Essay: Nigeria

COUNTRY PROFILE

Nigeria is located in the south east of West Africa, sharing borders with Benin, Cameroon, Chad and Niger. Nigeria is 923,768sq km which is four times the size of Britain (nationsonline.org 2018). The country has a population of 192million people, it is the seventh largest country in terms of population giving it the name ‘Giant of Africa’. It comprises 36 states with its federal capital called Abuja. Nigeria has four major languages which are English, Yoruba, Ibo and Hausa with English as the official language but has about 250 ethno-linguistic groups. The common religions are Christianity and Islam (Gbeneol, 2018).
Political Characteristics
As a Federal Republic, Nigeria practices the presidential system with a Chief of State, Head of Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. ‘With a strict focus on separation of powers of three branches namely, the executive, legislative and judicial’ (nationsonline.org 2018). Their legal system is made up of English law, Islamic Law in 12 northern states and the traditional law (nationsonline.org, 2018). The Sharia has been made as part of the main laws in 9 Muslim states. According to Merriam Webster the Sharia is an Islamic law based on the Koran (nationsonline.org, 2018).

Cultural Characteristics

There are three main ethnic groups in Nigeria namely Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa/Fulani. To start with, the Hausa has some of the most beautiful architecture of the medieval age. Many of their early mosques and palaces are made of unique engravings. To add to this music and art are very important in their lives, at a very young age, they start participating in dances which are held at social gatherings. The Igbo culture is divided into many groups, because of their dialects and boundaries in eastern states in particular and a good sample of this is their traditional way of welcoming visitors, which is usually offering kola to guests, even before they made their mission known (Guide to Nigeria tourism, local culture & investments, 2018). Lastly is the Yoruba Culture also has it unique way of living which is their way of adjusting. They seem to easily adjust to form large cities instead of small village groups. Another striking characteristic of the Yoruba is that their ancient practice of the Aborisha Spiritual Religion is forms an integral part of all people with Africa descent who make a claim to the Yoruba tradition.
Socio-Economic Characteristics
Nigeria’s economic growth is being fueled by its agriculture and telecommunications mainly. Since 2015 government spending has increased to 11% of the total output. Unemployment stands at 23.90% as of 2011, whereas inflation as calculated by the consumer price index is 15.7%(Gbeneol, 2018). Nigeria is richly endowed with diverse natural resources including vast areas of arable land and large deposits of crude oil, natural gas, coal, tin, columbite, iron ore, limestone, lead and zinc. Moreover, agriculture contributes 40% of their GDP and more than 60% of the employment whereas crude oil and natural gas contributes to 13.80% of their GDP (Gbeneol, 2018).

APPRAISAL OF COUNTRY’S LEADERSHIP TYPES

There are a myriad of critical challenges Nigeria faces with regards to leadership issues. Some issues they face are corruption, crime and terrorism (specifically Boko Haram’s insurgency) and unemployment among others (“Challenges in Nigeria and Solutions on How to Resolve Them”, 2018). The most pressing is corruption, which is a canker at the heart of most operations in Africa. It is a generational root problem that plagues Africa, and is one of many other problems in Nigeria. Nigeria’s government is run as a federal presidential republic (the alignment of several other states and nations unbounded by former colonial boundaries).

Election-rigging is a common occurrence in Nigeria and Nigerians are tired of casting their votes on election-day only to feel cheated. During elections, Nigerian and international watchdog groups tell stories of thugs hired by candidates to hijack the ballot boxes and intimidate voters (“Challenges in Nigeria and Solutions on How to Resolve Them”, 2018). Nigeria claims to be a democratically run country, however, many believe otherwise because it barely resembles the leadership style a democracy is meant to adopt. According to Aigbe this system is a ‘crazy demonstration’, wherein it survives more on propaganda (Aigbe, 2012). Although democracy has its benefits, it lacks the ability to properly recognize or encourage other local states’ voices in matters regarding the country because the central leadership holds the most power and it greatly affects the country’s efficiency and productivity.
President Muhammadu Buhari has drawn plans to undergo inclusive and pragmatic resolutions to tackle the SDGs. They have developed programs in collaboration with the UN Country System in Nigeria and other organizations stemming from end point reports from their work on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The team assembled is also trying its best to implement sensitization as well. However, goal 17 (Partnership for the Goals) proves to be quite tough to handle as it does not seem as mainstream and might be a far cry from the expected outcome of the original MDGs. Thus, President Buhari’s team is working on partnerships at the national and local level to foster productivity.

