Jonathan gives May 2015 deadline on MDGs

Abuja—President Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday, directed the office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Millennium Development Goals, MDGs, to work with the governors of the 36 states of the federation towards ensuring that they meet targets before May 2015. Goodluck-Jonathan-new Senior Special Assistant to the President on MDGs, Dr. Precious Gbenol, who disclosed this after a presentation to the President on assessment and monitoring of the MDGs, said to meet the presidential directive, a meeting had been scheduled with the governors to work out modalities for achieving the target. Gbenol said the president directed that “we need to disaggregate data more, work closely with the state governors on various issues like education, where the number of out-of-school children is higher, on where HIV prevalence may still be high, and where the poverty indices are still high. “He is initiating another meeting wherein we will be sitting with governors over the various indices and targets to ensure that, holistically, between now and May 29, 2015.” The presidential aide said she made a presentation before the president which highlighted the level of commitment and what Nigeria had achieved so far with the MDGs.

She said: “In the presentation, the country has been able to achieve MDGs goals one. We have been able to reduce the number of people that suffer from extreme hunger by half. “On gender equality in schools, we have also been able to achieve goals three. We have also been able to achieve goals six, which is the HIV prevalence of the country. “It has been halted, reversed and is on the downward slide. Currently, the national prevalence of HIV for the country is 3.4. It rose to 5.8 and then came down to 4.8, 4.4, 4.1 and the current national prevalence of HIV for the country is 3.4. “We were able to tell the President that the country is working very hard on achieving goals five, which is reducing maternal mortality. Between now and 2015, that goal, I am very positive, will be achieved.” Partnership with NASS She said the MDG was collaborating with the legislative arm of government to ensure that their senatorial districts and constituencies benefit from MDG projects. Gbenol said: “The various amount spent in the various constituencies around the country in 2013 are what we want to do in 2014, going forward. Our areas of intervention is to look at the MDGs that are still lagging behind, like the under-five mortality rate. We need to crash it further. “We are also looking at reaching out to certain geopolitical regions of the country, where the attendance in schools is affected. We are working out with the state governors in increasing the Federal Government’s investment, even in those states. “At the meeting, the various ministers also mentioned what they are doing to achieve the MDGs. Everybo-dy, even our international development partners, were part of the meeting.”