some progress in the health sector as shown by its health indicators, Pakistan was still lagging far behind other countries that had similar levels of income or had started with similar set targets. In order to further improve its service delivery in key areas of healthcare, the government implemented special programmes like the Lady Health Worker Programme (LHW), the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI), the National Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health Programme (MNCH), Programme for HIV/AIDS Control and Programme for Malaria Control. However, the country has failed to meet its health-related MDGs.
The health sector and reforms in Pakistan have suffered many snags due to changing administrative mechanisms and financial arrangements made during the devolution period. The process of reforms had started from the city district government plan of 2001 but once the devolution process started in 2010, the arena of health was partially handed over to the provincial government in 2011.
In the initial post-devolution phase, the provinces did not have any interprovincial coordination offices which posed a real challenge for the implementation of the reforms. Since the funding was kept within the ambit of the federal government till 2014, there were financial constraints for vertical programmes like MNCH, LHW.
Moreover, no institution claimed ownership of these programmes. Each federating unit had to devise its own policies in the absence of any benchmark of standards and there was no system of operation after the implementation of the policies. The entire situation resulted in lack of clarity over job responsibilities at different levels and eventually failed to achieve the set targets of the MDGs. The shifting role of the organisations in managing the strategies and plans appeared to be a vital factor towards the poor progress of the MDGs.
Pakistan’s spending on the health sector – far less than the WHO’s recommended figure of $34 per capita for low and middle income countries – was another factor that caused the failure of the MDGs. This amount is insufficient not only according to the standards of developing countries, but also when compared to the standards of poor South Asian countries. Pakistan’s health-related spending (the total expenditure on health as a percentage of the GDP is 2.8 percent) is the lowest among all South Asian countries, including Nepal and Bhutan.
According to the World Bank, the annual population growth rate in Pakistan is 2.1 percent. This rapid rise in population has undermined most of the health development initiatives because the plans and resources set forth are on the basis of an estimated number of people and do not take into account the resource-to-population growth ratio. Moreover, limited resources, coupled with the fast and haphazard pace of urbanisation and the subsequent environmental degradation has created difficulties in the development of planning and healthcare service delivery.
The health workforce is a critical factor in the long-term planning, implementation and maintenance of healthcare services. Human resource policies therefore need to lay out a medium- to long-term path to provide the sector with skilled, motivated and accountable health workers. It has been seen that there is no effective mechanism for HR planning and development in the health department. Unfavourable contractual recruitment policy and uncertainty of career progression have made the government service unattractive, resulting in compromised quality of service delivery by the HR staff.
Women’s empowerment and their socio-economic status – prerequisites for social development – also affect the progress of the MDGs. Women in Pakistan lack sufficient knowledge about healthcare. The lack of policymakers’ oversight, the dearth of education and awareness among citizens, particularly among women, and limited research and development have aggravated the situation.
Weak governance and mismanagement remain key concerns at all levels. The lack of a transparent performance-assessment system, limited efforts to harness the potential of the private sector and the weak regulation of healthcare delivery also contributed to the slow progress of the MDGs.
The year 2015 marked the completion of the monitoring period for the MDGs which are now replaced by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In February 2015, the government of Pakistan adopted the SDGs through a unanimous parliamentary resolution. This strategic shift put considerable responsibility on the government and its development partners to address the unmet agenda of the MDGs while initiating the SDGs through development cooperation for strengthening public institutions, social policies and planning development programmes.
It is evident that improving the health of the population – which in turn enhances physical work capacity and cognitive development – contributes to productivity, economic development and poverty reduction. Since the population of Pakistan is unhealthy, there is a dire need to take a holistic approach to address the issue. Following the process of prioritisation, limited capacities and resources when well-directed can produce the required results.

NO2

Good governance has also been described as the judicious and effective exercise of power
for the sole purpose of improving the quality of life of the people ( Adesida, 2001). Governance
and power are intertwined (Adebayo, 2014). But in the Nigerian state, power is the exclusive
property of an unrelentingly thieving elite. It belongs neither to the people nor to the extensively
impoverished voter. The exercise of power in the Nigerian nation-state is further bedeviled by
ethnic antagonisms, an unhealthy inter-group rivalry and tribalistic bravado. But these are
tendencies that negate national cohesion, a dialectical imperative for good governance, which
can only be established when stakeholders could reach a reasonably clear common vision that guides their actions for mutual benefits (Kiwanuka, 2012)
Governance can be used in several contexts such as corporate governance,
international governance, national governance and local governance. Since
governance is the process of decision-making and the process by which decisions
are implemented, an analysis of governance focuses on the formal and informal
actors involved in decision-making and implementing the decisions made and the
formal and informal structures that have been set in place to arrive at and
implement the decision.
Good governance for sustainable human development is a multi- dimensional process involving socioeconomic and political transfor- mation of societies; it is aimed at enhancing human progress in all its dimensions, including freedom of political and economic choice. A program of good governance, along with education on how to achieve peaceful transformation and conflict resolution, should be instituted across schools, universities, and colleges to teach citizenship, the quali- ties of a civil society, and responsible ethical conduct.

The Nigerian and other developing countries space has sadly become a monumental cesspool of corruption. It is actually a case
of an ostensible nation that is bleeding to death as a result of sleaze. The Nigeria high-profile
public official that has been outwitted by others in elite thievery would feign ill-health and in so
doing find himself or herself in a foreign land (under the guise of medical vacation, also known
as medical tourism). Everything however is orchestrated for the man or woman to procure some
quantum of scarce foreign exchange. It is indeed beginning to appear as if the Nigerian public
official is incapable of not being a thief as well.

Name: Eze Ugochukwu Ethel
Reg.no: 2018/245419
Dept: Social Science Education (Economics Education)

The United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are 8 goals that UN Member States have agreed to try to achieve by the year 2015.
Millennium Development Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
While Nigeria has made some progress in socio-economic terms in recent years, its human capital development ranked 150 of 157 countries in the World Bank’s 2020 Human Capital Index. The country continues to face massive developmental challenges, including the need to reduce the dependency on oil and diversify the economy, address insufficient infrastructure, build strong and effective institutions, as well as address governance issues and public financial management systems.
Inequality, in terms of income and opportunities, remains high and has adversely affected poverty reduction. The lack of job opportunities is at the core of the high poverty levels, regional inequality, and social and political unrest. High inflation has also taken a toll on household’s welfare and high prices in 2020 are likely to have pushed an additional 7 million Nigerians into poverty in 2020.
Goal 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education
MDG ensure that children universally – including both boys and girls – will be able to complete a full course of primary education.
Goal 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women
Progress has been made in promoting gender equality and empower women.women now have equal participation in decision making processes, economic opportunities, and access to and control of resources and assets.
Millennium Development Goal 4: reduce child mortality
Globally, significant progress has been made in reducing mortality in children under 5 years of age. In 2013, 6.3 million children under 5 died, compared with 12.7 million in 1990. Between 1990 and 2013, under-5 mortality declined by 49%, from an estimated rate of 90 deaths per 1000 live births to 46. The annual global number of new cases of tuberculosis has been slowly falling for a decade thus achieving MDG. Estimated measles deaths decreased by 74% from 481 000 to 124 000.
Millennium Development Goal 5: improve maternal health
More women got access to reproductive health and contraceptives. Despite a significant reduction in the number of maternal deaths – from an estimated 523 000 in 1990 to 289 000 in 2013 – the rate of decline is less than half of what is needed to achieve the MDG To reduce the number of maternal deaths, women need access to good-quality reproductive health care and effective interventions. In 2012, 64% of women aged 15–49 years who were married or in a consensual union were using some form of contraception, while 12% wanted to stop or postpone childbearing but were not using contraception.
Millennium Development Goal 6: combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
The decrease in the number of those newly infected along with the increased availability of ART have contributed to a major decline in HIV mortality levels – from 2.4 million people in 2005 to an estimated 1.5 million in 2013. As fewer people die from AIDS-related causes the number of people living with HIV is likely to continue to grow. The coverage of interventions such as the distribution of insecticide-treated nets and indoor residual spraying has greatly increased, and will need to be sustained in order to prevent the resurgence of disease and deaths caused by malaria. Globally, the MDG target of halting by 2015 and beginning to reverse the incidence of malaria has already been met.
Millennium Development Goal 7: ensure environmental sustainability
The world achieved half of this goal – while the goal for sanitation was missed, the world did reach the goal on providing access to safe drinking water. With regard to basic sanitation, current rates of progress are too slow for the MDG target to be met globally. In 2012, 2.5 billion people did not have access to improved sanitation facilities, with 1 billion these people still practicing open defecation. The number of people living in urban areas without access to improved sanitation is increasing because of rapid growth in the size of urban populations.

Millennium Development Goal 8: develop a global partnership for development
Many people continue to face a scarcity of medicines in the public sector, forcing them to the private sector where prices can be substantially higher. Surveys undertaken from 2007-2013 show the average availability of selected generic medicines in 21 low- and middle-income countries was only 55% in the public sector. Even the lowest-priced generics can put common treatments beyond the reach of low-income households in developing countries. The greatest price is paid by patients suffering chronic diseases. Effective treatments for the majority of the global chronic disease burden exist, yet universal access remains out-of-reach.
Question 2
Good governance is good for all nations but Nigeria and many developing countries seem to be far behind in their quest for good governance. Discuss!
Statistically speaking, Nigeria has consistently ranked low in the World Governance Index in areas such as government effectiveness, political stability and the presence of violence and terrorism, rule of law, and control of corruption. Nigeria is perceived in the 2020 Transparency International Corruption Perception Index as a highly corrupt country with a score of 25/100 while its corruption ranking increased from 146 in 2019 to 149 in 2020 out of 180 countries surveyed. While President Muhammadu Buhari won the 2015 election on his promise to fight insecurity and corruption, his promises went unfulfilled; Boko Haram continues to unleash unspeakable violence on civilians while the fight against corruption is counterproductive.
At the core of Nigeria’s systemic failure is the crisis of governance, which manifests in the declining capacity of the state to cope with a range of internal political and social upheavals. There is an expectation for political leaders to recognize systemic risks such as terrorist attacks, herder-farmer conflict, and police brutality and put in place the necessary infrastructure to gather relevant data for problem solving. But the insufficiency of political savvy required to navigate the challenges that Nigeria faces has unleashed unrest across the nation and exacerbated existing tensions. The #ENDSARS Protests against police brutality in 2020 is one of the manifestations of bad governance.

