SETTING AN AGENDA FOR INCLUSIVE AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN AN ERA OF CHANGE IN NIGERIA

1. INTRODUCTION

It has been well established that every society has the capacity to develop and all societies strive for development. But the concept of development is a very controversial one. We have argued elsewhere that the definitions and interpretations of development are influenced by history, discipline, ideological orientation and training. [1] Chambers defines development as “good change”. [2] This definition envisages that development is synonymous with progress. This progress should entail an all-encompassing improvement, a process that builds on itself and involve both individuals and social change. [3] Kamghampati argues that development requires growth and structural change, some measure of distributive equity, modernization in social and cultural attitudes, a degree of political transformation and stability, an improvement in health and education so that population growth stabilizes, and an increase in urban living and employment. [4] In our view, development always involves change that affects various facets of life including economic, social and political spheres. Sustainable development means that development is achieved without excess environmental degradation, in a way that both protects the rights and opportunities of coming generations and contributes to compatible approaches. [5]

The past five decades have witnessed monumental changes in the world. Global economic wealth has increased sevenfold and average incomes have tripled. [6] Yet, poverty has increased to record high levels. The major problem is that wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few people while majority of the people live in abject poverty. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in its 1998 report documented that the three richest people in the world have assets that exceed the combined Gross Domestic Product of the 48 least developed countries. In 2014, eighty five richest people in the world had the same wealth as the poorest 50 percent (3.4 billion people). By 2015, 80 richest people have the same wealth as the poorest 50 percent. In the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, income inequality is at its highest level in the last fifty years. The average income of the richest 10 percent of the population is about nine times that of the poorest 10 percent. ^[7]   It has been documented that the drivers of inequalities include globalization, skilled biased technological change and changes in countries policy approaches (ascendancy of neo-liberalism).

Over the years, various scholars, organizations and institutions have documented the challenges of development in Nigeria. ^[8] The challenges include among other things poor leadership; bad followership; poor strategy for development; lack of capable and effective state and bureaucracy; lack of focus on sectors that will improve the condition of living of citizens such as education, health, agriculture and the building of infrastructure; corruption; undeveloped, irresponsible and parasitic private sector; weak civil society; emasculated labour and student movement and poor execution of policies and programmes. As a matter of fact, the lived experiences of many Nigerians have turned them to experts of the challenges of Development in Nigeria.

Government have great roles to play in planning for and accelerating the development process. In Nigeria, it has been documented that right from the colonial period, development planning was viewed as a major strategy for achieving economic development and social progress, particularly, in the spheres of socio-economic infrastructures, industralisation, modernization, high rates of economic growth, poverty reduction, and significant improvements in living standards. [9] Three plans featured in the pre-independence era for the periods 1946-1956, 1951-1955 and 1955-1962. Over the 1962-1995 period, three major phases in the planning experience emerged, namely, the fixed medium-term planning phase (1962-1985), policy oriented planning (1986-1988), and three year rolling plan phase (1990 till date). [10] Scholars have pointed out that the golden period of planning on the African continent, 1960s and 1970s, could not be sustained from the 1980s because of two major factors: failure of development planning to meet the high expectations of rapid growth and development; and the resurgence of liberalism and the implementation of short-term stabilization and structural adjustment programmes which are predicated on liberalization and deregulation. Meanwhile, these programmes that substituted for national development plans are counter plans which have failed to solve Africa's myriad of economic problems. [11] This is why some scholars have referred to the 1980s and 1990s as the “lost development decades” for Africa. [12]

The challenge is that since return to civil rule in 1999, there has been a lot of sporadic and adhoc planning without adherence to long term planning. The National Economic Empowerment and National Development Strategy (NEEDS) and the Seven Point Agenda was abandoned after a few years. It is worse at the sub-national levels. Between 2004 and 2007, all the states developed the State Economic Empowerment and Development Strategies (SEEDS). But since 2007, most state governments do not have overarching development strategies.  In addition, there is no systematic planning framework for the country that ensures adequate data and research, good information system, monitoring and evaluation and tracking of results. The end result is abandonment of projects, poor plan implementation and poor service delivery.

Scholars are in agreement that strategies and policies are fundamental to progress and development of countries. But many Ministries, Departments and Agencies in Nigeria are without strategic plans. For many of them, policies have not been reviewed for over a decade. Even the implementation of the policies have been characterized by discontinuity, reversals and somersaults. Meanwhile, there is no process or criteria or mechanism for filtering policy ideas in the country. Policy proposals are often not evidence based because ideas that enter into the policy agenda are based on the private interest behind them. The result is that the policy ideas are not strategic and implementation do not give the desired result leading to wastage of resources due to duplication and failed programmes and projects.