THE EXTENT TO WHICH NIGERIA IS ACHIEVING THE GOOD SOCIETY COORDINATES: EQUALITY, EFFICIENCY, LIBERTY, AND COMMUNITY.

Equality: In Nigeria, the Sustainable Development Goals is empowering all women and promoting gender equality as well. They are trying to end all types of discrimination amongst women and girls. They believe that it is a basic right for girls and women to be treated the same way as men. Equality is the basis of treating everyone the same and not infringing on the rights of any individual. According to Okorie Martha, women in Nigeria are also discriminated on when it comes to politics and governance in Nigeria. She gives a scenario where there was an election held in Nigeria in Anambra State and was fully represented by a woman. He continues to say that, the women or females in that community were roughly more than 326 but not even a single vote from all the women and all the men in that community and that showed discrimination in that state. She also states that in Nigeria inequality in politics and governance are not only supported by men against women but also women against women and the Sustainable Development Goals in Nigeria are trying to fight against this type of inequality. (Okere, 2017)

Community: According to Muhammad Bello Shitu, who is a professor of the community development and innovation Diffusion and global vice president of the UK-based International Association for Community development(IACD), community action has the prospective to help Nigeria to achieve its Sustainable Development Goals. While Shitu was speaking at the conference of the School for Rural Technology and Entrepreneurship Development(SORTED), at the Kano polytechnic, with the theme of ‘Reflections on the community Integration and the Attainment of Sustainable Development Goals in Nigeria,’ he made a declaration that Nigeria must discover the potentials that are offered by the community development values in order to make the 2030 goals more attainable. He says that the Community Development(CD), is what supports the SDG’s and also reinforces them in order to meet its target. Therefore, the Community Development must be implemented by the government agencies to achieve a success in the implementation of the SDG’s. He also continues to say that to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, in Nigeria, Nigerians must think global but act local in its doings. In attaining the Goals, the CD is very important and we must be able to implement it well. (Usman, 2017)

Liberty in Nigeria

Liberty: Nigeria firstly is a democratic state, and as such has a main goal of ensuring the well-being of its citizens, through the protection of their rights and freedom. Nigeria being a democratic nation, it ensures the right to liberty in articles 6, 8,10,14 ,16 and 37 of their constitution. In these articles the constitution ensures the personal liberty of citizens and talks about the extent to which the personal liberty of an individual can be deprived in cases of imprisonment.
In an article written by Yinka Olomojobi, it stated that, the Executive arm of government most at times permits detention with trial, which is against the stated laws of the land. Furthermore, there is a lack of will by the judiciary to eliminate the vast amount of cases where the individual is detained without recourse to the time he/she should have served if convicted for the crime in question. (Olomojobi, n.d)
In an article written by Yomi Kareem, a surveyed conducted between 2005-2011, showed that 72.5% of Nigeria inmates were serving time will awaiting trial and without being sentenced. In article published by the human rights watch, HRW, it reported the corrupt and unlawful practices of the Nigerian police which infringe on the liberty of citizens. Some unlawful acts included, abuse and detention of motorist after confrontation of police over the issue of bribery. All these acts show a failure in the Executive arm of Nigeria’s government in achieving true liberty. Though Nigeria has a low incarceration rate of less than 1% of its total population, liberty is questionable in the country.

Efficiency in Nigeria
Efficiency: Nigeria is country that implements capitalist concepts as well as socialist concept to form a mixed market economy. Nigeria practices a free market with state interventions. In an article published by the international journal of business market, the economy of Nigeria was analysed from 1961-2004, and conclusions were made that Nigeria’s despite having the potential inducing growth, there has been more meaningful contribution made to the Nigeria economy. Nigeria after gaining its independence in the 1960’s, has witnessed various change in strategy in eradicating of poverty in the country. Nigeria has however maintained the same mixed economy (system of governance). Nigeria has experienced recessions, the most current one in 2016, however notable growth was made in 2017. The annual growth rate of its GDP changed from -2.5%( 2016) to 0.8(2017), Nigeria’s economy has its mainstay on oil production and with the increase in oil prices it has made economic growth. The economy of Nigeria as at 1961 was 0.2 and 1.92 in 2018 per the Nigeria data portal, based on this it can be concluded that Nigeria’s economy has been efficient though it has experienced extreme economic growth fluctuations in between the years.