NAME: UGOCHUKWU UGONNAYA JUDITH
REGNO: 2018/244297
DEPT: SOCIAL SCIENCE EDUCATION (EDUCATION ECONOMICS)

ANSWER NUMBER 1
“The MDGs helped to lift more than one billion people out of extreme poverty, to make inroads against hunger, to enable more girls to attend school than ever before and to protect our planet,” the UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon recently explained that inequalities persist and that progress has been uneven. It’s true remarkable progress has been accomplished. Yet, around 1.5 billion people in conflict affected countries and on the extreme margins of society were unreached by the goals and unable to benefit from the tide that lifted their neighbours. Below, I’ll talk about what has been achieved for the main targets within the eight goals using information from The Millennium Development Goals Report 2015.
MDG 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger
The target of reducing extreme poverty rates – people living on just $1.25 a day – by half was met five years ahead of the 2015 deadline. Globally the number of people living in extreme poverty has fallen from 1.9 billion in 1990 to 836 million in 2015. However, target of halving the proportion of people suffering from hunger has narrowly been missed. The proportion of undernourished people in the developing regions has fallen from 23.3 per cent in 1990 to 12.9 per cent in 2014.
MDG 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education
Primary school enrolment figures have shown an impressive rise, but the goal of achieving universal primary education has just been missed. The primary school enrolment rate in developing regions reached 91 per cent this year, up from 83 per cent in 2000.
MDG 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women
About two two-thirds of developing countries achieved gender parity in primary education. Progress has been particularly strong in Southern Asia. Only 74 girls were enrolled in primary school for every 100 boys in 1990. Today, 103 girls are enrolled for every 100 boys.
MDG 4: Reduce Child Mortality
The global under-five mortality rate has declined by more than half since 1990 – dropping from 90 to 43 deaths per 1,000 live births. This falls short of the targeted drop of two-thirds. In practical terms this means 16,000 children under-five continue to die every day from preventable causes. A terrible reality made worse by the fact we know what each one of these major killers are, and what can be done to thwart them.
MDG 5: Improve Maternal Health
Since 1990, the maternal mortality ratio has been cut nearly in half. This is an impressive result, but as well with goal 4 it falls short of the two-thirds reduction that was aimed for. There were an estimated 289,000 maternal deaths in 2013.
MDG 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases
The results with MDG 5 are mixed. The target of halting and beginning to reverse the spread of HIV/Aids has not been met – although the number of new HIV infections fell by 40% between 2000 and 2013. According to the UN, over 6.2 million malaria deaths have been averted between 2000 and 2015, primarily of children under five years of age in sub-Saharan Africa. The global malaria incidence rate has fallen by an estimated 37 per cent and the mortality rate by 58 per cent
MDG 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability
Between 1990 and 2015, 2.6 billion people gained access to improved drinking water, meaning the target of halving the proportion of people without access to safe water was achieved. Worldwide, 2.1 billion people have gained access to improved sanitation.
MDG 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development
Official development assistance from wealthy countries to developing countries increased by 66 per cent in real terms between 2000 and 2014, reaching $135.2 billion.
So in conclusion, some goals were successful while some were partially successful.

ANSWER NUMBER 2
Over the decades, there has been a recurrent and sustained argument that the Nigerian state, like its counterparts in Africa and other countries of the developing world, underperforms due to lack of state capacity to deal with the contemporary complexities of governance. We will examine the state of governance in Nigeria and assess the factors militating against the promotion of public good and effective service delivery in the country. Governance and political leadership in Nigeria have been driven by self-interest and other primordial considerations, which take priority over that of the public. The state has failed in three major areas: security of lives and properties, promotion of the rule of law, and provision of visionary leadership. In conclusion, the nature and characters of the political leadership explains the Nigerian state incapacity for effective governance.
* Security of Life and Property
The place of security in the development aspiration and agenda of any country is quite pivotal. Scholars have persistently reinforced the security-development nexus (Akinola, 2011; Shanum, 2003). Without security, other socioeconomic goals are unattainable. Shanum (2013) argues that “No nation can enjoy lasting peace if her citizens live in abject poverty particularly if that nation is acknowledged as having the ability and substantial means to provide development and guarantee a good standard of living. Unfortunately, that is the tale of Nigeria. It is a tale of poor governance, insecurity and poverty in the midst of plenty”. Evident poor governance led to the categorization of Nigeria among “the 19 poorest, unhappiest, unhealthiest, and most dangerous nations in the world.
Rule of Law
Constitutionalism and sanctity of the rule of law principle is germane to effective governance, and security of life and property. Rule of law is one of the attractions of democracy. Democracy is more than the people’s rule. It symbolizes a meaningful and broad competition for public positions through periodic, free, and fair elections, and as determined by the constitutional arrangement of the country in question. The rule of law, underpinned by an independent judicial system, implies a functional legal framework that helps to ensure settlement of conflicts between the state and individuals on the one hand and among individuals or groups on the other. It also helps to ensure respect for property rights and contracts, while preventing the government and influential individuals from acting capriciously (Adamolekun, 2016). Also, in its oversight functions, the judiciary serves as a check on the excesses of the other arms of government, especially the executive.
A review of the activities of this arm, since 1960, reveals that it suffered “critical oscillations and dwindling fortunes in development and performance” (Simbine & Oladeji, 2010, p. 819). To start with, evidence abound on the not so tidy relationship between the government and the judiciary during the country’s First Republic. It should be noted that, rather than clearly check the excesses of the then government, the judiciary, in several instances, appeared partisan. Example of such includes its role in the trial of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, leader of the opposition Action Group (AG) in the First Republic, for a treason-related offense. This was also repeated in the handling of the outcome of the Western region election of 1965, during which a breakaway faction from Awolowo’s AG, with evident support from the federal government, secured a controversial victory (Anifowose, 1982).
The Leadership Question
Leadership is, no doubt, a key factor in the whole gamut of public administration and the management of societal affairs. In the light of this, Nigeria’s lack of capacity in terms of the attainment of effective governance that addresses the issues of corruption, human rights, and mobilization of human and material resources for sustainable development is generally traced to leadership failure (Achebe, 1988; “Mo Ibrahim’s Sobering Report,” 2013). In Nigeria, democracy has not yielded the expected results due to the character of the political elites who has a limited understanding of what governance requires (Agulanna, 2006). Shanum (2013) maintains that “the progress of any nation rests on the stature or standard of its leadership and how they can bring this to bear on the welfare of people of the nation.” Therefore, the state is expected to perform service–delivery responsibilities, which include the construction of society’s infrastructure, including roads, posts, and telecommunications, and water, sewage, and energy infrastructures. Ironically, the Nigerian state has been unable to live up to these expectations. Indeed, once a political arrangement is dominated by visionless leaders, the country would perpetually struggle to attain peace and development. Furthermore, “many African governments have remained either criminally blind to, or unable to redress, the harsh realities of life for most of their citizens. Basically, no other region of the world has been as poorly led and governed by so many leaders for so long” (Uzodike, 2009, p. 2). In summary, leadership failure is one of the strongest foundations of state incapacity in Nigeria.

Name: obodoike Faith Oluchi

Reg no:2018/245387

Department: Education Economics

Course code:Eco 362

Course tittle: Development economics

Date:4/2/2022

Assignment:

1. In your own opinion do you think these goal were achieved? If yes, how?if no why?.
2. Good governance is good for all nations but Nigeria and many developing countries seem to be far behind in their quest for good governance Discuss!

Answer no one

1. The millennium development goals (MDGs) where able to achieve or attend some of their goal through the following point:
The millennium development goals( MDGs) number one is to eradicate exteram poverty and hunger.
Globally the number of deaths of children under 5 years of age fall from 12.7 million in 1990 to 6.3 million 2013. Also the proportion of under weight children in developing countries has declined from 28% to 17% between 1990 and 2013.

2. Millennium development goals (MDGs) number 4, Reduce child mortality.
Globally, significant progress has been made in reducing mortality in children under 5 years of age. In 2013,6.3 millennium children under 5 died, compared with 12.7 million in 1990. Because more countries are now achieving high levels of immunization coverage

3. Millennium development goals (MDGs) number 6, To combat HIV/Aids, malaria and other disease. Globally,new HIV infection decline by 38% between 2001 and 2013.
4. Millennium development goals( MDGs) number 7 Ensure environmental sustainability.
The world has now met the MDG target relating to access to safe drinking water. In 2012,90% of the population used an improved source of drinking water compared with 76% in 1990.
Answer number 2
1. The failure of good governance in Nigeria manifest in the declining capacity of political leaders to recognize systemic risk such as election fraud, terrorist attack,harder-farmer conflict,armed banditry and police brutality and put in place the necessary measure to navigate these challenges. In contract with the current system in which leadership is attached through bribery, intimidation and violence, Nigeria needs an epistocratic system of governance that is founded on the pedigree of it’s political leaders and education of it’s voters
2. Lack of voice and week accountability
Governing bodies refusing to listen to the voice of those they govern and refusing to take accountability for their actions lead to bad governance. By ignoring the voice of those being governed their opinions are no longer heard or taken into consideration by the governing body.

Section 1:
Some of the millennium development goals were achieve while some wheren’t achieved.
Goal 1. Reduce by half the proportion of people who live by or less than a dollar per day: More than half percentage of people in developing nations are still living in abject poverty resulting to malnutrition.
Goal 2. Achieve universal primary education: This goal was achieved in some parts of the country, especially in the western and eastern part of Nigeria while in the north so many children were deprived of education because of poverty, poor orientation and religious beliefs.
Goal 3. The third goal which has to do with gender equality is yet to be achieved in northern Nigeria major as a result of religious believe that there wives are not meant to be seen in public. This is an infringement of their fundamental human right. Whereas, in other parts of the country women are taking active part in administrative positions. In the educational section, the number of women have been increasing tremendously.
Goal 4 and 5. The improvement in medical facilities and personnels has led to a reduction in child mortality rate and improvement in maternal health care.
Goal 6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases: majority of deaths are caused by malaria. The number of people with HIV/AIDS have been reduced due to the awareness of the causes and methods of prevention.
Goal 7. Ensure environment sustainability: There has been and increase in environmental pollution and poor infrastructure in most developing countries.
Goal 8. Develope a global partnership for development: Despite the regional economic and political organization as well as other international organization such as the Breton woods institutions , the rate of development in most nations has been retarded.

Section 2
Governance is the process of making and implementing decisions. There are basically two types of governance, the formal and informal. This entails that for good governance to be realistic, both public and private actors must put in their best effort to ensure that there is adherence to the rules and regulations governing the society. In Nigeria, those convicted of one crime or the order are now leaders of the nation hence, leading to criminalization of politics. Most public funds have been diverted to private fund and because those who are caught are not penalized, other see it as normal and tend to do worst. Funds meant for infrastructure and national development have been on a regular basis converted to stomach infrastructure or ideology of the belly. Nepotism, favouritism and tribalism has been on the increase in the area of public recruitment. In summary, there has been a great disregard on the qualities of good governance such as rule of law, transparency, consensus orientated, effectiveness and efficiency, accountability, participation, responsiveness and equity and inclusiveness.