It is therefore not surprising that the mantra of change resonated with Nigerians during the 2015 general elections.  On May 2015, a new government was elected in Nigeria under the platform of a new party, an amalgam of four opposition parties-the All Progressives Congress (APC). The APC campaigned to bring about change in Nigeria. The party states clearly that its mission is to construct and institute a progressive state anchored on social democracy where the welfare and security of the citizenry is paramount. It is therefore imperative for the party to have an agenda to change the governance and development landscape of the country in line with its philosophy and programme.

Nigeria embraced the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and set up an office and several programmes for the achievement of the MDGs. But it was confronted with a lot of challenges including credibility of data, resources, transparency and accountability, programme and policy co-ordination and poor commitment at subnational levels. But the opportunity of the MDGs was positively utilized by Nigeria manifested in achievement of some of the goals e.g. the goal relating to hunger, improvement in primary school enrolment and reduction of HIV prevalent rates. However,  there are limitations of utilizing the MDGs as a framework for delivering or measuring development. [13] First, they risk simplifying what development is about, by restricting the goals to what is measurable. Many aspects of development cannot be easily measured. Secondly, some of the goals are very modest e.g. the goal to half the proportion of people living on less than $1 a day by 2015 and the target to achieve a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020. Finally, some of the targets do not address the problems holistically. For instance, the MDG on education talks only of a full course of primary schooling with no reference to secondary and tertiary education.

Meanwhile, it is clear that the context of 2000 when the Millennium declaration was made is different from the context of 2015 when the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are being considered. In 2000, there was relative stability, prosperity and coherence when western economies were on the rise and the conditions were good for forging agreements on global targets for development. ^[14] In 2015, the world is encountering more complex problems of climate change, population pressures, increasing urbanization, multi-polar world and increasing breakdown of the division of the world into North and South, East and West. ^[15] Secondly, the geography of poverty has also changed. The Brookings Institute notes that only 10 percent of the global poor live in stable, low income countries, 40 percent live in fragile and conflict-affected countries and 50 percent in middle income countries. ^[16] The institute also showed that within these countries, the distribution of poverty demonstrates huge inequities across different population groups and fragile states, which are home to some 1.2 billion people are largely off the track to meet the MDGs. ^[17] Furthermore, the period is characterized by multiple crisis, instability and terrorism. It is therefore not surprising that the SDGs are more holistic and address a lot of issues not contemplated by the MDGs.

In this paper, we set an agenda for an inclusive and sustainable development for the new government within the context of a close endline for the Millennium Development Goals and planning for the commencement of the SDGs. But first, we explicate the concepts of inclusive growth and sustainable development; and the lessons learnt from the implementation of the MDGs.

2. CONCEPTUAL CLARIFICATION

Two concepts are important for setting an agenda for inclusive and sustainable development in Nigeria namely inclusive growth and sustainable development.

1. INCLUSIVE GROWTH

There is a consensus among scholars and development practitioners that rapid and sustained poverty reduction requires inclusive growth that allows people to contribute to and benefit from economic growth. [18]   Inclusiveness encompasses equity, equality of opportunity and protection in market and employment. Inclusive growth refers to both the pace and pattern of growth. It is about raising the pace of growth and enlarging the size of the economy while leveling the playing field for investment and increasing productive employment opportunities. [19] Inclusive growth is a concept that advances equitable opportunities for economic participation during economic growth with benefits incurred by every section of society. [20]   Inclusive growth aims to improve living standards and share the benefits of increased prosperity more evenly across social groups. [21]

It has been established that wile sustaining high economic growth is a necessary condition for poverty reduction, it is not a sufficient condition for an equitable distribution of wealth. [22] Meanwhile, in the last one and a half decade, Nigeria has witnessed economic growth. One of the major problems is that economic growth in Nigeria has not created meaningful employment as many of the country's youth including those with university degrees are currently unemployed. ^[23] The problem is that Nigeria's economic growth is driven, in part, by rising global oil prices. ^[24] The manufacturing sector in Nigeria represents only 4 percent of GDP compared to 20 percent in Brazil, 34 percent in China, 30 percent in Malaysia, 35 percent in Thailand and 28 percent in Indonesia. ^[25]   Meanwhile, it has been shown that “no country can banish mass poverty unless it creates millions of new jobs a year in manufacturing and services.” ^[26] There is therefore a compelling imperative for inclusive growth in Nigeria given increasing economic growth (rising per capita output of material goods and services) over the past one and half decade along with increasing poverty, high unemployment rate and the recent free fall in the global price of oil.

