FG Requires $33bn Annually To Achieve MDGs Target

National Planning Minister, Mohammed Daggash, has said a whopping $33 billion is required annually to achieve the country’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) target.

The minister, who is also deputy chairman of the National Planning Commission (NPC), made the disclosure at the policy dialogue on the MDGs-based Planning and Macroeconomic Framework for NEEDS II held in Abuja.

Daggash pointed out that a number of challenges have been inhibiting the process of achieving the MDGs, adding that Nigeria and many other countries stand the risk of not attaining the MDGs except extra efforts were put in place to redress the challenges.

According to him, achieving the MDGs by 2015 would require a significant increase in the level of aid and financing available to poor countries as well as scaling up of local and foreign investments to increase economic growth.

The federal government, as a way of ensuring that the goals were achieved, the minister noted, has begun the process of costing public investment requirements for achieving MDGs.

While disclosing that a total of eight key sector areas have been involved in the exercise, Senator Dagash said preliminary results indicated that Nigeria needs global resources of $33 billion to meet the MDGs on an annual basis

"Because of the huge amount involved," he said Nigeria would need to redouble its revenue mobilisation efforts at the federal and the subnational levels to attain the MDGs by the targeted year.

The minister, who disclosed that the projected resource outlook might not be a total reflection of the required assessment in view of the inherent challenges on data gap in key socioeconomic parameters stated that the data problems and the issues associated with financial calculation would be addressed.

He however assured that the commission would work in close collaboration with the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the Office of Senior Special Assistant to the President on MDGs to get a reliable data for reasonable assessment.