Introduction

The turn of the twenty-first century witnessed a renewed attempt by world leaders to significantly reduce global poverty by 2015. This renewed attempt came in the form of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) with the view to halting the global rise of hunger, illiteracy and diseases. However, while the MDGs have succeeded in serving as the reference point in the fight against global poverty, various stakeholders in developing and developed countries replaced the MDGs with the newly launched Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015. The reformulation of the MDGs into the SDGs is partly a reflection of the reality that some of the MDG targets, and in some countries most of the targets, were, unfortunately, unmet by the 2015 MDGs deadline. Among other issues, problems associated with the global food, fuel and financial crises of 2007/2008 as well as domestic insecurity and instability in some countries affected the outcomes of the MDGs. Nonetheless, when put together, these factors, in combination with a number of other political, economic and social issues, explain the failures of meeting the MDG targets in Nigeria.

To this end, this chapter analyses Nigeria's efforts and failures to achieve the MDGs by 2015. The chapter mainly argues that the journey of the MDGs in Nigeria was a chequered one characterised by little progress, considerable stasis and undeniable reversals in some parts of the country. It maintains that when examined synoptically, Nigeria's experience with the MDGs reveals important issues that need to be addressed in order for the country to achieve the SDGs by 2030.

As the chapter explains, issues relating to ineffective implementation strategies, poor state capacity and corruption, all contributed to the poor performance recorded in achieving the MDGs in Nigeria. Consequently, the chapter maintains it is imperative for governments at all levels in Nigeria (federal, states and local), the private sector and civil society, to address some of these problems. What is more important, and within the context of moving towards achieving the SDGs, the chapter situates Nigeria's experience with the MDGs within the broader context of the country's political, socio-economic and developmental challenges. These include, but are not limited to, the prevalence of bad governance and economic mismanagement.