As the UNDP report on Nigeria 2008-2009 has shown, any development strategy for Nigeria must address four courses of action:

1. Maintain a strong and focused emphasis on inclusive economic growth
2. Guarantee better access to social services and adequate infrastructure especially for the poor
3. Target policy interventions to protect the poorest or the most vulnerable group and
4. Promote transparent, responsible and accountable governance.

1. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

1. Commitment to equity and fairness: that priority should be given to improving the conditions of the world's poorest and decisions should account for the rights of future generations.
2. Long term view of development: that precaution should be taken where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage to the environment and
3. Anchor on three pillars of Economic Development, Social Equity and Environmental protection: that sustainable development embodies integration, understanding and acting on the complex interconnections of the three pillars of economic development, social equity and environmental protection.

Despite the engagement of the concept for over twenty years, the operationalization and implementation of the concept has been challenging. The Sustainable Development Goals is a global attempt at operationalization and implementation of sustainable development.

3. LESSONS LEARNT FROM THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MDGs ACROSS THE WORLD AND IN NIGERIA
4. Global Experience

Since the millennium declaration in 2000, there have been efforts at the global level to guide the implementation and achievement of the MDGs in 2015. Barely three years after the declaration, the UNDP human development report in its 2003 edition focused on the Millennium Development Goals. In the report titled Millennium Development Goals: A Compact among Nations to end Human Poverty, the UNDP pointed out that to achieve the MDGs require policy responses to structural constraints on several fronts along with stepped up external support. [29] The report recommended six policy clusters to help countries break out of their poverty traps:

1. Invest early and ambitiously in basic education and health while fostering gender equity. These are preconditions to sustained economic growth. Growth in turn can generate employment and raise incomes- feeding back into further gains in education and health gains.
2. Increase the productivity of small farmers in unfavourable environments- that is, the majority of the world's hungry people. A reliable estimate is that 70 percent of the world's poorest people live in rural areas and depend on agriculture.
3. Improve basic infrastructure- such as ports, roads, power and communications- to reduce the costs of doing business and overcome geographic barriers.
4. Develop an industrial development policy that nurtures entrepreneurial activity and helps diversify the economy away from dependence on primary commodity exports- with an active role for small scale and medium size enterprises.
5. Promote democratic governance and human rights to remove discrimination, secure social justice and promote well being of all people.
6. Ensure environmental sustainability and sound urban management so that development improvements are long term.

Every year, there is a global report on the progress towards the achievement of the MDGs. The reports consistently showed that there is progress but in most cases the most vulnerable are left behind. [30]   Secondly, the reports showed that some countries made great improvements in some goals but lagged behind in others. For instance the 2011 report indicated that some poor countries like Burundi, Rwanda, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Togo and Tanzania have made great improvement in education achieving or nearing the goal of universal primary education.

1. Nigerian Experience

The Nigerian journey with the MDGs started in September, 2000 with the signing of the historic Millennium Declaration along with other 188 countries at the millennium summit. We can trace the implementation of the MDGs in Nigeria through the establishment of the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on MDGs and the Nigerian reports on MDGs since then.

At this time, Nigeria was under a crushing debt burden of about $35.9 billion with over 85 percent owed to the Paris Club. There was a huge campaign for cancellation of the debt. The House of Representatives passed a resolution that the debt should not be paid. The civil society under the auspices of Global Campaign Against Poverty (GCAP) campaigned vigorously for cancellation of the debt. It is instructive to note that even though Nigeria borrowed $13.5 billion from Paris Club between 1965 and 2003 and repaid $42 billion, as at the end of 2003, Nigeria still owed Paris Club more than $25 billion. [31]   President Olusegun Obasanjo and the Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala negotiated with the Paris club and just before the G8 meeting in 2005, the Paris Club granted a debt relief to Nigeria canceling $18 billion from the debt but requiring Nigeria to pay $12 billion in six months and comply with Naples terms and Policy Support Instrument (PSI). [32]

During the negotiations, concerns were expressed as to whether the debt relief gains would be spent effectively and appropriately or will be misspent and embezzled. [33]   This led to the establishment of the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on MDGs (OSSAP-MDG) to “guide the resources that would be freed up from the debt deal to MDG-related projects and programmes, whilst at the same time tracking, monitoring and evaluating their progress.”

