THE G8 AND THE REALIZATION OF THE
MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS IN AFRICA
By Aliyu
Othman
There is palpable
fear that the chances of many countries in Africa meeting the
Millennium Development Goals are becoming slimmer by the day.
African leaders invited to attend the recently concluded Group
of Eight industrialized counties’ summit in Hokkaido; Japan did
not mince words about the fact that developed countries have
been paying lip service to the compelling need to assist African
countries to meet the MDGs by 2015.
At every
opportunity, the G8 had given assurances of its commitment to
the developmental needs of African countries with a view to
providing them with the leverage to attain the MDGs target date
just seven years away.
Indeed, the G8,
three yeas ago in Gleneagles, Scotland told the world that it
had put a plan in place that will ensure the injection of about
fifty billion dollars as aid to developing countries with half
the amount going to Africa. But the group is yet to redeem its
pledge.
African countries
need the G8 to invest in major sectors of the African economy,
but they should not forget that the Gleneagles summit in
Scotland in 2005 which was more promising for Africa. The year
2015 is just around the corner, yet Africa has not been able to
access its share of the twenty five billion dollars for
developing countries promised by the G8.
The G8 which
includes the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada,
Italy, Japan, Russia and France added a new dimension to its
last summit. It invited not only multilateral agencies like the
World Bank and the United Nations but also some Asian countries
like India, China, Korea as well as some African countries
including Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Kenya, Tanzania and South
Africa to partner with the G8 to fashion out the best way to
fight poverty in Africa.
Nigeria’s
President Umaru Musa Yar’adua presenting Africa’s views at the
summit called for more in financing for infrastructural
development of African nations as a way of propping up the
continent to meet the MDGs.
President Yar’adua
also indicated Nigeria’s intention to propose to the United
Nations General Assembly an action by the international
community to clampdown on illicit trade in stolen crude oil, the
same way the world body clamped down on blood diamonds.
Going by the
deliberations of the G8 in Japan it appears that the leaders of
the world’s most industrialized nations are interested in what
Africa becomes in the next millennium. But their level of
assistance will eventually be determined by the level of
commitment of Africa leaders and the sustenance of institutions
that could fast-track development.
It is no longer
fashionable for leading world economies to opt for direct
investment in African nations. What is needed most is the
enabling environment for foreign private investment in African
nations that have requisite potential for development.
It is indeed time
African leaders apart from looking for G8 aid to demonstrate
their commitment to cooperation, partnership and trade between
themselves as well as entrench good governance in line with the
tenet of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, NEPAD to
guarantee the development of their countries.
Also, African
leaders should consider establishing a strong economic body to
pull together leading nations in the continent with considerable
human capital resources and the potentials to attract world
investors to the continent, after all the G8 member-nations also
belong to EU or UN Security Council but they still find it
expedient to come together under the G8 platform.
It is the hope of
Africa that the G8 delivers on its promises on aid through
investments as well as a means of controlling food prices and
global warming. It is only by so-doing that African nations will
see themselves as a player in the global economic arena.
