NIGERIA has once again maintained its record of poor performance on the Mo Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG) as it was ranked 35th out of 54 African countries in the 2017 assessment released in Dakar, Senegal, last week. This is in spite of the Federal Government’s claims that it has made significant progress in the four categories used for the ranking. IIAG is an annual statistical assessment of the quality of governance in African countries.
The Mo Ibrahim Foundation, established in 2006 by the Sudanese-British telecommunications billionaire entrepreneur, Mo Ibrahim, supports good governance and leadership in Africa. Although the 2017 Index of African Governance, the 11th in the series, says that Nigeria improved in governance in the last five years, it still scored the country 48.1 out of a possible 100 marks. This score is still lower than the African average of 50.8 and the West African regional average of 53.8 percent. What this means is that governance did not make much impact on the lives of Nigerians. The poor rating also indicates that the government needs to do much more than it is doing now, particularly in the areas that the country is deficient.
The four aspects of governance assessed by the IIAG are: Safety and Rule of Law, Participation and Human Rights, Sustainable Economic Opportunity and Human Development. The report says that Nigeria achieved its highest score in Participation and Human Rights (52.5%), while it recorded the lowest in Sustainable Economic Opportunity (42.3%). In the sub-categories, Nigeria scored its best in Rule of Law (63.1%) and its lowest in Accountability (32.7%). The report also notes that Nigeria in the past ten years registered marginal improvement at an average trend of +0.38, with the pace “quickening in the last five years at an annual average trend of +0.83. We do not think that this marginal improvement calls for celebration. It is, instead, a wake-up call to the country to further improve in the categories in which it was ranked poorly.
Particular attention should be paid to Sustainable Economic Opportunity and Accountability. These two areas should worry the President Muhammadu Buhari administration. While our poor ranking in the former shows that most Nigerians are not getting economic opportunities, our performance in the latter is an indictment of government’s much-touted crusade against graft. It may not be out of place for the government to look at the consistent sterling performance of Mauritius, which has been ranked the “best governed country in Africa” for the fifth year in succession, or even our fellow West African country, Ghana, which scored highest in Participation and Human Rights (72.0%). Ghana’s 51.1% score in Sustainable Economic Opportunity is even higher than Nigeria’s 42.3 percent. Nigeria also ought to strive to meet up with South Africa, which had the highest regional average. But, this cannot be achieved through words. It can only be earned through concrete action.
It is unfortunate that for many years, Nigeria has remained at the bottom rungs of IIAG and other critical indexes. For instance, in 2013, Transparency International rated Nigeria the 35th “most corrupt nation in the world”, a result of poor governance. And in 2012, it ranked Nigeria 139th out of 176 countries surveyed.
Considering Nigeria’s endowment with many natural and human resources, the country ought not to be where it is now. But, leadership and good governance remain our Achilles heels.
Everything considered, government should speed up efforts in the areas in which Nigeria recorded poor marks. Despite the good score in Rule of Law (63.1%), many Nigerians are still in detention in violation of rule of law. Good governance is an outcome of good leadership. Our poor performance in many of the areas ranked reflects the failure of our successive governments to see governance as a human enterprise that should be focused on meeting the needs of the people and ensuring the overall development of the country.
It is, therefore, unacceptable and embarrassing that year after year, Nigeria has continued to be poorly ranked on all indices of developments. We agree with Mo Ibrahim that the way forward for Africa, including Nigeria, is for sufficient care to be taken to ensure that the continent’s economic growth is inclusive, equitable and job-creating, particularly for young people. It should also involve huge investments and creation of business opportunities in critical sectors of the economy. The Federal Government should not ignore the problems that have consigned Nigeria to the back seat on issues relating to good governance and leadership in Africa and the world. It must seek to enthrone good governance to achieve the much desired development of the country.