Several reports have been produced on the status of MDGs in Nigeria.  The 2004 report which was Nigeria's first report on the MDGs stated clearly that “based on available information it is unlikely that the country will be able to meet most of the goals by   2015 especially the goals related to eradicating  extreme poverty and hunger, reducing child and maternal mortality and combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases” [34]   It further states that “for most of the other goals (i.e apart from goal 1) up- to- date data exists which shows that if the current trend continues, it will be difficult for the country to achieve the MDG targets by 2015”. [35] The last report on 2015 is being expected.

From the beginning, it was quite clear that for Nigeria to achieve the MDGs by 2015, it had to change course including adopting some of the recommendations as enunciated above.

4. LESSONS ON DEVELOPMENT AGENDA

Over the past several decades, there are a lot of lessons that has been learnt which can help us in crafting a post 2015 development agenda. In 1990, the United Nation's human development report focused on development and pointed out that people are the real wealth of nations. In 2010, the UN human development report reviewed the progress for the past two decades and made some conclusions that will be very helpful in the development of any nation. First and foremost, the report shows that human development is about sustaining positive outcomes steadily over time and combating processes that impoverish people or underpin oppression and structural injustice hence the principles of equity, sustainability and empowerment are important. [36] Secondly, the report shows that almost all countries of the world have progressed in human development measured by the human development index (life expectancy, schooling and income). Of 135 countries studied, only three-the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia and Zimbabwe- have a lower HDI in 2010 than in 1970. [37] Thirdly, the report shows that there is no significant correlation between economic growth and improvement in health and education. In other words, economic growth can occur without improvement in the health and education of citizens. In similar vein, there can be substantial improvement in the condition of citizens without fast growth with the right policy, innovation and citizen participation. For instance, the Indian State of Kerala, Costa Rica, Cuba and Sri Lanka attained much higher human development than other countries at their incomes. Fourthly, the report shows that institutions are a key determinant of human development. However, “the policies and reforms compatible with progress vary widely across institutional settings and depend on structural and political constraints.” [38] In addition, the report argues that “markets are very bad at ensuring the provision of public goods, such as security, stability, health and education.” [39] It therefore advocates regulation which requires a capable state as well as political commitment. Finally, the report opines that human development is not only about health, education and income-it is also about people's active engagement in shaping development, equity and sustainability, intrinsic aspects of the freedom people have to lead lives they have reason to value. [40]

These lessons are important for Nigeria. First and foremost, the agenda must incorporate strategies to combat the processes that improverish Nigerians and put in place mechanism to promote equity, sustainability and empowerment. Socondly, the agenda must show it will improve life expectancy, education and income. Thirdly, the agenda must not only lead to economic growth but it must be inclusive with the right policy, innovation and citizen participation. Fourthly, the agenda must develop leadership but it must also grow institutions. In addition, public administration reform is key to enhance the provision of public goods such as security, health, education, water, energy, housing and transport. Finally, the agenda must promote active citizenship.

As we await the final report of the MDGs in Nigeria, it is clear to us that Nigeria is unlikely to meet most of the targets. The incidence of poverty has increased from 54.4 percent in 2004 to 65.1 percent in 2010. About 10 million children of school going age are out of school.  In the 2015 elections, there was only one female presidential candidate; four Female vice-presidential, one main governorship contender and five  deputy governorships; and 15 percent of 1, 774 House of Representatives and 17 percent of 747 Senate seats. The end result is that while the outgoing seventh assembly had 27 women, only eight of them were re-elected for the 8th assembly. The current senate has only eight women out of 109 senators. The percent of women in the National Assembly is one of the lowest in Africa. There has been a significant reduction in infant mortality and maternal mortality but the gap between current situation and the desirable are still very large. Access to safe water and sanitation and other environmental challenges are still huge. Nigeria is still an aids orphan compared to other African countries.