Name: Obiora Chidimma Jennifer
Dept: Economics Department
Year: 300 level
Course: Development Economics II
1. yes, At the turn of the millennium, the world’s nations set themselves development goals with the ambition to reach these in the following 15 years. Referencing the historic moment of their inception the UN named them the Millennium Development Goals or MDGs for short. The goals encompassed development in a broad sense, from increasing economic welfare of the poorest, to health and education, to humanity’s impact on the environment.
Now for the first time we can look back and see how the world has actually done. This is only possible now – three years after the end of the MDG era in 2015 – as it often takes several years until the relevant data is available at a global level. Early assessments had to rely on extrapolations of earlier trends. As you can see in our analysis, today the most recent available data on many aspects is from 2015.
So how did the world do? Did we actually achieve the MDGs that we set ourselves?
The MDGs comprised of 8 Goals, measured by 18 Targets; the table below summarizes the track-record of the 14 Targets which can be assessed quantitatively – highlighted in green are those which the world has achieved and in red those where the world fell short.
There is clearly more red than green, but let’s look at the good news first. Overall, the world achieved 3 and a half targets: MDG Target 1.A – halving the share of the world population living in extreme poverty – is a particularly important one and while most people are not aware of it, the world has actually achieved this goal. The achievement of MDG 3 meant that the gender disparity in education was closed at the global level. And MDG Target 6.C on malaria and tuberculosis was achieved as the world was able to reduce the global rate of new infections. For MDG 7 the world achieved half of this goal – while the goal for sanitation was missed, the world did reach the goal on providing access to safe drinking water.
What is clear however, is that most of the UN’s development goals were missed. 12 of the targets are shown in red.
The degree to which they were missed varies between several near misses and a few very clear and alarming failures. The MDG targets on which the world failed most miserably were the environmental targets in MDG 7 which called for a “reversal of the loss of environmental resources” and a “reduction of biodiversity loss“. While there were certainly some important successes – very positive trends in the decline of substances which deplete the ozone layer for example –, the global evidence shows that most environmental indicators regressed; global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions increased approximately 50%; global forest area continued its decline; overexploitation of fish stocks increased; and the Red List Index concluded that “a substantial proportion of species in all taxonomic groups examined to date are declining overall in population and distribution”.
On many other aspects of global living conditions where the world fell short of achieving the target, the world nevertheless made progress. Often the story is that the world has achieved progress, but not as fast as needed to reach the MDGs: the share of people in hunger fell, the share of children in school increased substantially, more women got access to reproductive health and contraceptives, the maternal mortality nearly halved, and the global child mortality rate more than halved. Substantial progress has been achieved in the first 15 years of the new millennium, but in most aspects not as fast as the achievement of the MDGs required.

2. Good Governance deals with the process by which decisions are made and implemented.
The pursuit of good governance in Nigeria should focus on encouraging trustworthy and competent electoral candidates, says Toluwalola Kasali, committed to serving in the public’s interest. Disenchantment with the political system, especially among the rapidly growing youth population, makes the challenge increasingly urgent.
What brings about good governance
Over the past five electoral cycles since Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999, less attention has been paid to ‘who’ becomes a political leader, particularly the quality of people elected as members of the Local Government Council, State Assembly, House of Representatives and Senate, as well as those elected as Governors and the President.
While good governance depends on building strong institutions that provide the framework for politicians to act in the public’s interest, it also depends on choosing competent and trustworthy politicians who have the strength of character to uphold the values of the institutions in the first place. For one reason, elected officials can choose to undermine institutions’ integrity for self-dealing and personal gain. The Nigerian electorate should, therefore, demand and elect political leaders who are competent and honest.
Elected public office holders, as members of Nigerian society, adopt their values and beliefs about patriotism, public service, honesty and integrity from that same society. These values are learned in families, schools, communities, associations and organisations and impact how elected officials behave in positions of trust.
Where the principles of civic duty, honesty, integrity and service are instilled in every Nigerian citizen, the chances increase that the pool of available candidates will embody some or all of these attributes. However, if only a few individuals in society recognise that such attributes are fundamental to good governance, it becomes a challenge. For transformational change, we must build a society with core values that espouse what we hope to stand for as a nation and what we hope to achieve for the country’s future.
References:
https://blogs.lse.ac.uk
https://ourworldindata.org

Name: Ezeh Uchechukwu Evelyn
Reg no: 2018/241821
Department: Economics ( Major )
Course: Development Economics ( Eco 362 )

1). No the goals were not achieved according to the World Bank, the annual population growth rate in Pakistan is 2.1 percent. This rapid rise in population has undermined most of the health development initiatives because the plans and resources set forth are on the basis of an estimated number of people and do not take into account the resource-to-population growth ratio. Moreover, limited resources, coupled with the fast and haphazard pace of urbanisation and the subsequent environmental degradation has created difficulties in the development of planning and healthcare service delivery.
The health workforce is a critical factor in the long-term planning, implementation and maintenance of healthcare services. Human resource policies therefore need to lay out a medium- to long-term path to provide the sector with skilled, motivated and accountable health workers. It has been seen that there is no effective mechanism for HR planning and development in the health department. Unfavourable contractual recruitment policy and uncertainty of career progression have made the government service unattractive, resulting in compromised quality of service delivery by the HR staff.
Women’s empowerment and their socio-economic status prerequisites for social development also affect the progress of the MDGs. Women in Pakistan lack sufficient knowledge about healthcare. The lack of policymakers’ oversight, the dearth of education and awareness among citizens, particularly among women, and limited research and development have aggravated the situation.
Weak governance and mismanagement remain key concerns at all levels. The lack of a transparent performance-assessment system, limited efforts to harness the potential of the private sector and the weak regulation of healthcare delivery also contributed to the slow progress of the MDGs.

2). Good governance is good for all nations but Nigeria and many developing countries seem to be far behind in their quest for good governance. Discuss!

1) Corruption at various levels
Economies that are afflicted by a high level of corruption which involves the misuse of power in the form of money or authority to achieve certain goals in illegal, dishonest, or unfair ways are not capable of prospering as fully as those with a low level of corruption. Corrupted economies are not able to function properly because corruption prevents the natural laws of the economy from functioning freely. As a result, corruption in a nation’s political and economic operations causes its entire society to suffer.
Countries that have a high level of corruption are unable to function efficiently or prosper at an economic level, causing suffering for society as a whole.
Emerging market economies tend to have much higher corruption levels compared to developed countries.
Corruption can lead to an uneven distribution of wealth as small businesses face unfair competition from large companies that have established illegal connections with government officials.
In a corrupt economy, resources are inefficiently allocated and companies that otherwise would not be qualified to win government contracts are often awarded projects as a result of bribery or kickbacks.
2) Criminalization of politics
criminalisation of politics means to use politics or political power for nefarious gains. To gain something not legal or normal has been called crime. Here the word crime is used in politics in special sense. For example an officer in administration wants to be promoted to higher post. But this is not his due. He uses politics or political power to achieve this. The person succeeds. But the matter does not stop here. The person who helped to get undue privilege will again use this person tor the achievement of his purposes which are, in normal course, not due. This is the policy of give-and-take and this happens behind the curtain.
3). Violations of human rights
Conflict can also trigger violations of the right to freedom of expression and the right of peaceful assembly. States are usually responsible for the violations as they attempt to maintain control and push down rebellious societal forces. Suppressing political rights is a common tactic for many governments during times of civil unrest.
Violations of civil and political human rights aren’t always linked to specific conflicts and can occur at any given time. Human trafficking is currently one of the largest issues on a global scale as millions of men, women, and children are forced into labor and sexual exploitation. Religious discrimination is also very common in many places around the world. These violations often occur because the state is failing to protect vulnerable groups.
Some of the other challenges of good governance many developing countries face could be as follows:
a) Weak legislators with criminal records, poor knowledge about development issues and low level of education
b) Poor people’s participation in development processes
c) Less active civil society
d) Poorly empowered grassroots democratic institutions
e) Poor coordination among the political, administrative and community level organizations and institutions
f) Delay in delivery of judicial decisions
g) Poor participation of disadvantaged in decision making process.

NAME: ASOGWA OBIORA
REG NUMBER: 2018/242288
DEPARTMENT: ECONOMICS
COURSE TITLE: DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS ll.
COURSE CODE: ECO 362

Online discussion quiz 3

1.Analysing the performance of Ethiopia in achieving the health-related millennium development goals (MDGs) with the aim of acquiring lessons for the sustainable development goals (SDGs).
Ethiopia achieved most of the health MDGs: a 67% reduction in under-five mortality, a 71% decline in maternal mortality ratio, a 90% decline in new HIV infections, a decrease in malaria-related
deaths by 73% and a more than 50% decline in mortality due to tuberculosis. We argue that these achievements are due to implementation of a mix of comprehensive strategies within the health
system and across other sectors of the government. Scaling up of interventions by disease control programmes (including the health extension programme) and strengthening of the health system
have played important roles towards the achievements. These health gains could not have been realised without progress in the other MDGs: poverty reduction, education, access to safe drinking-water and peace and stability of the country. However, the gains were not equitable, with
differences between urban and rural areas, among regions and socioeconomic strata. Ethiopia’s remarkable success in meeting most of the targets of the health-related MDGs could be explained
by its comprehensive and multisectoral approach for health development. The inequity gap remains a challenge that achieving the health-related SDGs requires the country to implement strategies, which specifically target more marginal populations and geographic areas. This also needs peace and stability, without which it is almost impossible to improve health.
As we already know that at the beginning of the new millennium, world leaders gathered at the United Nations to outline a
wide-ranging vision against poverty. The vision was translated into eight goals called millennium development goals (MDGs) which became the most significant commitment ever made by world
leaders for international development. Three of the eight MDGs were health goals: Goal 4 (reduce child mortality), Goal 5 (improve maternal health) and Goal 6 (combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and othe
diseases).1 These goals substantially shaped the development discourse and aid the architecture in such a way that most aid agencies and civil society organisations substantially reoriented their
work towards the achievement of the MDGs.The MDGs also provided a context for the establishment of significant commitments and initiatives globally. In Africa alone, these included the 2001 Abuja Declaration on health financing, the 2005 WHO African Regional Committee resolution on achieving the MDGs, the
2008 Ouagadougou Declaration on Primary Health Care and Health Systems in Africa,the Harmonisation for Health in Africa mechanism and the 2008 UN Secretary-General’s MDGs Africa
Initiative. Moreover, the MDGs were associated with increased resources from development partners, providing good incentives for low-income countries to translate and operationalise the MDGs to
their context. Low-income countries, including Ethiopia, tied their poverty reduction and development plans to the MDGs. Implementation of the MDGs has been monitored globally using 48 indicators (including 12 for the health MDGs).However, they were criticised that they were lacking the granularity needed to show improvements among the disadvantaged groups within
societies. Ethiopia implemented the MDGs through its poverty reduction and development strategies and
growth and transformation plans. It was also tracking its performance and reporting on the MDGs annually. The discussion analyses performance of Ethiopia against the health-related MDG indicators, identifies successes and challenges and pinpoints lessons for the sustainable
development goals (SDGs) which are ambitious and demanding. Understanding the implications of this analysis is vital to satisfying the higher demands of the SDGs.
Successes and challenges during the era of the MDGs in Ethiopia
MDG4:reduce child mortality
The under-five mortality rate per 1000 live births decreased from 205 in 1990 to 67 in 2015. Over the same time interval, the infant mortality rate declined from 123 to 48 and the neonatal mortality rate also showed a similar decline from 54 to 20.The target for under-five mortality rate was achieved, while the targets for infant and neonatal mortality rates (reductions of
61% and 63%, respectively) were just below the MDG 4 target (67%).
Mortality rates were, in general, significantly higher in rural than in urban areas (114 vs 83 per 1000 live births). Children born and raised in rural areas had at least a 38% higher risk of dying prior
to age five compared with their urban counterparts. Addis Ababa (AA), Harari, Dire Dawa (DD) and
Tigray had under-five mortality rates less than 90 deaths per 1000 live births. On the other hand, the under-five mortality rates in Benshangul Gumuz, Afar, Gambela and Somali were more than 120 per 1000 live births. Proportion of 1-year-old children immunised against measles increased from 21% in 2000 to 54%
in 2015. While 76% of children in urban areas were reported to be vaccinated for measles, only 52% of children in rural areas were vaccinated, with rates ranging from 30% in Afar to 93% in AA. MDG5: improve maternal health Maternal mortality ratio (MMR) per 100 000 live births declined by 71% from 1400 in 1990 to 412
in 2015. This was thus close to the target for MDG 5 (75%). The maternal mortality ratio and reproductive health services in Ethiopia, 1990–2015 confirms that the percentage of women receiving one antenatal care (ANC) visit from a skilled provider (doctor, nurse or midwife) for their most recent birth had increased from 6% in 1990 to 62% in 2015.
There was marked variation between rural and urban areas and among regions. It ranged from 44% (Somali region) to 97% (AA). Rural women were less likely than urban women to have received ANC from a skilled provider (58% and 90%, respectively). Three in 10 women (32%) had four or more ANC visits for their most recent live birth which increased from 10% in 2000. Lower proportion of rural women (27%) had four or more ANC visits than urban women (63%). There had been remarkable progress in facility (excluding health posts) births from 5% in 2000 to
26% in 2015. But, there is a dramatic contrast in facility delivery between rural areas (20%) and urban areas (79%) and across regions (15% in Afar and 97% in AA). Skilled birth attendance rate,
excluding health extension workers, increased from 3% in 1990 to 28% in 2015.
The percentage of married women with unmet needs for family planning (FP) declined from 37% in 2000 to 22% in 2015. The proportion of married women using modern contraceptive methods
increased from 6% in 2000 to 35% in 2015. The unmet need for FP was 24% in rural areas and 11.3% in urban areas and variable across regions at 29% in Oromia and 11% in AA MDG6:combatHIV/AIDS,malaria and other diseases. HIV/AIDS
The prevalence of HIV among pregnant women aged 15–24 years declined sharply from 12.4% in 2000 to 1.7% in 2015. Condom use among 15–49 years of age increased from 30% in 2000 to 45.5% in 2015. Comprehensive knowledge of HIV increased from 15% in 2000 to 30.4% in
2015. The number of patients on antiretroviral therapy (ART) had increased from 39 535 (less than 1% of
the total number of people living with HIV/AIDS) in 2005/2006 to 393 609 (54.3% of the same) in 2015. The number of orphans that had lost at least one parent to HIV decreased from around 535
000 in 2005 to 344 273 in 2015 which represents a 35.6% decline. The incidence of malaria per 100 000 population decreased from 7700 in 1990 to 1540 in 2015. Deaths due to malaria per 100 000 population also decreased from 54 in 1990 to 10 in 2015. Incidence and death rates associated with malaria decreased by 73% and 81%, respectively, between 1990 and 2015. The percentage of households with bed nets increased from 1% in 2000
to 64% in 2015. Children who slept under a bed net increased from 1% in 2000 to 70% in 2015.

