Nigeria’s Millennium Development Goals Policy Initiatives: Performance and Future Prospects

Abstract

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), set in 2001, were goals to be achieved by 2015. The MDGs have helped to provide a multidimensional view of progress as opposed to an exclusive concentration on economic growth. Goal 4 and Goal 5 of the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are focused on reducing child and maternal mortality rates, respectively. Nigeria’s federal government was obligated to accomplish the MDGs. While pursuing health-related objectives with vigor, there have been various degrees of success as well as failures. Child and maternal mortality rates continue to be high in Nigeria. This research investigates Nigeria’s initiatives to reduce child and maternal mortality to improve its ranking on the global stage. The method of analytical analysis is used to carry out this research. The paper analyzes the government’s policy objectives, its evaluation, and future possibilities. This paper argues that the Nigerian federal government’s 2005 initiative to devote the funds accrued from the Paris Club Debt Relief Deal to the execution of the Millennium Development Goals was a commendable one. Over the years, the Nigerian government has implemented programs such as the Saving One Million Lives (SOML) initiative, Conditional Cash Transfers (CCT), Conditional Grants Scheme (CGS), Midwives Service Scheme (MSS), Integrated Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health (IMNCH) strategy, Village Health Workers Scheme, and “the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Program for Maternal and Child Health” (SURE-P MCH). These particular initiatives are being promoted in health institutions across Nigeria.