Despite the poor profile of Nigeria in terms of achievement of the MDGs, there are some actions that have worked well which need to be scaled up in the implementation of the SDGs:

1. Budgetary allocation to MDG specific projects since 2006 made Nigerians to focus on the achievement of the MDGs.
2. The institution of Monitoring and Evaluation of MDG projects is a positive development which has been adopted by the country and incorporated into the vision 20:2020 economic development blueprint. The involvement of civil society in the monitoring of the projects is a particularly good innovation.
3. The establishment of an office to guide the MDGs. This should transit to the SDGs.
4. The OSSAP-MDG is guided by a clear strategy to achieve its mandate. This worked very well and state governments, local governments, ministries, departments and agencies need to learn from it.

But there are several areas of improvement going forward including the following:

1. There is the need for increased budgetary allocation to investment clusters that will accelerate development especially health, education, agriculture and infrastructure. No nation serious about development can spend 72 percent of its budget on recurrent expenditure.
2. There is the need to improve capacity for execution. It is unthinkable that every year, ministries, departments and agencies cannot implement their budgets with the monumental developmental challenges facing us as a nation.
3. There is the need for state governments, local governments, ministries, departments and agencies to have overarching development strategies. No nation, state or organization can accelerate its development without an overarching strategy to guide its priorities, programmes and actions.
4. Nigeria needs to develop its leaders and focus on policies and practices that will lead to poverty reduction and development.
5. There is the need for better co-ordination and synergy between Federal Government, State Government and Local Government.
6. There is the need to mainstream citizen participation and ownership in the development process in Nigeria.
7. Nigeria's development agenda must go beyond focus on the economy to include political, economic and environmental development. It has been proven that economic growth is necessary but not sufficient for the development of nations. Economic growth without job creation does not reduce poverty.

5. PROCESS OF THE SDGs

The end date of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is 2015. A process has been on at the United Nations to develop another set of goals to the known as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs are a new, universal set of goals, targets and indicators that UN member states will be expected to use to frame their agendas and political policies over the next fifteen years (2015-2030).  The SDGs are a follow up of the MDGs. The SDGs are necessary because we have come to the end date of the MDGs and poverty is still very high with over one billion people living on less than $1.25 a day –the World Ban measure on poverty.

There are seventeen proposed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):

1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere
2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture
3. Ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all ages
4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all.
9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and foster innovation
10. Reduce inequality within and among countries
11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts (taking note of agreements made by UNFCCC forum.
14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.
15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification and halt and reverse land degradation, and halt biodiversity loss.
16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.
17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development

There are 169 targets to achieve the 17 goals. The targets under goal one include reducing by half the number of people living in poverty by 2030 and eradicating extreme poverty (people living on less than $1.25 a day).

The goals were chosen from a global consultation process. Nigeria participated actively in the consultation process. A Nigerian Hajia Amina Mohammed is the Special Adviser to the UN on the Post 2015 development agenda.  The new goals will be agreed upon at the UN summit in September, 2015 and will become applicable from January, 2016. The expected deadline is 2030.

6. AGENDA FOR CHANGE IN NIGERIA

The All Progressives Congress (APC) formed the new government at the federal level on 29^th May, 2015. The party won the election with a campaign on a change agenda. Before the election of the APC, the People's Democratic Party (PDP) has been in power for sixteen years. There are many lessons to learn from the failure of the PDP regime which led to the victory of APC. These lessons should be taken into cognisance by the APC from the beginning. The first is that the development of a country is a complex issue and is much more than a rendition of activities and projects of Ministry, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). There is also the need to focus on the big issues of political, social and cultural change. Secondly, the voice of the people is important. For instance, the majority of the people cannot be arguing that corruption is a major problem and the political leadership is insisting that corruption is not a problem. Thirdly, government must learn to put the people at the centre of development. The Nigerian economy has grown. The economic growth rate is high but poverty is increasing at the same time. There is the need for policy intervention to deal with this.  In addition, any party that operates and portrays itself for the sole purpose of patronage is digging its own grave. According to the former chairman of the ruling People's Democratic Party, Alh. Bamamga Tukur “PDP is all about patronage. We are going to dole out patronage to all our members who remain in the party….Let me inform you. We are going to give patronage to all our members who have contested elections and lost. There is enough in the party to go around everyone. There is no need to leave the party.” Political organising need to be a continuous process involving political education of party leaders and members. The think tank of the party is very important here. Political party should focus on provision of services to the people. Furthermore, lack of engagement with critical stakeholders of the society is political suicide. There is the need to engage with critical sectors such as civil society, labour and the private sector. Moreover, poor co-ordination of government activities and poor monitoring and evaluation can lead to failure of a government.