Tuberculosis
The incidence of tuberculosis (TB) per 100 000 population declined from 421 in 2000 to 192 in 2015 (54% reduction). Similarly, the TB mortality rate per 100 000 declined from 89 deaths in 1990 to 25 deaths in 2015 (72% reduction) (table 3). In 2015, the national TB case detection rate
was 67.3% with differences across regions, ranging from 44% in Somali region to 100% in AA and DD. TB cure rate was 78% with variable performance across regions: from 38% in Afar region to 92% in Harari region.
In general, the achievements in MDGs in Ethiopia are in line with the global trend. Between 1990 and 2015, there were successes globally in: (1) MDG 4: child mortality had dropped by 53%, (2)
MDG 5: MMR declined by 43%16 and (3) MDG 6: the number of people on ART increased from less than 0.2 million in 2000 to 7.5 million in 2010 and more than 17 million in 201517 and the malaria
and tuberculosis mortality rate had fallen by 58% and 47%, respectively.18 19
How did Ethiopia achieve the health MDGs? We argue that the achievements in Ethiopia are due to implementation of a comprehensive health development strategy which has short-term, mid-term and long-term prongs. Short-term and
mid-term strategies include scaling up of interventions by disease control programmes, including
community health programmes (the health extension programme). Long-term strategies include strengthening of health systems using and redirecting domestic and global health initiatives20 21; (1) the number of health facilities increased dramatically between 2005 and 2015: health posts increased from 8528 to 16 480, health centres increased from 690 to 3562 and hospitals increased from 88 to 24122; (2) the ‘flooding strategy’ for human resource for health has increased the number of physicians from 2325 in 2005 to 6570 in 2015 and other paramedical
cadres: the number of health extension workers reached 38 000 from nil in 200022 and (3) financing for health has also increased significantly in the country.
The national health expenditure increased by 207% from US$522 million in 2004/2005 to over US$1.6 billion in 2010/2011.24 The largest increment in financing came from the development partners (315%) and households (237%). The government’s contributions also grew by 57% over
the same period. In 2010/2011, overseas development partners, households and the government contributed to 50%, 34% and 15.6%, respectively, to the total health expenditure in the country. National AIDS Spending Assessment also estimated that the total spending on HIV/AIDS was equivalent to US$405 million in 2011/2012 (86% from development partners, 13% from public revenue and less than 1% from the private sector). The achievements in the health-related MDGs in Ethiopia could not have been realised without successes in the other MDGs: poverty reduction, education, access to safe drinking-water and peace and stability of the country. The proportion of people living below the absolute poverty line had decreased from 48% in 1990 to 23.4% in 2015. The total fertility rate had declined from 7.7
children per woman in 1990 to 4.6 children per woman in 2015.15 27 The proportion of
households with access to piped water had increased from 18% in 2000 to 88% in 2015. The one plan, one budget and one report’ approach also facilitated coordination and partnership
among stakeholders (including multilateral, bilateral, private and public organisations) towards improved efficiency. In spite of these overall achievements in the health-related MDGs in Ethiopia, there were also challenges that would also be concerns during the era of the SDGs: (1) health financing and (2)
inequity in health outcomes. Even though the government expenditure on health (as a
percentage of total government expenditure) increased from 3% in 1995 to 4.9% in 2014, it is still below the Abuja commitment to spend 15% of the government budget on health.29 Per capita
health expenditure also increased from US$4.5 in 1995 to US$26.7 in 2014. However, this is well below the US$35 recommended by WHO in 2001 (this increased to US$60 in 2014) to deliver
essential healthcare in low-income countries.30 It is an indication that health is underfinanced and the government, in particular, should allocate more resources to health. There is thus a high
dependency on donors for financing health, in general, and for HIV/AIDS, in particular. Household out-of-pocket expenditure on health remains high. Together, this makes sustainability of health
financing and services delivery a serious concern in Ethiopia during the era of the SDGs.There is a huge disparity in levels of achievement among regions, between rural and urban areas, among populations of different socioeconomic status. The gains in MDGs were not equitable that there are regions which were lagging far behind others. These equity gaps are due to
differentials in health systems capacity and differences in socioeconomic development among regions and between urban and rural areas in the country. These gaps will indeed be challenges that the SDGs need to address using comprehensive strategies including the universal health
coverage (UHC) and the social determinants of health approach.

2.)Good governance is a powerful key that unlocks the doors of development in any nation. It implies accountability, transparency, prevalence of the rule of law and popular participation. After 58years of
independence and 20 years of democratic rule, Nigeria is still struggling with the issue of good governance, Nigeria is backward in education, infrastructural facilities, security, health care, electoral system among
others. However there is hope for Nigeria to overcome all her challenges and become developed, this can be achieved through sound education and enthronement of visionary leaders who are focused, selfless and ready to work for the good of Nigeria. With the analysis of secondary data, the paper examines the concept of good governance, its challenges and prospect to development; it observes that corruption is the major challenges of good governance in Nigeria. It therefore recommends among others that government should wage war against corruption by empowering anticorruption agencies to curb the menace of corruption. Good governance demands that government must be not only representative, but responsive, as well, to the needs of governed. A strong sense of responsiveness and commitment to serve the governed is required on the part of the government. It emphasizes on the effective delivery of services to the satisfaction of the people. It provides moral legitimacy, apart from constitutional validity and credibility to the goals, as well as instrumentalities of government. It comprehends within itself all sections of governance and all sections and regions of society. The main constituents of the good governance are rule of law; honesty, or probity in public affairs; independence of judiciary and human rights; people’s participation; equality of treatment; absence of discrimination on the basis of colour, creed, caste, race, language, sex, region, ability; administrative responsiveness; social sensitivity; ethical approach or conduct; willingness to learn, and an urge to improve, as well as to evolve the capability to anticipate the nature and direction of change; to cope with challenges as they arise, from time to time. Good governance depends on a range of factors that include administrative capacity, country’s stage of development, the external conditions that it faces, and the state of information and technology (I.T) available to it, for taking decisions. The World Bank has identified a number of challenges to good governance which assume significance for developed and the developing countries. These factors deal with the following political and administrative aspects

• Political accountability, including the acceptability of the political system by the people, and regular elections to legitimize the exercise of political power.

• There should be freedom of associations and participation by various religious, social, economic and cultural and professional groups in the process of governance.

• An established legal framework based on the rule of law and independence of judiciary to protect human rights, secure social justice and safeguards against exploitation and the abuse of power.

• Bureaucratic accountability, ensuring a system to monitor and control the performance of government offices and officials, in relation to quality of services, efficiency and misuse of discretionary power. The related determinants include openness and transparency in administration.

• Freedom of information, needed for formulation of public policies, decisionmaking, monitoring and evaluation of good performance.

• A sound administrative system should lead to efficiency and effectiveness. This, in turn, means value for money and cost effectiveness.

• Lastly, there is a greater need of cooperation among government and civil society organizations.
Unfortunately, developing countries like Nigeria are still far behind in their quest for good governance due to the following challenges :
1) Corruption at various levels
2) Centralization of power and authority
3) Criminalization of politics
4) Violations of human rights
5) Weak legislators with criminal records, poor knowledge about development issues and low level of education
6) Poor people’s participation in development processes
7) Less active civil society
8) Poorly empowered grassroots democratic institutions
9) Poor coordination among the political, administrative and community level organizations and institutions
10) Delay in delivery of judicial decisions
11) Poor participation of disadvantaged in decision making process.

2018/241875

1. In your opinion do you think these goals were achieved? If yes,how? If no, why?

MDG 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger

The target of reducing extreme poverty rates – people living on just $1.25 a day – by half was met five years ahead of the 2015 deadline. Globally the number of people living in extreme poverty has fallen from 1.9 billion in 1990 to 836 million in 2015.

However, target of halving the proportion of people suffering from hunger has narrowly been missed. The proportion of undernourished people in the developing regions has fallen from 23.3 per cent in 1990 to 12.9 per cent in 2014.

MDG 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education

Primary school enrolment figures have shown an impressive rise, but the goal of achieving universal primary education has just been missed. The primary school enrolment rate in developing regions reached 91 per cent this year, up from 83 per cent in 2000.

MDG 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women

About two two-thirds of developing countries achieved gender parity in primary education. Progress has been particularly strong in Southern Asia. Only 74 girls were enrolled in primary school for every 100 boys in 1990. Today, 103 girls are enrolled for every 100 boys.

MDG 4: Reduce Child Mortality

The global under-five mortality rate has declined by more than half since 1990 – dropping from 90 to 43 deaths per 1,000 live births. This falls short of the targeted drop of two-thirds.

