Abimbola Akosile
1 July 2009
Lagos — Special Adviser to the President on relations with the civil society, Prince Chineme Edwin Ume-Ezeoke, has initiated a fresh move to spur a more proactive approach in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) project in Nigeria.
Ume-Ezeoke unveiled the new initiative in Enugu during a national summit on town unions, traditional rulers, peace, security and conflict resolution for sustainable development and MDGs by public administration and local government studies of the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN).
He said it has become imperative for civil society organisations (CSOs) to see the MDGs project as personally challenging to them, according to information provided by his media aide, Mr. Chika Izuora.
The Special Adviser, who spoke through his personal assistant, Mr. Chris Amah, recommended the involvement of civil society bodies in advocacy implementation and mobilisation of people to own the vision of the United Nation (UN) MDGs in Nigeria, among other approaches.
Ume-Ezeoke's vision in this direction is that the MDG programme would be fast-tracked more than ever before when CSOs adopt it as the peoples' MDGs, rather than the usual phrase UN- MDGs.
According to him, "We need to adopt a bottom-up approach with government creating the enabling environment and the people owning and implementing the vision".
He reasoned that since the MDG document seeks to make the world a better place for all through strengthening of all indices of development, Nigeria should also create a culture of ownership of the programme with the CSOs mobilising action to energise the people regarding their implementation.
"Making MDGs personal is one of the most sustainable ways to achieve them, and CSOs can play very significant roles on the campaign to personalise the MDGs", he said.
The Special Adviser specifically suggested that the CSOs can achieve this by connecting local people to information, empowering them through education, informing them through various channels like traditional institutions, and celebrating those who make personal effort toward MDGs.
He stated that the CSOs can achieve more through advocacy, education, mobilisation of experts and funds, monitoring and evaluation and programme implementation.
Ume-Ezeoke called on all Nigerians to wake up as the country is in dire need of development, by taking necessary action and declaring the MDGs as their personal development goals; and also challenged the CSOs to implement the MDGs within their fold in institutions and at community levels.
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