The APC has come to power to implement a change agenda.  Nigerians are anxiously waiting for that change. It is necessary to carefully craft the change agenda in the four key areas of economy, politics, social and technological. The economic agenda should address the issues of structures and institutions of economic management; diversification of the economy; inclusive growth; promotion of transparency and accountability and promotion of pro-poor policies (Policies that will lead to good macroeconomic environment, improve access to financial services, improve governance and increase access of the poor to basic infrastructures and social services). The political agenda should address the building of institutions and mechanisms; review of the 1999 Constitution; institutions of horizontal accountability; reform of the Electoral system; building of democratic culture; regulation of party financing and campaign finance and reform of INEC. There should also be a social agenda because over the years the social fabric of the Nigerian society has been destroyed. A lot of people become wealthy overnight without questions about the sources of the wealth. People who embezzle public funds are rewarded by their communities with chieftaincy titles. There is brazen display of wealth in the midst of widespread poverty. The extended family system is being destroyed. The get rich quick syndrome has caught up with a great number of the population. The social agenda should focus on re-orientation on social values; re-orientation on work ethics and corporate social responsibility and investment. The technological agenda should focus on building of technology infrastructure and use of technology to promote transparency and accountability.

In order to implement the above change agenda, there are certain immediate issues that the new administration must focus upon. They include the immediate production of a strategic plan to replace the vision 20:2020 document. The new strategic plan should incorporate the Sustainable Development Goals (SDN). It will also be a process to engage Nigerians in the change process. There is also the need to train the elected party officials on party philosophy and programmes. In addition, the regime must have an immediate plan for co-ordination among the three tiers of government and amongst the government agencies. In the past, some form of co-ordination only took place in the economic sector. There is the need to divide the whole governance structures into four co-ordinating units: Finance and Economy; Social Services; Infrastructure, Science and Technology and Governance. Luckily, the public service has already been divided along those four lines. Finance and Economy will encompass Finance, Industry, Trade and Investment, Budget Office, Office of Accountant General, Office of Auditor General. Social services will include Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Education, Health, Sports, Women Affairs and Social Development, Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs, Police, Youth. Infrastructure, Science and Technology will be made up of Communication, Science and Technology, Environment, Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Power, Water, Transport, Niger Delta, Petroleum and Agriculture. Governance will include the State House, SGF, HOS, Defence, Foreign Affairs, Information, Interior, Justice, Labour and Productivity.

Another important area to focus upon is monitoring and evaluation. The vision 20:2020 demanded that all tiers of government and MDAs should have a robust M & E system. This needs to be operationalized. Finally is the very important issue of public administration reform. There are several issues that require reform in the Public Service. A few of them is examined below:

Cost of governance: It is well known that the cost of governance in Nigeria is very high. Over 70 percent of the federal budget is devoted to recurrent expenditure. The political and bureaucratic classes are over bloated. Cost of doing business with government is high. Most of the procurement in the public sector is inflated.

Effective Budgeting: The budget is perhaps the most important instrument in any modern state apart from the constitution. The focus on budget has assumed greater prominence in recent years with increasing democratization, civil society participation and the desire to respond to the development challenge of poverty.  Budgeting is very crucial for the economic development of any nation. Good budgeting can lead to economic growth and development. But to prepare a good budget requires a responsible leadership, special staff assistance, broad, accurate and reliable information, complete plan, a financial calendar and effective monitoring and control over the execution of the budget plan. Meanwhile, the budget has been described as the most important document for the development of any country. It is the most powerful way that a government can meet the needs and priorities of the citizens. The budget process is crucial to good development outcomes. Corruption in any country starts from the budgetary process. In very corrupt countries, the budget is done in secret. Releases are done without the knowledge of citizens. Procurement information is not made available to citizens and corruption is guarded and protected.  Effective budgeting requires an open budget system.  A budget is regarded as open if citizens have access to the key budget documents; have high level of involvement in the budgetary process and have access to procurement information. The Open Budget Index 2012 scores Nigeria 16 out of 100 which is a poor rating of the quality of budgeting in Nigeria.

Public Finance Management: There is still opacity and lack of transparency in the oil and gas sector. Oil theft continues unabated despite the effort of government and security agencies. According to NEITI Audit report 2009-2011, Nigeria losses N578.990 billion annually to oil theft and NNPC owes government $5.8 billion from Liquefied Natural Gas which has not been paid into the federation account since 2006. There is still late releases of funds to ministries, departments and agencies. There is improper project design, costing, monitoring and audit. The end result is low capital budget implementation and unsatisfactory public expenditure outcomes.

