UNITED Nations Development Programme (UNDP) resident coordinator Macleod Nyirongo has said issues of good governance are a responsibility for all citizens.

Speaking when he paid a courtesy call on Copperbelt Permanent Secretary Villie Lombanya in Ndola yesterday, Mr Nyirongo said good governance meant that people take responsibility while Government should meet them half-way.

Mr Nyirongo praised the Zambian Government for its achievements such as the bumper maize harvest that has been recorded this season and jobs that have been created in some sectors of the economy.

He said it was also important to have the necessary statistics to establish whether the farmers responsible for the higher maize harvest were small-scale farmers in order to encourage further growth.

He said issues of HIV/AIDS were a challenge which should be tackled in all sectors by everybody.

Mr Nyirongo said there was also need to mitigate the infection rates by encouraging the use of condoms and male circumcision as a way of prevention.

On the issue of education, he said Africa was lagging behind in knowledge, science and technology and stressed the need to promote vocational training.

He also called for the revival of memorials for former UN secretary general Dag Hammerskjoeld who died in a plane crash in Ndola's Chichele forest plantation in 1961.

Mr Lombanya said the Government had taken responsibility to maintain the crash site and would hold the memorial this year.

He said he was impressed with Lumwana Mines which had come up with an agricultural programme to sustain the surrounding community when it stops mining.

He said it was also not enough to address HIV/AIDS but that there was also need to address issues of nutrition.

He said with the assistance of the UN systems, Zambia would be able to meet the 2015 millennium development goals.