JOURNEY TOWARD ACHIEVING THE SDGs
Nigeria’s leadership in the past years have devised different approaches to advance economic growth since the Ibrahim Babangida era. The government try to do this by drawing up frameworks within which the countries can work such as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and currently the Sustainable Development Goals (Fawenhimi, 2015).
In the quest for Nigeria to achieve the SDGs by 2030, the President has appointed a Senior Special Assistant to the President (SSAP) on SDGs whose office is responsible for ensuring horizontal and vertical coherence between development policies, plans and strategies (‘Nigeria.:. Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform,’ 2015). As a way of connecting their resources and ideas as well as involving other stakeholders, a Private Sector Advisory Group and a Donors’ Forum on the SDGs was inaugurated. While some stakeholders are working towards SDGs targets like inclusive education, others are addressing extreme poverty and other social challenges. ”Since the inception of the SDGs, Nigeria’s main agenda resonates with the goal to alleviate poverty in the country and they are pushing for this mainly through providing enough resources to enrich their human capital (Jadesimi, 2015). The Nigerian government, has also made this possible through job creation since it is the best possible way to make use of acquired knowledge through human capital to drive economic development. Moreover, in their mission of targeting the poor and vulnerable people, they established a “National Social Register” for these households and gave them a monthly conditional cash transfer of five thousand naira (N5,000) as part of a national social safety net programme.
We can conclude that for Nigeria to achieve the SDGs by 2030, they must prove that the goals are feasible enough to accomplish and this can be done by creating awareness and integrating programs into government plans and policies.

GOAL 3: GOOD HEALTH AND GOOD BEING
Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all age:
Since the creation of the Millennium Development Goals there have been historic achievements in reducing child mortality, improving maternal health and fighting HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases. Since 1990, there has been an over 50 percent decline in preventable child deaths globally. Maternal mortality also fell by 45 percent worldwide. HIV/AIDS infections fell by 30 percent between 2000 and 2013, and over 6.2 million lives were saved from Malaria. Despite this incredible progress, more than 6 million children still die before their fifth birthday every year. 16,000 children die each day from preventable diseases such as measles and tuberculosis. Every day hundreds of women die during pregnancy or from child-birth related complications, and, in developing regions, only 56% of births in rural areas are attended by skilled professionals. (‘Goal 3,’ 2015)
Ensuring healthy lives and promoting the well-being of all is essential to sustainable development. Significant strides have been made in increasing life expectancy and reducing some of the common killers associated with child and maternal mortality. Major progress has been made on increasing access to clean water and sanitation, reducing malaria, tuberculosis, polio and the spread of HIV/AIDS. Deaths can be avoided through prevention and treatment, education, immunization campaigns, and sexual and reproductive healthcare. The aim is to achieve universal health coverage, and provide access to safe and affordable medicines and vaccines for all. However, many more efforts are needed to fully eradicate a wide range of diseases and address many different persistent and emerging health issues. (‘Goal 3,’ 2014)

GOAL 4: QUALITY EDUCATION
Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all:
Since 2000, there has been enormous progress in achieving the target of universal primary education. The total enrolment rate in developing regions reached 91 percent in 2015, and the worldwide number of children out of school has dropped by almost half. There has also been a dramatic increase in literacy rates, and many more girls are in school than ever before. These are all remarkable successes. This progress has also faced tough challenges in developing regions due to high levels of poverty, armed conflicts and other emergencies. Children from the poorest households are four times more likely to be out of school than those of the richest households. Disparities between rural and urban areas also remain high. (‘Goal 4,’ 2015)
Achieving inclusive and quality education for all reaffirms the belief that education is one of the most powerful and proven vehicles for sustainable development. This goal ensures that all girls and boys complete free primary and secondary schooling by 2030. It also aims to provide equal access to affordable vocational training, and to eliminate gender and wealth disparities with the aim of achieving universal access to a quality higher education. Obtaining a quality education is the foundation to improving people’s lives and sustainable development. Major progress has been made towards increasing access to education at all levels and increasing enrolment rates in schools particularly for women and girls. Basic literacy skills have improved tremendously, yet bolder efforts are needed to make even greater strides for achieving universal education goals. Therefore, achieving equality in primary education between girls and boys will help to attain the target set at all levels of education. (‘Goal 4,’ 2014)

