Advanced Engineering Materials: Key To Millennium Development Goals In Africa

ABSTRACT

African nations have been characterized by conflicts, total war,

slave trade, poverty of the highest order, corrupt leadership,

undeveloped infrastructures, indisciplined society, we can go on to

mention as many as the vices that estranged the continent. It is an

irony to see all these in African continent, where civilization of the

world began.

For all these calamities that befell Africa, I sometimes wonder, if

that is why the observation of our God in Genesis 6:5 was made.

“The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had

become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was

only evil all the time. It appeared to be true of Africa only. The

other nations of the world are developing rapidly, when we are still

walloping with diseases, poverty, corruptions and civil conflicts.

Around the sixties, Malaysia and Nigeria was at the same level of

development, Nigeria even seemed to have been more developed

than Malaysia. Then Malaysia came to Nigeria to obtain oil palm

seedlings from NIFOR, Benin in Edo-State in the fifties. Now

Malaysia is well developed and exports its goods to Nigeria. For

example, Dell Computers”. What is wrong with Africa, where

human and natural resources are in abundance? In order to wake

up African countries from sleeping and get where God want them

Public Lecture Series, Volume 22, 29th May, 2008

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to be like other nations, there must be development in many

aspects.

Recently, impetus came from the United Nation to Africa and other

developing countries, that a magic year 2020, had been set for them

to have rapid developments in all ramifications. This would

equalize them to the developed nations in the developmental

pedal. The government and the politicians had been singing loud

on every occasion of this magic year 2020, all the bad vices in the

continent would have been transformed or eradicated. That is,

hunger, poverty, poor infrastructures, diseases, civil conflicts and

others, would give way for better life. What is this magic? If we

are going to unlock it. What must we do? This is the thrust of this

lecture. This magic year had been packaged as The Millennium

Development Goals (MDGs) aimed at poverty reduction over a

stipulated period of time with globally defined measurable

indicators of progress.