A Message for Millennium Development Ambassadors:
Spiritual Development is Essential in Realizing and Sustaining the
MDGs

"The Hope of All Leaders of the World is the Realization of the
Millennium Development Goals by 2015"

As we stand at the mid point of the 2015 MDGs target in the new
millennium, peoples of all nations, races, and creeds who share a
common hope for a world without the development divide must re-
double their personal and collective efforts to bring the MDGs to
reality. Whereas the past has been marked by poverty and hunger,
illiteracy and ignorance, gender inequality, increasing cases of
child mortality, poor maternal health and the spread of HIV/AIDS,
malaria and other diseases as well as loss and abuse of
environmental resources, and exploitation of weaker nations by
stronger nations, we must now long for and work for a future in
which these tragic occurrences can be eliminated. The Millennium
Development Goals offers us the direction and the actions to carry
out and we have to make it a reality.

The challenge ahead of all nations is how best to achieve the MDGs
and also sustain the achievement after 2015. This is also the
challenge of the United Nations who has proudly presented itself as
the institution for global development. Where does global
development begin? Global development does not begin from
developments at national levels; rather global development begins
with the personal development of individuals who are renewed in the
personal development of their relationship with God, the source of
all forms of development. Second, global development has its
foundation in the nuclear family where the most basic personal and
public virtues for development are learned. The family is the
primary institution of development. Third, the Millennium
Development Goals will only be realized as people learn and practice
the art of living for the sake of others, overcoming selfishness and
practicing the ideal of true love. Fourth, the development barriers
that has divided nations into developed, developing and
underdeveloped nations, which began from the divide among people,
must be overcome, that is, barriers created by race, nationality,
religion, language and culture. We can only achieve the Millennium
Development Goals if we can translate these goals into personal
development goals, family development goals, community development
goals, etc and strive to achieve them accordingly.

This can only be accomplished through the teaching that we
must "develop our enemies and our neighbors as we desire to develop
ourselves". Millennium Development Ambassadors are the emerging
local focused, global scoped leaders from various traditions and
backgrounds to bring the Millennium Development Goals to reality. We
must break through the global development barriers. These basic
principles lie at the heart of the Millennium Development
Ambassadors' vision, and this vision should guide all our thoughts,
words and actions as well as programs, and should shape our approach
to our current under-development crisis. Millennium Development
Ambassadors are central to the accomplishment of the United Nations
Millennium Development Goals vision.

The general desire is to realize the MDGs, and many have focused
mostly on physical development of our environment. There is another
aspect of development, which is human development. As in all created
things, human beings have a dual aspect, the internal nature and the
external form. Consequently, there should be two components of
development. The two basic components of development are crucial in
our determination to achieve the MDGs - the spiritual development
and secondly the physical development. In order to realize the ideal
envisioned by the United Nations through the MDGs in a fundamental
and comprehensive manner, Millennium Development Ambassadors must
continue to advocate that the United Nations and every Nation of the
World should incorporate the inner dimension of spiritual
development into the programs and activities of the MDGs. Also, the
United Nations and all nations should establish an assembly
consisting of representatives from all religions to support the
ongoing efforts to realize the MDGs. Such representatives must
implement the central ideal that their founders sought to realize,
and they must do it with wisdom, exemplifying in their personalities
a true love that can serve as a model for everyone. It is my hope
that many leaders will take this matter seriously and continue to
strive to establish an assembly of global religious and spiritual
leaders within the UN and launch special initiatives to
encourage "spiritual development" as an integral part of the MDGs.

We must sincerely take this historic stand so that we can attract
the harmony of people from developing and developed as well as under-
developed nations. If we encourage the attitude of developing others
as you aspire to be developed, then citizens of developed nations
who in the past normally don't meet with citizens from developing
and under-developed nations will be touched by the courage and
sincerity of Millennium Development Ambassadors who have come from
various backgrounds to work for the development of our world.
Together, let us all repent for the fact that we could not achieve
the goal of global development by the year 2000, and thus have
failed to achieve the developed kingdom that God has been seeking.
Hence, beyond establishing a culture of development, we must ensure
that developed communities and kingdoms emerge.

Many of you as Millennium Development Ambassadors are leaders from
the secular professional fields. You have developed yourselves very
well physically and materially. You however need to develop
yourselves also spiritually too. Our physical abilities are very
great and wonderful, but we also need to develop our spiritual
skills, which is the core of our physical existence. The whole
purpose of the MDGs is to enable us live a prosperous physical lives
in order to develop our spiritual internal nature. Though you may
not be religious educators or leaders, you are equally important
because you are people of faith who have been called by God to work
as legislators, civic leaders, youth and community leaders who are
committed to uplifting the ideals of development through strong
families. The advocacy for the creation of National Interreligious
Council and the constitutional provision for traditional rulers in
governance are but a few examples of the work you are doing.

Recently, your efforts led to the approval by the Nigeria government
for the issuance of special vehicle number plate for Millennium
Development Ambassadors. These are all great efforts. Your efforts
to inspire family development values based legislation; media,
economic development and community renewal are the foundations for a
prosperous and successful society because it is based on faith in
God. Now we all as both religious and secular professionals have to
come together to inspire the world to achieve the MDGs.

The establishment of the Millennium Development Councils in every
community and appointment of Millennium Development Ambassadors is
in order to cultivate leaders who will realize the MDGs in their
families, communities, states and nations by eliminating the
boundaries that have caused underdevelopment in the world despite
the human and material resources provided by God. By
building "Millennium Development Community Teaching and Learning
Centers" and Millennium Development Embassies" in every community of
our nation, we are institutionalizing our development movement, and
as educational centers to teach and accomplish the vision and wisdom
that the United Nations seeks and advocates."

This is the essence of our mission as Millennium Development
Ambassadors. We are to bring the proper balance and cooperation in
the development divide between the internal aspect and external form
of development. This is the path that will lead to the realization
of the United Nations MDGs.

I would like to ask you to take deep interest in this initiative for
the realization of the MDGs. Humankind in general, and the Nigeria
nation in particular is at a critical turning point. This era is the
long-awaited time in which the developmental power of God will
become manifest in our lives, even though He is invisible and has
seemed almost powerless and nonexistent in the past. The time has
come when the absolute power of God, who is the Lord of development
which really does exist in all things and in the universe, will
manifest in amazing ways and be experienced by people in their daily
lives.

Millennium Development Ambassadors now is the time! The time has
come to end all the problems resulting from under-development of
ourselves, our families, our people and nations. This is the age of
both spiritual and material development. Now is the time to end the
history of underdeveloped families and communities! Now is the time!
From the North to the South, from the West to the East, from the
Niger Delta to the Middle Belt, now is the time. And now is the time
to realize a fully developed world for all, a world where the MDGs
become a reality and not a dream.

We cannot achieve a sustainable development with considering
spiritual development. As we strive to accomplish the development of
the world, let us remember that global development begins from
personal development, and the core of personal development is
character development. Without doubt, spiritual development is
essential for the realization of the MDGs, and we must not fail to
be conscious of this fact.