Development partners score Nigeria low on growth indices

By OLUKOREDE YISHAU
Recent reports by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) show that Nigeria lives below its status as the world’s fifth largest producer, especially with its lower ranking on the Human Development Index, writes Assistant Editor (News) OLUKOREDE YISHAU


Until last Wednesday, an average Nigerian was not expected to live beyond 48 years and some months. Many have died on attaining this age or even before they get to 48. Some of them died because they could not access the best health care they required. Many others were so poor they resorted to self-medication or sought comfort in churches and spiritual homes.

A development expert, Dr. Otive Igbuzor, said: “The fact is that children die every day in Nigeria. The rate is only second to China’s and it is unacceptable.”

But for reasons which centre on slight improvements in the health sector, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said the average Nigerian can now live for 51 years and some months.

The annual Human Development Index, however, painted a grim picture of the prospects for millions of people in some of the world’s poorest nations, including Nigeria, despite its status as the fifth largest oil producer in the world.

The UNDP, in the report published last Wednesday, argued that global development will be stalled, unless countries, such as Nigeria, make bold moves to battle inequality and environmental threats. It observed that deforestation, soil erosion and rising food prices have hit poor populations across the world, widening the gap between developed and underdeveloped countries.

The UNDP Director, Helen Clark, said: “Many disadvantaged people carry a double burden of deprivation. They are more vulnerable to the wider effects of environmental degradation, because of more severe stresses and fewer coping tools. They must also deal with threats to their immediate environment from indoor air pollution, dirty water and unimproved sanitation. Forecasts suggest that continuing failure to reduce the grave environmental risks and deepening social inequalities threatens to slow decades of sustained progress by the world’s poor majority—and even to reverse the global convergence in human development.

“We have a collective responsibility towards the least privileged among us today and in the future around the world—and a moral imperative to ensure that the present is not the enemy of the future.”

Of the 187 countries monitored in the report, Nigeria placed 156 on the UN quality of life index. Last year, Nigeria was placed 142 of 169.

The 2011 report, entitled: “Sustainability and Equity: A Better Future for All’’, puts Nigeria’s life expectancy at 51.9, below that of Libya 74, Mauritus 73.4, Gabon 62.7 and South Africa 52.8. The life expectancy is calculated by the number of years a newborn infant could expect to live if the prevailing pattern of age specific mortality rates at the time of birth stay the same throughout the infant’s life.

On education, the index on Nigeria shows that the average number of years of schooling received by people from 25 and older is 5.0. The report puts the highest possible years of schooling for a child in the country at 8.9, if the prevailing pattern of age-specific enrolment rates persist throughout the child’s life.

With a Gross National Income (GNI) per capita of $2,069, Nigeria lags behind countries, such as Equatorial Guinea, which has its GNI at $17,608, Botswana, with $13,049 and Gabon, with $12,249.

The report, however, has some good news. It shows that extreme poverty has declined in the country, noting that these advances are attributable to improvements in water, sanitation, health and other living standards.

Recent reports on the country have been anything but flattering. The New York-based Centre for Reproductive Rights recently published a report, entitled Broken Promises: Human Rights Accountability and Maternal Deaths. The report said Nigeria has done little to address maternal deaths.

The country also did not fare well in the World Bank’s 2012 World Development Report (WDR) on Gender and Equality. The report was released on September 17. Co-Director WDR Mr Sudhir Shetty said: “In the case of Nigeria, what is observed is that the maternal mortality is still quite high, which is also a big issue in almost all parts of Africa. There is a need for necessary improvement in health care delivery.”

He added: “The second issue is that female farmers have lower yields than their male counterparts and this calls for discussion on the need to improve women’s access to resources through window mechanisms, window access to productive resources, improved technology and education.”

Another World Bank report said the chances of Nigeria meeting the 2015 deadline to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are slim. The report released at the recently Annual Meeting of the bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) said only four African countries are likely to attain the goals.

The report reads: “Four countries: Cape Verde, Ethiopia, Ghana, and Malawi will likely achieve most of the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 or soon thereafter. Despite this success, serious development challenges remain in Africa.”

Development experts believe the country has a lot to do to increase the life expectancy and other indices of development.

Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi said: “We must redouble efforts to improve the human development indices. We must collectively remove poverty, hunger and diseases from the society and thus unleash all potential available for growth and development to achieve the MDGs in Nigeria generally and in our region in particular.’’

For the Senior Special Assistant on MDGs, Hajia Amina Az-Zubair, the answer lies in ensuring that the MDGs are met. She said: “The Millennium Development Goals in Africa hold the promise of saving millions of lives; empowering women, addressing the scourge of illiteracy, hunger and malnutrition; and ensuring that Africa’s children have access to education of good quality and good health care to lead productive lives.”

Her position is shared by the Southwest Regional Coordinator for the Department for International Development (DFID), Mr. Sina Fagbenro-Byron, who said: “The year 2015 is our time frame and we have a pretty vivid idea about the state of welfare of our people. We need to ensure that we begin now to concentrate on real impact that is meaningful and has a transitional effect on our people, especially the poor and vulnerable. We need to be sure that we are counting and measuring the right things, particularly realising that mere budget appropriated, released or in fact budget spent does not automatically translate to improving lives. Our focus should rather be on how our budgeting and spending is affecting robust and meaningful indicators and baselines to help monitor, capture, and report quality results.”

A development expert in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Ibadan, Bolatito Lanre-Abass, said poverty has to be defeated for the country’s development indices to appreciate. She said: “Poverty is also a major cause of maternal mortality, as it prevents many women from getting proper and adequate medical attention due to their inability to afford good antenatal care.”

President of an anti-maternal mortality organisation, Oops I’m Pregnant (OIP), Mrs. Osaze Ebinda , said: “The possibility that something could go wrong makes pregnancy less appealing for many. There is need for government to show greater willingness and enthusiasm to have communication and collaboration with ad hoc health service providers and strive to provide government machinery to reach and serve relatively more deprived areas and people.”

The President, Society of Perinatal Medicine of Nigeria (SOPMON), Prof Godwin Ajayi, said the country is still at the lower rung of the ladder in the attainment of MDGs, particular in prevention of deaths of mother and child during childbirth. He said a lot of women and children are dying from preventable diseases, adding that the country needs to build capacity and improve on infrastructure to address this problem.

Nigeria’s expenditure on public health, which was put at 1.7 per cent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), is also considered as a major problem by experts. This reflects on the quality of health care available, a situation which has made many Nigerians seek medical attention overseas.

A former Commissioner for Health in Lagos State, Dr Leke Pitan, condemns the development. He said: “It has become a shame to start sending the sick abroad. There is no health care abroad that is a miracle. Things should be done properly to get result. There are Nigerian experts who are super qualified, but the working environment must be conducive for them to work. If the country wants them back and contribute to the health care delivery system, it should put in place infrastructure. Inadequate infrastructure, adversely affect the sector’s growth.”

For now, the indices are not looking up. Will they at any time soon? May be. May be not.

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