GOAL 8: DECENT WORK & ECONOMIC GROWTH
SDG 8 aims at fostering sustained economic growth, higher levels of productivity and technological innovation, and overall aims to achieve full productive employment, and decent work for all women and men by 2030. According to Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), unemployment increased from 24.4 million persons (in quarter 1 of 2016) to 26.06 million persons, as at the end of 2016(“Nigeria.:. Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform”, 2018). Considering the facts and figures above, it is quite evident that Nigeria also endures the global persistent problem of unemployment. Structural transformation in Africa’s economies remains the highest priority, and industrialization is the top strategy for achieving it in practice (Soremekun, 2018). With regards to the level of the country’s development with respect to the SDGs, the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on SDGs (OSSAP-SDGs) has liaised with the National Youth Service Corps to train graduating youths to become SDG champions in their communities, and areas of national service they have been deployed upon graduation (“Nigeria.:. Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform”, 2018). Looking forward, this is a great way of incorporating the youth into the sustainable plan. One major challenge to the attainment of the SDGs in many countries is the lack of awareness and inadequate sensitization of the public of the goals. In Nigeria, studies show that over 50% of the population is unaware of the SDGs (Admin, 2018). However, two years into the implementation of these goals, with the inclusion of the youth as a start, there is a bright future for the achievement of this goal, which they seek to achieve by 2030.

GOAL 12: RESPONSIBLE CONSUMPTION & PRODUCTION
SDG 12 aims at achieving sustainable consumption that is integrated into national and sectorial plans and sustainable business practices (“Goal 12.:. Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform”, 2018). Considering Nigeria’s progress with this goal, a zero-waste resolution in 2018 will reduce environmental pollution, conserve energy, reduce substantially emission of greenhouse gases which contribute immensely to global climate change and its attendant threat, be of economic benefit in that cost will be saved, alienate the need to landfill waste and in no little way help sustain the environment for future generations. Significant strides have been made with regards to this goal, with the Nigerian government involving major groups in the decision-making process. Tying in other societal groups to help achieve this goal would make its attainment very essential. As a result, the government has strengthened mutually beneficial relationships with bilateral and multilateral environmental bodies, mounted very effective machinery to help enhance environmental awareness and created for a for building consensus and information exchange and ideas among all stakeholders, amongst many other objectives (“Agenda 21 – Nigeria”, 2018). Additionally, companies, especially large and transnational companies are encouraged to adopt sustainable practices and to integrate sustainability information into their reporting cycle (“Nigeria Data Portal”, 2018).

GOAL 2: ZERO HUNGER
Thirteen million people in Nigeria were suffering from hunger to uplift its agricultural potential, it decided to implement the 2nd goal of the Sustainable Development goals to eradicate hunger. They then also decided to launch a plan named the ‘Synthesis Report of the Nigeria zero Hunger Strategic Review’ to also help them to implement the goal. The former President Olusegun Obasanjo who is the chairman of the development of the Synthesis Report said the report will urge the government to undertake these policies that have been brought about over many years. The initiative had some people giving their support to make the implementation very successful. Mrs Ertharin Cousin, Executive Director of the World Food Programme funded the project and requested that the review be conducted again and applauded the African Development Bank(AfDB) for also providing majority of the funds which financed the review. Mr Stanlake Samkange commended Nigeria for coming up with this kind of plan, and he also stated that it was the first Report to be initiated in West Africa and would also help other countries to learn. The inauguration was going to be implemented in four states in the federation- Benue, Ebonyi, Ogun and Sokoto which begun in January this year. In January 2019, they also stated that eight more states will be added then 36 states plus Abuja will be included in January 2021. (‘Nigeria launches plan’, 2017)

GOAL 17: PARTNERSHIP FOR THE GOALS ”””””
Due to the implementation of a lot of goals that have been set by Nigeria, it decided to partner with the United Nations and its development programmes which the United Nations Development Programme has provided a lot of support to Nigeria in a lot of areas, including helping the country to produce its annual reports. It also implemented the millennium villages in Kaduna and Ondo States in collaboration with respective state governments and the local Governance Project in Ondo State and it aimed at demonstrating successful modes of development. It also helped facilitate a lot of multi sectoral response to the HIV epidemic which spread across Nigeria some time ago. THIs led to the reduction of the existence of the infection from 5.8% in 2001 to 4.4% in 2005. This has helped them to create a serene conducive environment for the citizens in the country. (‘Partners-Sustainable Development Goals’,2017)

