As the 2015 deadline for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) approaches, the United Nations and the international community at large have started work on a new development framework. Equally as important to drafting a new development framework, is the need to assess the impact and effectiveness of the MDGs on the lives of people. In the year 2000, over 148 countries signed up to the Millennium Declaration, which articulated a bold vision and established concrete targets for improving and saving the lives of those threatened by diseases and hunger. Many countries, particularly in Sub-Sahara Africa have seen important progress across all goals, though uneven. In Nigeria, this has been no different as results from the MDGs Performance Tracking Survey in 2012 indicate that Goal 3. Gender Parity has already been achieved ahead of the 2015 deadline; while Goals 4 and 5 have strong prospects of being met by 2015. The importance of using statistical data to corroborate progress or otherwise in the MDGs cannot be over emphasized. Though this critical role of data in monitoring the implementation and progress of the MDGs was not acknowledged at the inception, it is now being increasingly recognized and supported.

It is in recognition of this important role of data and in demonstration of the commitment of the federal government to meeting the targets of the MDGs, that National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) commissioned the 2014 MDGs Performance Tracking Survey. This is the second round of the survey and it is designed to generate specific indicators to monitor progress of the MDGs across the goals. These findings will also help policy makers identify gaps and challenges to the realization of the goals and proffer solutions to ultimately achieve a successful completion of the MDGs targets by 2015. The survey generated several indicators across seven of the eight MDG goals to track progress.