Neo-colonialism and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Africa: A blend of an old wine in a new bottle

Abstract

The introduction of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2000 by the United Nations, which was aimed at reducing poverty, hunger, illiteracy, gender inequality and correcting some developmental malfunctions, was received with mixed feelings from development experts especially regarding its 15-year target for Africa. Some scholars were of the opinion that the MDGs were a huge failure in most, if not all, countries in Africa. Others, however, recorded considerable progress in developing countries. Deploying data from secondary sources, this paper, which is a retrospective study, brings into recognition that while the implementation of the MDGs was a good idea, they do not reflect Africa’s development stance outright. This paper analyzes each goal with substantial examples, and contends that the MDGs were an indirect way of making developing countries depend on the West. The paper recommends that Africa has to make a demarcation between its economy and that of the Western world.