GOAL 9: INDUSTRY, INNOVATION, AND INFRASTRUCTURE.
This goal is to build strong infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and to foster innovation. Investments and infrastructure talk about transport, irrigation, energy and information and communication technology are critical to achieving sustainable development and empowering communities in many Nigeria. It has long been recognized that growth in productivity and incomes, and improvements in health and education outcomes require investment in infrastructure. The sustainable industrial development is the primary source of the generation of income and allows for rapid and increases in living standards for all people and provides technological solutions to sound industrialisation. The progress in the use of technology is the foundation of efforts to achieve environmental objectives, such as an increase in resources and energy-efficiency. Without innovation and technology, industrialisation will not happen and without industrialisation, development will not happen. (‘Industry, Innovation, Infrastructure’, 2017)

Goal 5: GENDER EQUALITY
””” Nigeria has always been a country that has greatly been influenced by culture and these cultures have always played a role in which gender is viewed in the country. In Nigeria, men have always been more respected than their female counterparts. Men are put in positions of high power whilst their female counterparts are given less significant positions. Due to the SDG, measures have been put in place to help promote and achieve Gender Equality in Nigeria.
””” To begin with, a National Gender Policy has been put in place to empower women and get rid of some of the discriminatory practices that are biased against them. There is also current progress in the gender parity goal of Nigeria which is trying to establish equality in access to education for both males and females. Some groups have called for the use of Affirmative Action, which can ‘help provide institutional and legal framework for marginalized groups in society to have equal representation’ (The Sun News, 2018). There have also been calls for the use of a Quota system that could help reduce the gap between men and women in the positions of political power. There has also been the use of education in schools to help educate young people on the need to close the gap between men and women.

GOAL 10: REDUCED INEQUALITY
””” Worldwide, many countries face the problem of inequality and Nigeria is one of the typical cases. Past leaders have come into power and put in places polices that were a great detriment to the economy of Nigeria hence, the was a great increase in the gap in income between various groups of individuals in the country. Various monetary and fiscal policies were put in place to help grow the economy but in actual fact took away from the economy.
With the help of the SDG goals, Nigeria is currently trying to help reduce inequality and close the economic gap between various groups which could help alleviate poverty.
””” Currently, there is investment into human capital that could help create employment in the industrial sector which can help create more jobs which means that people start to make more money. Some organizations also try and provide the basic necessities of living to people in rural areas who cannot afford them. Specific groups have also been targeted with the country and are being worked by organizations in order to help try and raise the standard of living slowly and eventually spread out to surrounding areas.

The 2063 African Union Agenda has most African countries working progressively towards building Africa in the next half century and has been an integral part of the 2030 Agenda. These are all influenced by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and the Millennium Development Goals. Nigeria’s efforts past years to attain these goals have come to quite some amount of progress and can be analysed anyway. This is a quick outline of Nigeria’s achievement in goals 7 and 11 of the SDG’s.
GOAL 7: AFFORDABLE AND CLEAN ENERGY
Concerning Nigeria’s efforts to provide affordable and clean energy over the years, it seems quite plausible to say that the country is progressing towards achieving more in this goal. Since 2004, the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) has played a huge role in achieving Goal 7. It was mainly funded by Nigeria’s public sector in order to add more generation capacity to the electricity supply system and transmission. Another organization, the Nigerian Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA), has since enhanced (since 1992) the investments into industrialization and trade for export related business movements in the country. This and the establishment of Trade Free Zones (TFZ) has allowed policy making for natural gas easier and has diversified Nigeria’s economic basis.
GOAL 11: SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND COMMUNITIES
””” Nigeria’s efforts to achieving Goal 11 stem from its pioneering UN-HABITAT project, the Sustainable Cities Nigeria Programme. This endeavour which lasted between 1994 and 2006 was aimed at providing the necessary help for environmental planning to first alienate environmental deterioration and take upon the tasks of strategy building, action planning, implementation, consolidation and replication. This should also apply to communities as they are just as important. This initiative also advocated for the frequent carbon emissions and waste/water management and were analysed to create solutions.