In practical terms this means 16,000 children under-five continue to die every day from preventable causes. A terrible reality made worse by the fact we know what each one of these major killers are, and what can be done to thwart them.

MDG 5: Improve Maternal Health

Since 1990, the maternal mortality ratio has been cut nearly in half. This is an impressive result, but as well with goal 4 it falls short of the two-thirds reduction that was aimed for. There were an estimated 289,000 maternal deaths in 2013.

MDG 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases

The results with MDG 5 are mixed. The target of halting and beginning to reverse the spread of HIV/Aids has not been met – although the number of new HIV infections fell by 40% between 2000 and 2013.

According to the UN, over 6.2 million malaria deaths have been averted between 2000 and 2015, primarily of children under five years of age in sub-Saharan Africa. The global malaria incidence rate has fallen by an estimated 37 per cent and the mortality rate by 58 per cent

MDG 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainably

Between 1990 and 2015, 2.6 billion people gained access to improved drinking water, meaning the target of halving the proportion of people without access to safe water was achieved. Worldwide, 2.1 billion people have gained access to improved sanitation.

MDG 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development

Official development assistance from wealthy countries to developing countries increased by 66 per cent in real terms between 2000 and 2014, reaching $135.2 billion.

2. Good governance is good for all nations but Nigeria and many developing countries seem to be far behind in their quest for good governance. Discuss!

The failure of governance in Nigeria manifests in the declining capacity of political leaders to recognize systemic risks such as election fraud, terrorist attacks, herder-farmer conflict, armed banditry, and police brutality and put in place the necessary measures to navigate these challenges. In contrast with the current system in which leadership is attained through bribery, intimidation, and violence, Nigeria needs an epistocratic system of governance that is founded on the pedigree of its political leaders and the education of its voters. Corruption and socioeconomic disparities within Nigerian democracy continue to run rampant. Since 1999, the democratic space has been dominated by political elites who consistently violate fundamental principles associated with a liberal democratic system, such as competitive elections, the rule of law, political freedom, and respect for human rights. The outcome of the 2019 presidential election further eroded public trust in the ability of the independent electoral commission to organize competitive elections unfettered by the authoritarian influences of the ruling class. This challenge is an indicator of the systemic failure in Nigeria’s governance system. A continuation of the current system will only accelerate the erosion of public trust and democratic institutions. In contrast with the current system in which votes are attained through empty promises, bribery, voter intimidation, and violence, Nigeria needs a governance system that will enhance the education of its voters and the capability of its leaders.
Statistically speaking, Nigeria has consistently ranked low in the World Governance Index in areas such as government effectiveness, political stability and the presence of violence and terrorism, rule of law, and control of corruption. Nigeria is perceived in the 2020 Transparency International Corruption Perception Index as a highly corrupt country with a score of 25/100 while its corruption ranking increased from 146 in 2019 to 149 in 2020 out of 180 countries surveyed. While President Muhammadu Buhari won the 2015 election on his promise to fight insecurity and corruption, his promises went unfulfilled; Boko Haram continues to unleash unspeakable violence on civilians while the fight against corruption is counterproductive.

At the core of Nigeria’s systemic failure is the crisis of governance, which manifests in the declining capacity of the state to cope with a range of internal political and social upheavals. There is an expectation for political leaders to recognize systemic risks such as terrorist attacks, herder-farmer conflict, and police brutality and put in place the necessary infrastructure to gather relevant data for problem solving. But the insufficiency of political savvy required to navigate the challenges that Nigeria faces has unleashed unrest across the nation and exacerbated existing tensions. The #ENDSARS Protests against police brutality in 2020 is one of the manifestations of bad governance.

The spiral of violence in northern Nigeria in which armed bandits engage in deadly planned attacks on communities, leading to widespread population displacement, has become another grave security challenge that has sharpened regional polarization. Because some public servants are usually unaware of the insecurities faced by ordinary Nigerians, they lack the frame of reference to make laws that address the priorities of citizens. The crisis of governance is accentuated by a democratic culture that accords less importance to the knowledge and competence that political leaders can bring to public office. These systemic challenges have bred an atmosphere of cynicism and mistrust between citizens and political leaders at all levels of government.

Political elites in Nigeria also exploit poverty and illiteracy to mobilize voters with food items such as rice, seasoning, and money. The rice is usually packaged strategically with the image of political candidates and the parties they represent. The assumption is that people are more likely to vote for a politician who influences them with food than one who only brings messages of hope. The practice of using food to mobilize voters is commonly described as “stomach infrastructure” politics. The term “stomach infrastructure” arose from the 2015 election in Ekiti state when gubernatorial candidate Ayodele Fayosi mobilized voters with food items and defeated his opponent Kayode Fayemi. It is undeniable that Nigerian political culture rewards incompetent leaders over reform-minded leaders who demonstrate the intellectualism and problem-solving capabilities needed to adequately address systemic issues of poverty and inequality.
However, one cannot ignore that such thinking originates from societies where civic education is high and the electorate can make informed choices about leadership. In Nigeria, the majority of citizens are uneducated on political issues. Simultaneously, those who are highly educated are increasingly becoming indifferent to political participation; they have lost faith in the power of their votes and the integrity of the political system. For an epistocratic system to work in Nigeria, there must be significant improvements in literacy levels so that citizens are educated about the issues and can use their knowledge to make informed decisions about Nigeria’s political future.
I propose three policies to promote epistocratic governance in Nigeria. First, aspiring leaders must demonstrate the intellectual pedigree to translate knowledge into effective, transparent, and accountable governance that leads to national prosperity. As Rotimi Fawole notes, the bar should be higher for those aspiring to executive or legislative office “to improve the ideas that are put forward and the intellectual rigor applied to the discussions that underpin our statehood.”

Second, the government must increase access to education through government-sponsored initiatives that integrate civic education into school curriculums. Currently, little opportunity exists for young Nigerians, particularly those in underfunded public education systems, to learn about their civic roles at the local, state, national, and international levels, including how to emerge as participating citizens through the academic curriculum.

Third, the government should engage the support of local NGOs to promote civic education across Nigeria in culturally appropriate ways. The NGOs should be empowered to define the legal concept of citizenship and summarize specific civil rights enshrined in the Constitution into a Charter of Rights and Responsibilities modeled after the Canadian Charter. The Charter should include value positions essential to an effective democracy, such as the rights of citizens, social justice, accountable governance, and rule of law. It can then be commissioned as a resource for civics education in Nigeria.

Name: Chris-Nwaije Ihuoma Nancy
Reg No 2018/241847
Economics Department

Evaluation of the millennium development goals

In my opinion, although the millennium development goals were achieved to an extent, there is a lot of work to be done to get to the optimal point. Especially in Africa. Some of the MDGs are in conflict with most African and Arabian/Islam cultures and religion e.g gender equality. As such till date, this goal remains an illusion, a prime example being the occurrences in Afghanistan. Also, everyday while going to school, I’m quickly reminded of the numerous out of school children that hang around the environs with their guardians begging for alms. Some people see formal education especially girl child education as a waste of time. Time that would’ve been better spent on the road doing all sorts of things, whether legal or not, to earn a living.
The failure of the MDGs is also as a result of individual decisions and not only the government or the Internatuonal organisations. In Africa, it can be hard to convince a pregnant woman or new mom on the importance of vaccines and childhood immunizations. Even till date, most people do not believe the reality of covid 19. How then do you get these people to get immunised so as to reduce mortality rate? Another factor that led to the relative failure of the MDGs is the ever expanding population explosion in most African countries. This expanding population further reduces the available resources and enhances the poverty statistics of the country. One might see 2 individuals hat can not feed themselves comfortably proceeding to get married and have children because they  believe children are a gift from God. As such, they proceed to have 10 gifts thereby burdening the entire family and on a larger scale, the whole nation. Such families often give out the girls in early marriages as a form of poverty alleviation and the cycle continues. The government and the resources of the nation are spread thin in such instances and the poverty index keeps expanding.

Indeed, the most crucial factor for the failure of the MDGs in sub Sahara Africa is Corruption and bad governance. Where corruption prevails, the institutions of the state will be weak and cannot make/enforce effective policies in line with the attainment of these goals. Most funds from Donor countries are misappropriated and embezzled. Although considerable strides were made in achieving the MDGs, especially in reducing child mortality rate, there is a lot of work to be done which the SDGs will hopefully do.
Below are some other reasons and analysis of the performance of the MDGs from the Millennium Development Goals Report of 2015:
“The MDG Report 2015 found that the 15-year effort to achieve the eight aspirational goals set out in the Millennium Declaration in 2000 was largely successful across the globe, while acknowledging shortfalls that remain. The data and analysis presented in the report show that with targeted interventions, sound strategies, adequate resources and political will, even the poorest can make progress.” -UNDP Millennium Development Goals Report 2015.
MDG 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger

The target of reducing extreme poverty rates – people living on just $1.25 a day – by half was met five years ahead of the 2015 deadline. Globally the number of people living in extreme poverty has fallen from 1.9 billion in 1990 to 836 million in 2015.

However, target of halving the proportion of people suffering from hunger has narrowly been missed. The proportion of undernourished people in the developing regions has fallen from 23.3 per cent in 1990 to 12.9 per cent in 2014.

MDG 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education

Primary school enrolment figures have shown an impressive rise, but the goal of achieving universal primary education has just been missed. The primary school enrolment rate in developing regions reached 91 per cent this year, up from 83 per cent in 2000. 

MDG 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women

About two two-thirds of developing countries achieved gender parity in primary education. Progress has been particularly strong in Southern Asia. Only 74 girls were enrolled in primary school for every 100 boys in 1990. Today, 103 girls are enrolled for every 100 boys.

MDG 4: Reduce Child Mortality

The global under-five mortality rate has declined by more than half since 1990 – dropping from 90 to 43 deaths per 1,000 live births. This falls short of the targeted drop of two-thirds.

In practical terms this means 16,000 children under-five continue to die every day from preventable causes. A terrible reality made worse by the fact we know what each one of these major killers are, and what can be done to thwart them.

MDG 5: Improve Maternal Health

Since 1990, the maternal mortality ratio has been cut nearly in half. This is an impressive result, but as well with goal 4 it falls short of the two-thirds reduction that was aimed for. There were an estimated 289,000 maternal deaths in 2013.

MDG 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases

The results with MDG 5 are mixed. The target of halting and beginning to reverse the spread of HIV/Aids has not been met – although the number of new HIV infections fell by 40% between 2000 and 2013.

According to the UN, over 6.2 million malaria deaths have been averted between 2000 and 2015, primarily of children under five years of age in sub-Saharan Africa. The global malaria incidence rate has fallen by an estimated 37 per cent and the mortality rate by 58 per cent

MDG 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainably

Between 1990 and 2015, 2.6 billion people gained access to improved drinking water, meaning the target of halving the proportion of people without access to safe water was achieved. Worldwide, 2.1 billion people have gained access to improved sanitation.

