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Prof. Gideon Omuta, former Vice Chancellor, Christ Embassy University, Benin City, said on Tuesday that corruption was the major reason why the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), did not succeed fully in Nigeria.

Omuta made the remark at the second International Conference on Environment at the Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University (COOU), Uli Campus, Anambra.

The theme of the conference was “Evaluating Millennium Development Goals in Nigeria”.

Omuta spoke on “National Development Planning, MDGs and SDGs – An Assessment of Achievements and Challenges in Developing World: Lesson for SDGs”.

He said that corruption contributed to the failure in the full implementation of the nation’s development plans and that the menace had been elevated from just a social problem to the status of a culture.

“As a culture, corruption wears different faces including diversion of resources to projects they were not meant for, conversion of public funds and resources to private uses, over invoicing and budget padding.

“We locate projects where their outcomes are sub-optimal, substitute project, plan distortion, misrepresentation of project finances and outright embezzlement, among others.

“All Nigeria’s development visions and programmes have failed and will continue to fail, solely because of poor implementation by corrupt politicians and bureaucrats and their agents.”

He also identified inadequate information, government deficit and inadequate funding as some of the militating factors.

Omuta said that with the expiration of the timeline of the MDGs in September 2015, there were development gaps in the country that still needed to be closed.

The professor, therefore, urged President Muhammadu Buhari to sustain the fight against corruption, stressing that it is the only remedy to achieving robust economic policies and socialist programmes for the people.

Also speaking, a former Anambra Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Prof. Chinyere Okunna, noted that former Gov. Peter Obi gave MDGs its best shot through Anambra Integrated Development Strategy (ANIDS).

Okunna, who presented a paper entitled “Implementation of MDGS in Anambra State”, said the state ranked first in the federation in the implementation of MDGs, and that globally, it performed very well.

According to her, many states could not achieve the MDGs in education, infant and maternal health, among others because of peculiar socio-cultural and religious beliefs.

Earlier, the Acting Dean, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Prof. Leonard Muoghalu, said the conference was organised to evaluate MDGs implementation in the country.

Muoghalu expressed the hope that the outcome of the conference would assist the state government drive its development programmes and policies.

On his part, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Fidelis Okafor, said that the institution would continue to strive in the area of research.

Okafor, who was represented by the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Prof. Ntomchukwu Madu, noted that the outcome of such conferences had placed the institution on a very high pedestal.

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