GOAL 14: LIFE BELOW WATER IN NIGERIA
””” Goal 14 of the Sustainable Development Goals deals with the life below water. It involves measures to conserve and make best use of the resources in the water. Goal 14 has targets which includes reducing marine pollution, protecting marine ecosystems and regulating activities of people involved in fish harvesting. These goals cut across all countries and has been agreed mostly to be achieved latest by 2030. Basically, a ‘careful management of this essential global resource is a key feature of a sustainable future.'(‘Goal 14,’ 2014)
””” The problems faced by state of life below water for Nigeria ranges from oil and petroleum, chemical and industry pollution and mining pollution. Though mining in Nigeria contributes to 20% of the Gross Domestic Product and is still in its premature state, Nigeria has seen a rise in small scale miners and with small scale mining comes inadequate checking and education on pollution. (Alfarra, 2010). The effects of these on the Nigerian community has been massive with water infections being the main effect. Trachoma, which is the leading cause of blindness by infection tops the list of infections the ordinary citizens have faced because of marine pollution. (‘Trachoma,’ 2017). As a matter of fact, a research article by Mariotti has revealed that, Nigeria is among four other countries who wield 48% of trachoma cases globally. (Mariotti, Pascolini, & Rose-Nussbaumer, 2009)
””” In exploring solutions to meet the Sustainable Development Goals, Nigeria has not only implemented policies to regulate pollution by corporations but has also embarked on campaigns to educate farmers on the best and sustainable agricultural practices. Also, corporations as well as ordinary citizens have been asked to take advantage of sewage and septic tank treatments to protect ground water pollution as well.
””” Oil exploration leads in the damage which has been caused to the life under water in Nigeria (Slaughter & Odume, 2017). Laws and policies have championed the reduction of pollution in the water.
GOAL 15: ”LIFE ON LAND IN NIGERIA
””” The basic message conveyed by the goal 15 is to preserve basically life on the land. The earth currently loses thirty-two acres of forest yearly and this is quite devastating because these forests cover just thirty percent of the earth. (‘Goal 15,’ 2016). Major causes are land degradation and desertification which can also be because of human activities as well as natural causes. Knowing that forests are home to 80 percent or more of all animals who live on land, it is just wise that any country makes conscious effort to preserve the land and this includes Nigeria.
””” Nigeria has had and is still experiencing land degradation mainly by over-grazing by livestock. Nigeria has had an increase in herdsmen who have made it a daily routine to allow their live stocks graze on places for too long which makes the land bare. In an attempt to fight this, Nigeria has lost 1400 civilians in 2016. (‘Clashes Over Grazing Land in Nigeria Threaten Nomadic Herding,’ 2017). Aside this, Urbanization has caused Nigeria to lose some of its forest since it wants to make way for housing or in other times energy or for mineral exploration.
””” Although these situations continue to be persistent in Nigeria, it has formed certain alliances and policies to help tackle the situation. The first initiative Nigeria is partaking is the Great Green Wall Program which is an African-led initiative. Green Wall Project seeks to grow and produce for people who are faced with climate change and are experiencing it firsthand. (‘Great Green Wall,’ n.d.). Another progress made on preserving the land and forest is the setting up of the Nigerian Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP) which is responsible mainly for the checking of erosion and degradation in 2010. (Soremekun, 2017). Finally, a five-year biodiversity program was launched by the Nigerian government to aid in sustenance of natural resources.

GOAL 6: CLEAN WATER AND PROPER SANITATION
Clean water and sanitation has been a big problem in many parts of the world most especially Africa and undeniably no big news for Nigeria. ”In recent times Nigeria, has done well to implement policies and strategies for water supply and good sanitation but is struggling to put these policies into practice. The reason being that, there is no good governance in Nigeria. The Government of Nigeria does not take accountability for water and sanitation projects that have been abandoned also there is no transparency in their governance.
””” Per United Nations 70 million people out of a population of 171 million, lacked access to safe drinking water and over 110 million lacked access to improved sanitation in 2013. Open defecation rates, at 28.5 percent pose grave public health risks (Unicef.org, 2018). In some states in Nigeria, safe drinking water is absent which makes it high in demand. Moreover, the supply of water in t states such as Benue and Makurdi is inconsistent and the pipe network is old and rusty (Pulitzer Centre, 2018).
Arguably, bad leadership has been one of Nigerians greatest problems. Bad leadership is a canker that is affecting Africa mostly and Nigeria is a victim of this. The system of ruling in Nigeria is a democratic one but the problem is, after taken the seat of Presidency then mismanagement corruption and Selfishness sets in and this has been the hallmark of the Nigerian Government. If Nigeria wants to truly see development, then they should make sure the policies they set for themselves are well implemented.

