by 2015, the results are erratic. According to the 2004 progress report on MDGs, Nigeria has progressed towards achieving several goals but has fallen short on others. Specifically, Nigeria has made modest progress in providing universal primary education, protecting the environment and developing a partnership for global development. However, the country lags behind in eliminating extreme poverty and hunger, reducing child and maternal mortality, and combating diseases like HIV, AIDS and malaria. 16 3.55 Nigeria adopted free universal primary education as a national policy in the 1970s. This led to a massive increase in primary-school enrolments. In line with the NEEDS policy objectives, the government has recently undertaken structural and institutional reforms to enhance service delivery. The government introduced universal basic education (UBE), under the Compulsory, Free, Universal Basic Education Act of 2004, to revise universal primary education. Although UBE is tuition-free, the high cost of school-related expenses and the costs to parents (particularly their labour) of sending children to school are keeping many school-age children out of school. 3.56 Nigeria’s health care system also faces many challenges and constraints in providing quality health care to all Nigerians, especially the unemployed and the poor. The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) cover appears to be largely exclusive. This contradicts its stated objectives. The cover provides mostly for the health care needs of the formally employed. Consequently, it excludes the majority of Nigerians who are either unemployed or work in the informal sector. The health sector is characterised by a low life expectancy of 46.5 years, along with a high incidence of tuberculosis (TB) and malaria. 3.57 The APR Panel contends that the endemic poverty and poor service delivery in Nigeria can be explained by a number of factors. These include: lack of strong political will; lack of monitoring and evaluation mechanisms; weak political, civic and administrative leadership; endemic corruption at all levels of government and within the society at large; and the lack of an entrenched participatory approach to development. All of these are significant in explaining Nigeria’s paradox of poverty in the midst of plenty. 3.58 The lack of effective policy and programme implementation is further compounded by a lack of necessary skills among government officials. This has been aggravated by the fact that the government appears to be remote from the civilian population. 3.59 Nigeria has ratified and implemented some international standards and codes. This is highly commendable. However, it has been difficult to find evidence of the standards and codes that have been signed by Nigeria, and when and whether they have been ratified and implemented. The main reason is that the federal Ministry of Justice, which is responsible for documenting these conventions, has incomplete records. This suggests that there are serious organisational problems associated with official record-keeping in Nigeria. 3.60 Public awareness of the standards and codes also appears to be very low. The CSAR reports that knowledge of Nigeria’s adoption and implementation