Nigeria Has No Data On Poverty Reduction — UN

Resident Coordinator of the United Nations System in Nigeria, Daouda Toure has revealed that Nigeria does not have any data on poverty reduction.

Speaking with journalists at a media briefing on the United Nations System in Nigeria Integrated Implementation Framework (UNSN-IIF) in collaboration with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which held in Abuja yesterday, he said? remarked that there were??? many challenges facing poverty reduction in Nigeria, which including the ‘absence of data among other things.’

“Nigeria has shown a remarkable push towards achieving the MDGs using innovative and ground-breaking programmes such as the Conditional Grant Schemes (CGS), Conditional Grant Transfers (CGT), which are the best practices which reflect the benefits of multi-level partnerships in a federal system of government in meeting the MDGs,” he said.

“The initiative of the UN Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon was to promote partnership and accountability for the MDGs through a publicly available interactive web portal that will provide an overview of all international commitments made in direct support of MDGS 1-8 since 2000.”

The Resident Coordinator maintained that “Nigeria was one of the three countries supporting the initiative through the office of the? SSAP-MDGs. The IIF will provide raw data on progress and resources commitments to the MDGs per region, country and institutions.”

Mr Daouda commended the office of the MDG for its financial contribution to the United Nations Millennium Campaign, adding that “The support for the IIF is a demonstration of Nigeria’s leadership role on the continent and a display of political commitment in putting in place institutional and policy frameworks towards meeting the MDGs.”

Presenting a brief of the IIF, United Nations Millennium Campaign (UNMC) Hilary Ogbona said the IIF records and monitors financial as well as policy commitments made in support of the MDGS by UN member states and other international stakeholders.