Chime Seeks More Assistance On MDGs

Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State has appealed to developed countries to increase their assistance to developing nations to facilitate the actualisation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

He said at the South East Conference on MDGs with the theme: “Ten Years After: What Progress In The South East?” organised by DFID, that 2011 was critical to the assessment of the programme.

Chime noted that the country had only four years to actualise all the goals.

The governor, represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Mr Martin Ilo, said that Enugu State reflected all challenges of MDGs in its development plans aimed at meeting the target in 2015.

He noted with regret that the N1 billion received by the state in 2010 for implementation of the MDGs was grossly inadequate, and appealed to DFID to adopt a pragmatic approach toward achieving all the goals.

Chime urged the participants to come up with useful ideas that could fast-track the achievement process.

The UNICEF Representative, Mr Saadom Anom, promised that the agency would continue to make efforts to support governments in the South East to actualise the MDGs.

Mrs Dorcas Edeani, Enugu State Coordinator of an NGO, PATHS 2, stressed the need for participants to come up with strategies that would facilitate the achievement of the goals.

She noted with regret that assessment indicators had shown that development plans in health and education sectors were poorly implemented.

Edeani urged the South East governors to show appreciable political commitment through financial support and effective monitoring to ensure transparency and accountability for the MDGs to succeed.

The Chairman of the occasion, Mr Eric Onyeiwu, said the basic issues in MDGs were those of development, which was geared toward eradication of poverty.

He said the conference was to appraise how far the five South East states had implemented the goals, 10 years after commencement of the programmes and strategise for the next four years.

He expressed optimism that the deliberations would be an eye opener for all the participants for improved performance.

All the five South East states, Anambra, Enugu, Abia, Imo and Ebonyi presented their reports through their MDGs focal persons.