Civil Service Reform: In the civil service today, there is the culture of self-interest and patronage. The recruitment process does not supply the right people in the right numbers to the right places to meet the service needs of citizens. The civil servants are not managed, promoted or rewarded based on objective measures of performance. The end result is that the civil service functions as an employment mechanism and not a service delivery mechanism with the with over 70 percent recurrent expenditure. Consequently, there is poor delivery of public goods and services.

Planning: There is no systematic planning framework for the country that ensures that adequate data and research, good information system, monitoring and evaluation and tracking of results. In addition, there is no integration of planning and budgeting. The end result is abandonment of projects, poor plan implementation and poor service delivery. For instance, it has been documented by the Presidential Assessment Committee report that 11, 886 projects worth N7.7 trillion have been abandoned across the country denying citizens of the benefits. Also, the Ajaokuta steel plant was planned in 1978/79 to be completed in 1986 at US$650m but government has spent over US$5 billion and it is not completed as a result of poor planning and corruption.

Policy: There is no process or criteria or mechanism for filtering policy ideas in the country. Policy proposals are often not evidence based because ideas that enter into the policy agenda are based on the private interest behind them. The result is that the policy ideas are not strategic and implementation do not give the desired result leading to wastage of resources due to duplication and failed programmes and projects. The World Bank Resource Allocation Index and Global Competitive Index rate Nigeria very poorly in terms of policy.

Sectoral Issues: The ministries, department and agencies (MDAs) in the different sectors such as Trade, agriculture, education, health, and security are expected to deliver government services to meet the needs of Nigerians. But the poor recruitment and posting, lack of motivation, poor allocation of resources and poor management has resulted in weak capacity, weak accountability and poor performance of the MDAs.

Constituency projects: Constituency projects constitute a huge challenge to organizational effectiveness in the public sector. Most of the projects are put in the budget without proper design and costing. The nature, location and choice of contractors for the projects are determined solely by political considerations. The end result is abandonment of projects, poor execution and poor service delivery to citizens.

Corruption: As noted above, corruption is widespread and endemic in Nigeria. But we know that the problem of corruption is as old as society itself and cuts across nations, cultures, races and classes of people. It is undoubtedly one of the greatest challenges of our times leading to underdevelopment and poor service delivery in Nigeria. Corruption has a lot of negative consequences on every sphere of societal development whether social, economic or political. Corruption not only leads to poor service delivery but loss of lives. Corruption is pervasive in Nigeria with serious negative consequences. Despite the plethora of legislations and agencies fighting corruption in the country, corruption has remained widespread and pervasive because of failure to utilize universally accepted and tested strategies; disconnect between posturing of leaders and their conduct; lack of concrete sustainable anti-corruption programming and failure to locate the anti-corruption struggle within a broader struggle to transform society.  Some scholars have recommended that the anti-corruption fight must be guided by legislative framework for transparent and accountable government; political will and commitment to fight corruption; comprehensive strategy that is systematic, comprehensive, consistent, focused, publicized, non-selective and non-partisan; protection of Whistle blowers; political reform to curb political corruption especially election rigging; reform of substantive programmes and administrative procedures; mobilisation for social re-orientation; independent media; adequate remuneration for workers to reflect the responsibilities of their post and a living wage; code of ethics for Political office holders, business people and CSOs; independent institutions especially electoral, human rights and gender commissions and a movement for Anti-corruption.

The Buhari Administration will be starting on a firm footing if these issues are taken seriously and implemented with efficiency, effectiveness and professionalism. The administration should have a clear change agenda that is incorporated into a strategic plan with clear plan for monitoring and evaluation and public administration reform. In particular, the administration should focus on the challenges of implementation by addressing the issues of strategy, operations and people.

7. CONCLUSION

The challenge of development especially inequality and sustainability is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity. The economy of Nigeria has been growing steadily in the past one and a half decade. But the growth has not been inclusive and sustainable. The inauguration of a new regime in May, 2015 presents an opportunity to articulate a new agenda that will ensure inclusive growth and sustainable development. In crafting this new agenda, there is the need to learn from implementation of MDGs and global development agenda.