MDG 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development.
Official development assistance from developed countries increased by 66 percent in real terms between 2000 and 2014, reaching $135.2 billion.
2. Good Governance in Nigeria is hindered by so many factors the head of them all being Corruption. In the absence of corruption, strong institutions will prevail, accountability to the public, the rule of law and all the attributes of good governance will be prominent in the country. Corruption erodes the values of the country such that no one person is free from the taint of corruption. Even the EFCC and ICPC are not left out. Who then will probe corrupt individual when everybody seems to have eaten our of the forbidden apple?
In Nigeria, the government officials (which are the largest players in good governance) are just being recycled. Since the 20th century, the same leaders have continually led Nigeria in different office with different titles. An example being President Muhammadu Buhari who was once head of the state under the military rule now being “head of state” under the Democratic rule. We also have many of them who have refused to retire and continue to perpuate their crimes. Nigeria has a long way to go in terms of Good governance. The state and affairs of the Country has led to the youth loosing confidence in the government and seeking alternatives in other countries. The Lekki toll gate shootings come to mind. These killings occurred and the supposed probe did not find any perpetrators. The families affected were paid off and nobody was called out for the crime. Nowadays, the EFCC is used as a political tool against non supporters of the government. Everybody’s evil is kept hidden till they revolt, then their crimes are made public to teach them and others a lesson to remain loyal. The masses are not spared. Everybody in Nigeria has either been a principal actor or aided corrupt practices from the drivers who oblige to the policemen asking for bribes to the senator and ministers who collect money from job seekers to give out jobs instead of a free and fair application process to the president who doesn’t even seem to know what is happening in the country and has refused to either know or step down (the recent laughable live interview of the president comes to mind).

The perils of Nigeria are numerous and what is on the mind of most youths is how to flee the country before they become the next victims of an “autocratic” democratic government that can put out the lights and open fire on her unarmed citizens who they are supposed to protect and go scot-free.

NAME: ABONYI AMAKA MARY
REG NO: 2018/241874
DEPARTMENT: ECONOMICS

1. The MDGs helped to lift more than one billion people out of extreme poverty, to make inroads against hunger, to enable more girls to attend school than ever before, and to protect our planet. They generated new and innovative partnerships, galvanized public opinion, and showed the immense value of setting ambitious goals. By putting people and their immediate needs at the forefront, the MDGs reshaped decision-making in developed and developing countries alike. Yet for all the remarkable gains, inequalities persist and that progress has been uneven. The world poor remain overwhelmingly concentrated in some parts of the world. In 2011, nearly 60 percent of the world’s one billion extremely poor people lived in just five countries. Too many women continue to die during pregnancy or from childbirth-related complications. Progress tends to bypass women and those who are lowest on the economic ladder or are disadvantaged because of their age, disability, or ethnicity. Disparities between rural and urban areas remain pronounced.
Though significant achievements have been made on many of the MDG targets worldwide, progress has been uneven across regions and countries, leaving significant gaps. Millions of people are being left behind, especially vulnerable groups. Targeted efforts will be needed to reach the most vulnerable people. This effort led to the introduction of sustainable development goals (SDGs) which strives to reflect these lessons, build on our successes and put all countries, together, firmly on track towards a more prosperous, sustainable and equitable world.

2. According to the World Bank, Good Governance can be defined as the manner in which power is exercised in the management of a country’s economic and social resources for development. Governance is said to be good if it assured that corruption is minimised, the views of the minorities are taken into account, and that the voices of the vulnerable in the society are heard in decision making. It must also be responsive to the present and future needs of society.
When good governance is been entrenched, the recurrent pathological problems of corruption, primordial sentiment, patron-client politics, the unholy marriage of Nigeria, and ethnoreligious loyalty would be resolved. For the way forward, Nigerians are what they are today only because their leaders are not what they should be. It is, therefore, obvious that positive leadership represents Nigeria’s oasis of hope for greatness in a desert of mediocrities, purposeless, corrupt, and visionless men and women masquerading as leaders at all levels of governance in the country.
Nigeria is far behind in its quest for good governance due to leadership failure in Nigeria, which has remained an obstacle to the country’s quest for true good governance; and nation-building. Since the return of democratic governance in 1999, Nigeria has been experiencing deepening political crises as a result of the defects of the democratization process and the apparent ineptitude of political leadership. The problem of leadership has continued to abort efforts at genuine democratization through the exclusion of some segments of the political elite from effective participation in the politics of the country.
Nigeria is said to adopt good governance if it allows for the emergence of positive leadership that would not compromise the national quest for improved welfare for the citizens; social infrastructures, human development; and technological breakthrough, which are the dividends of democracy through the internalization of the culture of good governance.
Unless good governance is in place with accountability carefully observed, sustainable development cannot be realized in Nigeria and developing countries.

ODO RUTH SOMTOCHI ( 2018/242445)

1.The goals where not all achieved. Just few where achieved that’s achieving universal primary education that’s the rate of illteracy reducing. The government couldn’t provide the basic infrastructure for the goal.
Extent of Achievement of the MDGs in Nigeria
(i) Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. People living in relative poverty declined from 65.6% in 1996 to 54.4% in 2004. Many people are being empowered by the poverty eradication programmes. But recently the rate of poverty is very high. The percentage of people that provide for their basic needs due to the price increase is high

(ii) Achieve Universal Primary Education. Net enrolment and retention in primary schools has increased. The literacy rate among the 15-24 year olds has also increased. These are as a result of the UBE (Universal Basic Education) programme.

(iii) Promote gender equality and empower women. The ratio of boys to girls in primary, secondary and tertiary education has improved. Women are being empowered economically and politically to assume more challenging roles in society.

(iv) Reduce child mortality. There are improvements in under-five mortality rate from 210 per 1000 live births in 2003 to 197 in 2004. The mortality rate is higher in rural areas than in urban areas.

The relatively high level of child mortality is as a result of relatively low maternal education, low coverage of immunization, high incidence of poverty, weak primary health-care system etc.
(v) Improve maternal health. Maternal mortality is still relatively high. Against a global target of less than 75 per 100,000 live births in 2015, Nigeria recorded 800 per 100,000 in 2004. High cost of treatment, poor cultural and social practices, low patronage of health institutions etc, are major factors.

(vi) Combat HIV-AIDS and other diseases. Prevalence of HIV rate fell from 5.8% in 2001 to 4.4% in 2005. Despite the decrease, there is still a high incidence of HIV due to unsafe blood transfusion, unsafe injection and sexual practices. There is still stigmatization and discriminization against people living with HIV/AIDS.
(vii) Ensure environmental sustainability.Much still needs to be done in this regard. The rich environmental resource-base of Nigeria is constantly undermined by deforestation, flood, erosion, desertifi cation, oil pollution, gas flare etc. Housing is inadequate to meet the demands of the rapidly increasing population.

(viii) Develop a global partnership for development. A lot of benefits have been derived from partnership with the international community especially in areas of debt servicing, improvement in balance of payments, technology transfer etc.

2. Good governance is good for all nations but Nigeria and many developing countries seem to be far behind in their quest for good governance. Discuss!
Nigeria and many developing countries are far behind their quest for good governance because most of the characteristics of a good governance are not meant.
And this characteristics include
I) Rule of law: a fair legal framework that’s impartial and see everybody as the same.
II) Transparency: making known what are meant to know to the society.
III) consensus oriented: taking the view of the people into consideration when making decisions
IV) Effectiveness and efficiency
V) Accountability
The government are not accountable. They don’t seek the opinion of the people before taking decision. Take enforce all the law within them selves without the opinion of the people.

Udeh Josephine Nkemakoram
2018/241843
Economics
Eco 362
In my opinion the millennium development goals gave succeed in some countries like china and have not in some countries like Nigeria. Of course there are some changes in Nigeria that were brought about by the implementation of the MDGs. It is best to analyze the goals separately.
The first goal is “to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger”
The incidence of poverty increased during the period 1985-2006; the
proportion of people living in poverty in 1985 was 28.1%, it rose to 46.3% in the year but decreased to 42.7% in
1999 before escalating to 65.6% in 2006. This translated to 17.7, 34.7, 39.2 and 67.1 million poor people in 1985,
1995, 1999 and 2006 respectively (Bello 2007:46). Based on the Nigeria National Bureau of Statistic’s figure
2011 however, the proportion of people living in poverty has declined to 54.4% in 2011 which amounts to about
68.7 million poor people (NBS Report 2011).
The second goal “To achieve universal primary education” Since 1999, there has been great progress towards achieving universal primary enrollment due in large part to a pursuit of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the Education for All (EFA) The number of primary school age out-of-school children dropped by 42% between 2000 and 2012, despite rapid population growth. Most countries in Africa have achieved universal primary enrolment, with rates above 90 per cent. As a result, the continent as a whole is expected to achieve Goal 2. Low completion and high grade repetition remain a challenge, however. Indeed, one in three pupils enrolled in a primary school will dropout. Reasons include late entry, poverty, poor quality of education and a lack of awareness of the importance of schools. Some 30 per cent of students with six years of schooling cannot read a sentence, and girls are more likely to drop out than boys.
The third goal “To promote gender equality and empower women”
UNDP has made gender equality central to its work and we’ve seen remarkable progress in the past 20 years. There are more girls in school now compared to 15 years ago, and most regions have reached gender parity in primary education.
But although there are more women than ever in the labour market, there are still large inequalities in some regions, with women systematically denied the same work rights as men.
The fourth goal “To reduce child mortality”
Nigeria has made gradual progress toward reducing child mortality since the announcement of the goals. Since the beginning of data collection in 1990, the under five mortality in Nigeria has dropped from 214 deaths per 1,000 live births to 124 deaths per 1,000 live births as of 2010. Nigeria faces the challenge that local needs are drastically different based upon the unique communities and states throughout the country. The country’s social diversity in terms of religion and rural-urban division cause difficulties in making policies which serve the whole country. In sum, Nigeria is not on track to meet Goal 4
The fifth goal “To improve maternal health”
Maternal mortality has fallen from 1100 deaths per 100,000 live births in 1990 to 630 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2010. Progress in this goal faces many of the same social and political challenges as Goal 4. The proportion of births attended by a skilled health worker is still low overall, and will need to be further addressed for progress to continue.
The sixth goal “To combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases”
HIV prevalence among pregnant young women aged 15-24 years in Nigeria has continuously declined in years. In 2000, the
prevalence of HIV among pregnant young women aged 15-24 years was about 5.4%, rose to 5.8% in 2001 and
2002 but declined to 5.0% in 2003 and further to 4.3% in 2005and 4.2%in 2008(NPC Report 2009:32).
Nationally the MDGs target has been met, the spread of HIV has been halted and has begun to be reversed.
For Malaria prevalence rate increased to
2, 203 per 100, 000 in 2002 form 2, 024 and 1, 859 per 100, 000 in 2000 and 2001. It fell to 1,727 in 2003 and
further to 1,157 in 2004, representing a 42.8 per cent decline from the 2000 figure (Ibid).
Also, the MDGs helped in the eradication of polio, though it has not been completely successful due to fetish beliefs about vaccines.
The seventh goal “To ensure environmental sustainability”
Nigeria’s natural resources, some of its most valuable national assets, are still seriously threatened. For example,
between 2000 and 2010 the area of forest shrank by a third, from 14.4 per cent to 9.9 per cent of the land area
(UNDP Progress Report 2013). Similarly, access to safe water and sanitation is a serious challenge for Nigeria.
Little progress was made up to 2005 but improvements since then have brought the proportion of the population
accessing safe water to 58.9 per cent and the proportion accessing improved sanitation to 51.6 per cent.
The eight goal “To develop a global partnership for development”
Debt-relief gains have helped immensely in Nigeria’s modest progress towards achieving the MDGs. The
government has used debt relief to adopt many promising interventions and initiatives, such as the OPEN-
Monitoring and Evaluation Framework (OPEN-M&E), the Midwives Service Scheme and the Federal Teachers
Scheme. The government has also used debt relief for social safety net policy initiatives, such as Conditional
Cash Transfers (CCTs), the Micro-Credit Scheme, and the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency
of Nigeria (SMEDAN) Vocational Training Scheme. Other initiatives are the MDGs Costing and Needs
Assessment, Universal Basic Education Counterpart Fund Scheme, HIV&AIDS (distribution of antiretroviral
drugs), the Community Health Insurance Scheme, the Rollback Malaria Partnership with the Global Fund
(providing insecticide-treated mosquito nets to every Nigerian family) and the development of a National Gender
Data Bank.
2 Good governance is good for all nations but Nigeria and many developing countries seem to be far behind in their quest for good governance. Discuss!
There are many reasons for which good governance has not been achieved in Nigeria, some of these reasons are listed below.
Criminalization in politics: so many crimes are performed by people in politics and yet politicians go unpunished, this character is doesn’t reflect good governance.
Corruption: This is a major obstacle in improving quality of governance because it does not allow the right thing to be done.
Gender inequality: A government cannot be tagged good if some fellows, some individuals are being discharged against, a good government should ensure equal welfare for all its citizens
Growing incidence of violence: Peace is an indicator of good governance, violence creates discord and insecurity, there are not signs of good governance.
Marginalization of socially and economically backward people: Backward people are always marginalized, left behind in areas pertaining education health and so many others
Delay in justice: thus is another reason developing countries have not been able to achieve good governance, justice is not given on timely basis as it should.