GOAL 16: PEACE, JUSTICE AND STRONG INSTITUTIONS IN NIGERIA
Not long-ago Nigeria was struggling with peace due to the activities of the Boko Haram, a terrorist group who deliberately plants bombs to kill people. ”The actions of the Boko Haram were dealt with but the idea of fear and terror has been created in the minds of the Nigerians in the Northern Part.
””” The government of Nigeria under the former president H.E Goodluck Jonathan saw to it that peace was regained in Nigeria after the eradication of Boko Haram. The Government under the new administration has since, maintained this peace. In spite of this, the leaders of Nigeria must desist from Political sentiments and speeches that breed hatred (Ibanga et al., 2018). Due to selfish ambitions of some political leaders fight amongst themselves and this easily disrupts peace.
””” Justice was served to the people of Nigeria after the eradication of the Boko Haram. Apparently, Nigeria’s judicial system is full of issues with the likes of blackmail, false accusation and discrimination which is tearing the country apart. Moreover, the leaders of the country play a major role in this. If the country doesn’t resolve petty issues like this and look to honest and fair leaders, justice will never be something to write home about in Nigeria.
””” Lastly, to ensure peace and justice, a country like Nigeria needs Strong Institutions. Institutions in Nigeria have been religiously and ethnically based and more often formed around religious and charismatic leaders. Arguably Nigeria has some strong institutions such as the People’s Democratic party which was led by former president Olusegun Obasanjo (Nigeria, 2018). The current government under Muhammadu Buhari is doing very well to make sure that their institutions which see to various sectors of the economy function properly. Nigeria is a developing country and the formation of formidable institutions can be a success.

GOAL 1: NO POVERTY
Nigeria since the gain of independence in the 1960’s has implemented various strategies both direct and indirect with the goal of alleviating poverty. Nigeria after independence in the pre-SAP era between 1962- 1985 (SAP- structural adjustment Program) tackled poverty through an indirect approach. Growth, provision of social amenities and rural development were issues that were focused on in this era, poverty eradication however wasn’t stated explicitly in the approach to gaining economic stability. These programs however were related to poverty and turned out to be relevant in that regard. In 1986, the Structural Adjustment Program(SAP) was introduced and it focused on rural development, minority groups, health care, banking and lastly industry. Under the SAP, the PAPDC (poverty alleviation Program Development Committee) was established, as an advisory body to the government. Under the SAP, success was recorded in the areas of food production, agricultural and industrial extension services, primary health care, education enrolment, mass transit programs, and financial services sector through the People’s Bank of Nigeria and Community Banks. Despite the SAP solving problems in various sectors, Nigeria’s poverty however rose to 70%.
In 2000, the PAP was introduced to reduce unemployment, increase economy demand, production and lastly reduce crime wave in the country. ”The committee proved to be ineffective which led to the establishment of the National Poverty eradication program(NAPEP) in January 2001. The NAPEP was designed to tackle four sectoral schemes, these four sectoral schemes included Youth Empowerment, Rural infrastructural development, the social welfare services scheme and lastly the national resources development and conservation schemes. The National Economic empowerment and development strategy (NEEDS) was established as a medium-term strategy between 2003 and 2007 as a poverty reduction. The NEEDS focused on achieving sustainable macroeconomic growth through ways means. Between 2000 and 2014, Nigeria has made impressive economic growth however poverty persists in Nigeria. In a speech by Princess Adejoke Orelope; senior special assistant to the president on the sustainable development goals, in 2017, she revealed measured the country was taking to fight against poverty, the remedies stated consisted a conditional cash transfer program, the school feeding president, government enterprise and empowerment and lastly the youth empowerment program known as the N- Power Program. Also, Nigeria has implemented a conditional grant scheme through which local and state government are incentivized to achieve the SDG’s.

GOAL 13: CLIMATE ACTION
Global warming is a world issue, gas emissions are now 50% higher as compared to the levels in 1990, Nigeria like most nations in their reduction global warming, have implemented laws that limit the economic emissions of harmful gas into the atmosphere. Mary Elika foundation in Nigeria has taken it upon itself to ensure public education on potential hazards of air pollution. Nigeria has also enacted environment protection laws into its constitution to help curb the problem of deforestation, desertification, air pollution and other climate related problems.

References

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Aigbe, O. (2012). Analysis of leadership style observed. Blogpost. Retrieved from http://omoruyiaigbe.blogspot.com/2012/10/analysis-of-leadership-style-observed.html

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