*** Being text of a paper presented by Otive Igbuzor, PhD, Executive Director, African Centre for Leadership, Strategy & Development (Centre LSD) e-mail: [email protected] , at a two-day conference organised by the United Nations system in Nigeria in collaboration with the Office of the Senior Special Adviser to the President on MDGs and the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) on National symposium on July 6^th 2015.

ENDNOTES
[1] Igbuzor, O (2005), Perspectives on Democracy and Development. Lagos, Joe-Tolalu & Associates.

[2] Chambers, R (1997), Whose Reality Counts? Putting the First Last. London, Intermediate Technology Publication.

[3] Thomas, A (2000), “Meanings and Views of Development” in Allen T and Thomas A (Eds), Poverty and Development in the 21^st Century. UK, Oxford University Press.

[4] Kambhampati, U. S. (2004), Development and the Developing World. UK, Polity Press.

[5] Dalal-Clayton, B and Bass, S (Ed)(2002), Sustainable Development Strategies: A Resource Book. London, OECD and UNDP

[6] Watkins, Kevin (2000), The Oxfam Poverty Report. An Oxfam Publication

[7] Oxfam
[8] Igbuzor, O (2009), Challenges of Development in Nigeria. Lagos, Robitos Alliance Publishers Ltd; National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS)(2004). Abuja, National Planning Commission and Nigeria Vision 20:2020 Economic Transformation Blueprint. Abuja, National Planning Commission.

[9] Obadan, M. I. (2003), National Development Planning and Budgeting in Nigeria: Some Pertinent Issues. Lagos, Broadway Press Limited.

[10] Obadan, M. I. ibid
[11] Obadan, M. I. Ibid
[12] Cheru, F. (2002), African Renaissance: Roadmaps to the Challenge of Globalisation. London, Zed Books.

[13] Abani, C., Igbuzor, O. and Moru, J. ( 2005), Attaining the Millennium Development Goals in Nigeria: Indicative Progress and a Call for Action. In Moru, J. (Ed), Another Nigeria is Possible: Proceedings of the First Nigeria Social Forum. Abuja, Nigeria Social Forum.

[14] The World we want-Beyond 2015: A toolkit for National Deliberations (2012). GCAP, Beyond 2015 and UN Millennium Campaign

[15] Klugman, Jeni (no date), The MDGs and Beyond 2015: Pro-Poor Policy in a Changing World

[16] Joe Costello T. D. Beyond 2015: Where Next for the MDGs

[17] Ibid
[18] Ianchovichina, E and Lundstrom, S (2009), What is Inclusive Growth? Note prepared for Donors Supporting the Diagnostic Facility for Shared Growth. www.siteresources.worldbank.org

[19] Ibid
[20] Wikipedia www.en.wikipedia.org
[21] OECD (2014) All on Board: Making Inclusive Growth Happen.

[22] UNDP (2009), Human Development Report Nigeria 2008-2009: Achieving Growth with Equity.

[23] Ogbu, O (2012), Toward Inclusive Growth in Nigeria. Washington, The Brookings Institution.

[24] ibid
[25] Ibid
[26] Rajadhyaksha, N (2012), “India's New Industrial Policy” liveMint.com & The Wall Street Journal, February 17, 2012. Quoted in Ogbu, O (2012) Op cit

[27] World Commission on Environment and Development (1987), Our Common Future. Oxford, Oxford University Press. m

[28] Drexhaje, J. and Murphy, D (2010), Sustainable Development: From Brundland to Rio. New York, UN Headquarters.

[29] UNDP (2003), Human Development Report 2003-Millenium Development Goals: A Compact among Nations to end Human Poverty. New York, Oxford University Press

[30] Millenium Development Goals Report 2011
[31] The Punch, March 9, 2005. Vol. 17, No. 19297
[32] The Policy Support Instrument is a package of advice, monitoring and assessment given by the International Monetary Fund to one of its members. The fund visits the member country frequently and investigates the country's progress on key economic policy fundamentals. It then produces advice for the country and gives the rest of the world a progress report. The country itself sets the benchmarks by which it will be judged, based on the country's poverty reduction strategy.

[33] The Story of  Overview of Public Expenditure in NEEDS (OPEN) (2008). Abuja, the Presidency, Government of Nigeria

[34] Millennium Development Goals Report 2004 p. iv

[35] Ibid p. v
[36] UNDP (2010) Op cit
[37] Ibid
[38] Ibid p.5
[39] Ibid p. 5
[40] Ibid p.6