Name: Obodoagu Somtochukwu Lilian
Reg no: 2018/242452
Department: Economics
Course: Eco 362
Assignment
1. The MDGs have eight goals, which they achieved to some extent
Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.
FAO focuses on poverty and hunger reduction through: improving agricultural productivity and incomes and promoting better nutritional practices at all levels and programmes that enhance direct and immediate access to food by the neediest.
FAO helps developing countries to improve agriculture, forestry and fisheries practices, to sustainably manage their forest, fisheries and natural resources and ensure good nutrition for all. FAO promotes greater investment in agriculture and rural development and has assisted governments to establish National Programmes for Food Security aimed at smallholder farmers.
In emergency response and rehabilitation efforts, FAO’s expertise in farming, livestock, fisheries and forestry is crucial. FAO works quickly to restore agricultural production, strengthen the survival strategies of those affected, and enable people to reduce their dependence on food aid.
FAO also plays a crucial role in prevention, preparedness and early warning
Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education.
Yes they achieved it by building primary school, giving free education, Scholarship and creating awareness for the need to go to school, FAO is the UN lead agency for Education for Rural People (ERP), a network of about 412 partners including governments, civil society and the private sector. ERP fosters rural peoples’ capacity to be food secure and to manage natural resources in a sustainable way through increased access to quality education and skills training for all rural children, youth and adults.FAO also provides technical assistance to member countries for implementing school gardens and school-feeding programmes, which can encourage school attendance and bring direct nutritional benefits to children
Goal 3: To promote gender equality and empower women.
FAO promotes the equal participation of rural women in decision making processes, economic opportunities, and access to and control of resources and assets.
FAO develops tools, guidelines and training programmes for the production and analysis of sex-disaggregated data to enable targeted interventions in support of the vital roles that rural men and women play in ensuring food security.
FAO also builds technical capacity among member countries to analyse rural gender issues and address them in policy and programme development; works to strengthen their agricultural and livelihoods skills of rural women and men; assists member countries to advance rural women’s equal participation in decision-making at all levels; supports the formulation of gender-sensitive national and regional agricultural policies; links rural women and men through information and communication networks; and develops and shares good practices that contribute to the economic and social empowerment of rural women.
Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
In this regard, FAO programmes, in combination with efforts by the Renewed Efforts against Child Hunger and Undernutrition (REACH) and WHO, WFP, and UNICEF have helped communities and households secure access to nutritionally adequate diets to minimise child undernutrition. Efforts include the provision of training materials,community-centred initiatives, training programmes for local and national staff, nutrition education programmes, and promotion of forums on community nutrition and household food security.
Improving complementary feeding for babies, or giving foods in addition to breast milk, has led to significant reduction in the child mortality caused by undernutrition.
Goal 5: To improve maternal health.
Improving maternal health is critical to saving the lives of hundreds of thousands of women who die due to complication from pregnancy and childbirth each year. Over 90 percent of these deaths could be prevented if women in developing regions had access to sufficient diets, basic literacy and health services, and safe water and sanitation facilities during pregnancy and childbirth.A 12 percent increase in the number of births assisted by skilled health personnel globally in 2014 compared to 1990 – 59 percent to 71 percent.
An increase in the proportion of pregnant women receiving four or more antenatal visits in North Africa from 50 percent in 1990 to 89 percent in 2014.
Increase in contraceptive prevalence among women 15 – 49 years old – whether married or in some other union – from 55 to 64 percent between 1990 and 2015.
Goal 6: Control Hiv/Aids, malaria and other diseases.
FAO promotes awareness among key actors in the food and agriculture sector on the impacts of HIV on food security and agriculture, while advocating for multisectoral responses to the epidemic.
FAO’s programmes to enhance the access of people with HIV/AIDs to adequate and nutritious diets include home and community gardening projects, nutrition education and communication, and local training. Field projects use a mix of interventions including food provisions, labour- and time-saving technologies and microfinance to help support food production and diversification; and technical assistance to household gardening projects in HIV/AIDS affected communities.
FAO also supports projects that encourage more HIV/AIDS orphans and other vulnerable children to attend school, The FAO Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Disease (ECTAD) addresses livestock epidemics with major economic, social and public health impacts.
Goal 7: Ensure Environment Sustainability.
FAO supports sustainable natural resource management including agricultural water use efficiency; land and soil productivity; sustainable forest management, aquaculture and inland fisheries; integrated crop and livestock systems; pesticide management and watershed management.
FAO also supports the major UN Environmental Conventions notably Biological Diversity, Desertification and Climate Change. FAO’s agriculture, natural resources, forestry, fisheries, social and economic and technical programmes devote considerable portions of their resources and effort to meet the MDG7 and related targets.
Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development
FAO, working with its Members States and the World Trade Organization (WTO), is an active partner in efforts to create an open, fair and rules-based multilateral trading system, in particular through its support for food, agricultural trade and overall trade policies conducive to food security.
FAO provides advice and technical assistance for governments, institutions and rural communities to strengthen capacities in agricultural information management and the use of modern information and communication technologies (ICT). This is underpinned by capacity building through the Information Management Resource Kit (IMARK), the Agricultural Information Management Standards (AIMS) community, and follow up activities of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)
2.Good governance is good for all nations but Nigeria and many developing countries seem to be far behind in their quest for good governance. Discuss!
Good governance is all about transparency and accountability in allocating authoritative resources. And as such internalizing the culture of good governance is the recipe for quality leadership aim at building-nation in every levels of government in the country. When good governance is be entrenched, the recurrent pathological problems of corruption, primordial sentiment, patron-client politics, the unholy marriage of Nigeria and ethno-religious loyalty that many scholars and analyst have identified as the challenges of nation-building in the country would be resolved. For the reason that the principles of transparence and accountability are all about using instrumentalities of government to formulate policies and programmes that would be people-oriented. For the way forward, Nigerians are what they are today only because their leaders are not what they should be. It is therefore, obvious that positive leadership represents Nigeria’s oasis of hope for greatness in a desert of mediocrities, purposeless, corrupt and visionless men and women masquerading as leaders at all levels of governance in the country. Given this reality, this recommends that the various underlying causes of leadership failure in Nigeria, which have remained obstacles to the country’s quest for true good governance; and nation-building.
The failure of successive regimes to internalize the culture of good governance has thus, been left in a poor state of nation-building characterized by endemic corruption at all levels of government and society; excruciating pains of poverty and hopelessness; insecurity of lives and property; high rate of unemployment and youth restiveness; kidnapping and armed robbery; religious extremism; infrastructural deficits; inflation and among others. Despite the growing of these ills those in positions of authority have remained indifferent to the plight of the Nigerian mass instead, they are obsessed with siphoning the fortunes of the country. The desired path to nation-building of the country is still a mirage in spite of the abundance of human and material resources, which should have ordinarily translated into a buoyant life for the citizenry. The greatest threat to nation-building in Nigeria has thus been poor leadership, which is an indication of bad governance.

NAME: OGBONNAYA GERALDINE UGOCHI
DEPARTMENT: ECONOMICS
REGISTRATION NUMBER: 2018/241833
LEVEL: 300L
COURSE TITLE: DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS II
COURSE CODE: ECO 362

QUESTION 1
The United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are 8 goals that UN Member States have agreed to try to achieve by the year 2015.
The United Nations Millennium Declaration, signed in September 2000, commits world leaders to combat poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation, and discrimination against women. The MDGs are derived from this Declaration. Each MDG has targets set for 2015 and indicators to monitor progress from 1990 levels. Several of these relate directly to health.
While some countries have made impressive gains in achieving health-related targets, others are falling behind. Often the countries making the least progress are those affected by high levels of HIV/AIDS, economic hardship or conflict.

Millennium Development Goal 1: eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Target 1.C. Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger
Undernutrition which includes fetal growth restriction, stunting, wasting and deficiencies of vitamin A and zinc, along with suboptimal breastfeeding; is the underlying cause of death in an estimated 45% of all deaths among children under 5 years of age. The proportion of underweight children in developing countries has declined from 28% to 17% between 1990 and 2013. This rate of progress is close to the rate required to meet the MDG target, however improvements have been unevenly distributed between and within different regions.

Millennium Development Goal 4: reduce child mortality
Target 4.A. Reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate
Globally, significant progress has been made in reducing mortality in children under 5 years of age. In 2013, 6.3 million children under 5 died, compared with 12.7 million in 1990. Between 1990 and 2013, under-5 mortality declined by 49%, from an estimated rate of 90 deaths per 1000 live births to 46. The global rate of decline has also accelerated in recent years – from 1.2% per annum during 1990–1995 to 4.0% during 2005–2013. Despite this improvement, the world is unlikely to achieve the MDG target of a two-thirds reduction in 1990 mortality levels by the year 2015.
More countries are now achieving high levels of immunization coverage; in 2013, 66% of Member States reached at least 90% coverage. In 2013, global measles immunization coverage was 84% among children aged 12–23 months. During 2000–2013, estimated measles deaths decreased by 74% from 481 000 to 124 000.

Millennium Development Goal 5: improve maternal health
Target 5.A. Reduce by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio
Target 5.B. Achieve, by 2015, universal access to reproductive health
Despite a significant reduction in the number of maternal deaths – from an estimated 523 000 in 1990 to 289 000 in 2013 – the rate of decline is less than half of what is needed to achieve the MDG target of a three quarters reduction in the mortality ratio between 1990 and 2015.
To reduce the number of maternal deaths, women need access to good-quality reproductive health care and effective interventions. In 2012, 64% of women aged 15–49 years who were married or in a consensual union were using some form of contraception, while 12% wanted to stop or postpone childbearing but were not using contraception.
The proportion of women receiving antenatal care at least once during pregnancy was about 83% for the period 2007–2014, but for the recommended minimum of 4 or more visits the corresponding figure drops to around 64%.
The proportion of births attended by skilled personnel – crucial for reducing perinatal, neonatal and maternal deaths – is above 90% in 3 of the 6 WHO regions. However, increased coverage is needed in certain regions, such as the WHO African Region where the figure was still only 51%.

