The High Level United Nations Summit which is considering how to end poverty by 2015 is underway in New York, but Nigeria is missing.
The High Level United Nations Summit which is considering how to end poverty by 2015 is underway in New York, but Nigeria is missing.
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The United Nations Journal shows that Nigeria’s Goodluck Jonathan is scheduled to be the 6th Head of State or Government to address the important meeting this morning. This is significant because the United Nations regards Nigeria as one of the most backward countries when it comes to implementing the Millennium Development Goals.
But Jonathan pulled out of the meeting at the weekend, as Saharareporters reported on Saturday, in order to protect his political interests in Nigeria. He declared his intention to run for the January 2011 election yesterday.
Backing up our Saturday story yesterday, the New York Times wrote as follows, “President Goodluck Jonathan abruptly canceled a trip to attend the United Nations General Assembly without explanation, raising new questions about his hold on power…”
In the story, which was headlined, “New Questions About Nigerian’s Grip on Power,” the Times said that Mr. Jonathan had been expected to travel to New York after formally opening his presidential bid on Saturday.
By skipping this week’s meeting on the MDGs, Jonathan continues recent tradition in which Nigeria’s leaders miss critical UN summits. The international community continues to be concerned about Nigeria’s indifference to keeping her promises to meet internationally-agreed development targets.
In 2000, world leaders gathered in New York agreed on a time-frame of 15 years to implement eight ambitious development objectives known as the MDGs, the first of which is reducing poverty by half by 2015. With only five years to that date, Nigeria has done next to nothing, and her leaders conveniently avoid having to discuss the subject. In April 2009, former President Umaru Yar’Adua, in an interview with The Guardian (Lagos), said Nigeria would not meet four of the targets.
Here is the UN Journal’s indicating Jonathan’s place on today’s schedule:
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