Millennium Development Goal 6: combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
Target 6A. Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS
Target 6B. Achieve, by 2010, universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for all those who need it.
In 2013 an estimated 2.1 million people were newly infected with HIV – down from 3.4 million in 2001. By the end of 2013 about 12.9 million people were receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) globally. Of these, 11.7 million lived in low- and middle-income countries, representing 36% of the estimated 32.6 million people living with HIV in these countries. Should current trends continue the target of placing 15 million people on ART by 2015 will be exceeded.
The decrease in the number of those newly infected along with the increased availability of ART have contributed to a major decline in HIV mortality levels – from 2.4 million people in 2005 to an estimated 1.5 million in 2013. As fewer people die from AIDS-related causes the number of people living with HIV is likely to continue to grow.

Target 6C. Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases
MALARIA
About half the world’s population is at risk of malaria, and an estimated 198 million cases in 2013 led to approximately 584 000 deaths – most of these in children under the age of 5 living in Africa. During the period 2000–2013, malaria incidence and mortality rates of population at risk have both fallen globally, 30% and 47% respectively. The coverage of interventions such as the distribution of insecticide-treated nets and indoor residual spraying has greatly increased, and will need to be sustained in order to prevent the resurgence of disease and deaths caused by malaria. Globally, the MDG target of halting by 2015 and beginning to reverse the incidence of malaria has already been met.
TUBERCULOSIS
The annual global number of new cases of tuberculosis has been slowly falling for a decade thus achieving MDG target 6.C to reverse the spread of the disease by 2015. In 2013, there were an estimated 9 million new cases and 1.5 million deaths (including 360 000 deaths among HIV-positive people). Globally, treatment success rates have been sustained at high levels since 2007, at or above the target of 85%. However, multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), which emerged primarily as a result of inadequate treatment, continues to pose problems.

Millennium Development Goal 7: ensure environmental sustainability
Target 7C: By 2015, halve the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation
The world has now met the MDG target relating to access to safe drinking-water. In 2012, 90%of the population used an improved source of drinking-water compared with 76% in 1990. Progress has however been uneven across different regions, between urban and rural areas, and between rich and poor.
With regard to basic sanitation, current rates of progress are too slow for the MDG target to be met globally. In 2012, 2.5 billion people did not have access to improved sanitation facilities, with 1 billion these people still practicing open defecation. The number of people living in urban areas without access to improved sanitation is increasing because of rapid growth in the size of urban populations.

Millennium Development Goal 8: develop a global partnership for development
Target 8E. In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable essential medicines in developing countries
Many people continue to face a scarcity of medicines in the public sector, forcing them to the private sector where prices can be substantially higher. Surveys undertaken from 2007-2013 show the average availability of selected generic medicines in 21 low- and middle-income countries was only 55% in the public sector.
Even the lowest-priced generics can put common treatments beyond the reach of low-income households in developing countries. The greatest price is paid by patients suffering chronic diseases. Effective treatments for the majority of the global chronic disease burden exist, yet universal access remains out-of-reach.

QUESTION 2
In contemporary Nigeria, a discourse on good governance is convivial, given her current economic, political, and social dimensions especially with regard to issues of state and governance. Development scholars have pointed out that good governance is a prerequisite for successful development which every country crave for. However, the meaning of the concept has been changing overtime. This is why a discourse on “Good Governance” has to be in cognizance of the paradigm shift in good governance discourse.
Nigeria has been in the news for developmental crisis since independence, but currently being referred to as the poverty capital of the world is unimaginable given her rich endowment in both human and material resources. Aside huge youth population, the country has nothing less than 43 natural minerals. Despite these resources, hunger, poverty, inequity, unemployment has continued to fester around her despite the promises of good governance from every political party and politician we have seen. At a time when some people are complaining of hardship in the country as a result of bad governance, others are seen celebrating the government. This confusing state calls for clarification of what good governance is to the world in general and what is means to us as a people. To do that, we made use of already-made information available on the internet, in journal articles, magazines, newspapers and the news and with the content analysis approach, we expect to find out why what the world call good governance differs from what we (Nigerians) regard as good governance.
An understanding of the concept ‘Governance’ will be of great assistance to the understanding of good governance concept. In both political and academic discourse the concept ‘governance’ has been used to refer to the task of running a government, or any other appropriate entity.
GOVERNANCE is a process whereby elements in society wield power, authority and influence and enact policies and decisions concerning public life and social upliftment. For a governance to be considered as good, it must possess the following eight(8) characteristics;
a) Rule of law
b) Transparency
c) Consensus Oriented
d) Effectiveness and efficiency
e) Accountability
f) Responsiveness
g) Participation
h) Equity and inclusiveness
The importance of good governance comes from its relationship with the development of a country and the reduction of poverty, in particular. Setting an agenda for reaching good governance is of huge interest but also a complex task, hence while governments believe they apply the elements/principles of good governance in their decision-making, cultural differences do cause conflict especially in a heterogeneous society like Nigeria with diverse religion, language, culture, history and belief systems (Grindle, 2004).
However heterogeneous, the Nigerian society has the need to secure sustainable development and the welfare of the people cannot be compromised. Hence people of different tribes, languages, colour, history and customs have need for those things that make live worth living provided for them by the government whom they entered into contract with. This is done through governance, which the UNDP defines as the exercise of economic, political and administrative authority to manage a country’s affairs at all levels, comprising the mechanisms, processes and institutions through which citizens and groups articulate their interests, exercise their legal rights, meet their obligations and mediate their differences. By implication governance is administered at three levels: Economic governance which includes decision-making processes that affect a country’s economic activities and its relationships with other economies, with major implications for equity, poverty and quality of life; Political governance which is the process of decision-making to formulate policy; and administrative governance which is the system of policy implementation (Waziri, 2009).

Name: Ugwuoke cornelius chinemeogo
Reg: 2018/241852
Economics major

Question 1.
Yes, I believe some of the MDG goals have been achieved, some analysis and research have been carried out to know if actually this goals have been achieved, and this point has been discussed below.
The MDGs helped to lift more than one billion people out of extreme poverty, to make inroads against hunger, to enable more girls to attend school than ever before and to protect our planet,” the UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon recently explained.
But he didn’t finish there. “Yet for all the remarkable gains, I am keenly aware that inequalities persist and that progress has been uneven.”
It’s true remarkable progress has been accomplished. Yet, around 1.5 billion people in conflict affected countries and on the extreme margins of society were unreached by the goals and unable to benefit from the tide that lifted their neighbours.
So which goals were met and which fell short? Below, we’ll broadly examine what has been achieved for the main targets within the eight goals using information from The Millennium Development Goals Report 2015.
MDG 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger
The target of reducing extreme poverty rates – people living on just $1.25 a day – by half was met five years ahead of the 2015 deadline. Globally the number of people living in extreme poverty has fallen from 1.9 billion in 1990 to 836 million in 2015.
However, target of halving the proportion of people suffering from hunger has narrowly been missed. The proportion of undernourished people in the developing regions has fallen from 23.3 per cent in 1990 to 12.9 per cent in 2014.
MDG 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education
Primary school enrolment figures have shown an impressive rise, but the goal of achieving universal primary education has just been missed. The primary school enrolment rate in developing regions reached 91 per cent this year, up from 83 per cent in 2000.
MDG 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women
About two two-thirds of developing countries achieved gender parity in primary education. Progress has been particularly strong in Southern Asia. Only 74 girls were enrolled in primary school for every 100 boys in 1990. Today, 103 girls are enrolled for every 100 boys.
MDG 4: Reduce Child Mortality
The global under-five mortality rate has declined by more than half since 1990 – dropping from 90 to 43 deaths per 1,000 live births. This falls short of the targeted drop of two-thirds.
In practical terms this means 16,000 children under-five continue to die every day from preventable causes. A terrible reality made worse by the fact we know what each one of these major killers are, and what can be done to thwart them.
MDG 5: Improve Maternal Health
Since 1990, the maternal mortality ratio has been cut nearly in half. This is an impressive result, but as well with goal 4 it falls short of the two-thirds reduction that was aimed for. There were an estimated 289,000 maternal deaths in 2013.
MDG 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases
The results with MDG 5 are mixed. The target of halting and beginning to reverse the spread of HIV/Aids has not been met – although the number of new HIV infections fell by 40% between 2000 and 2013.
According to the UN, over 6.2 million malaria deaths have been averted between 2000 and 2015, primarily of children under five years of age in sub-Saharan Africa. The global malaria incidence rate has fallen by an estimated 37 per cent and the mortality rate by 58 per cent
MDG 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainably
Between 1990 and 2015, 2.6 billion people gained access to improved drinking water, meaning the target of halving the proportion of people without access to safe water was achieved. Worldwide, 2.1 billion people have gained access to improved sanitation.
MDG 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development
Official development assistance from wealthy countries to developing countries increased by 66 per cent in real terms between 2000 and 2014, reaching $135.2 billion.

QUESTION 2.
Good governance is good for all nations but Nigeria and many developing nations seem to be far behind in their quest for good governance, and some of these reasons have been mentioned below;
1. Absence of Accountability: The relationship between the government and the people governed rests on accountability on the part of those who were elected by the people to serve the nation in any capacity. When the leaders no longer care about the opinions of the people in respect of decision making, there is a breakdown of that cordial relationship and this can be seen in Nigeria and other developing countries.
2. Corruption: This has undoubtedly been the biggest problem facing African countries. But how can one describe corruption? There are many variations of corruption. As far as governance is concerned, corruption is when a leader uses his position to place himself and chosen individuals at a higher advantage than others without merit. It is when a political head misuses his office to ascribe benefits to himself. When there is corruption in a system no matter how insignificant, it will gradually destroy the integrity of the government. Corruption is easily noticed when law enforcement agencies are paid off by a person just to avoid prosecution. Also when a sitting judge with evident facts to sanction a government official, takes the opposite side of Justice.
Corruption is seen when a government leader illicitly flows government revenue into a private account. These are just few examples of what corruption entails. It is rather surprising that developing countries which are more in number in the African continent are filled with corrupt leaders. Thus, there is no proper governance where the government is corrupt with lust for power, wealth or fame.
3. Disregard of the Rule of Law: On the 6th of December 2019, a prominent Nigerian journalist and activist, Omoyele Sowore was arrested during his trial before a court of law by some security operatives who were identified as DSS.
This is an instance of the degrading system of democracy and another layer of bad governance. It will be marked in history as the day that the regard for the rule of law, human rights, the Constitution and the Judiciary were threatened by the same people who were to uphold and defend them.
4. Marginalization: So much has been discussed about discrimination in respect of persons and it is imperative to mention that discrimination can be on a large scale. When a group of persons within a country are segregated in certain privileges that other groups have, the end result will be an ineffective government.
It may be marginalisation of a tier, arm or institution of government or any people with ethnic or religious ties. By this, the government will not be able to act transparently and indiscriminately which will result to poor and unfair management of the resources leading to brutal rebuttals from the group concerned.