SAD! Nigeria ranks 36 in Mo Ibrahim’s Africa governance index 

Nigeria has received a heavy knock with the Mo Ibrahim International Index for Governance in Africa, as it has been ranked 36 out of 54 countries.

The index report released in London on Monday is sequel to the measurement of overall governance in 54 African countries in the last 10 years.

The 2016 Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG), launched by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, shows that improvement in overall governance in Africa over the past 10 years has been held back by a widespread deterioration in the category of Safety and Rule of Law.

According to the group, Nigeria scored 46.5 out of 100 points in the overall governance index that saw Cote d’ Ivoire, Togo and Zimbabwe as the three most improved in the governance rating of all 54 African countries surveyed.

Nigeria was also rated poorly in the national security sub-sector having declined by 28.6 points over a ten year period from 2006 to 2015.

However in national security, Nigeria is one of 10 countries that improved in all four sectors that were used for measurement, namely, Accountability, Participation & Human Rights, Sustainable Economic Opportunity and Human Development.

The statement bearing the report stated, “The 10th edition of the IIAG, the most comprehensive analysis of African governance undertaken to date, brings together a decade of data to assess each of Africa’s 54 countries against 95 indicators drawn from 34 independent sources.”

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IIAG, for the first time, this year, included Public Attitude Survey data from Afrobarometer in its  report,  which helped it in capturing Africans’ own perceptions of governance, provide fresh perspective on the results registered by other data such expert assessment and official data.

“Over the last decade, overall governance has improved by one score point at the continental average level, with 37 countries – home to 70% of African citizens – registering progress. This overall positive trend has been led mainly by improvement in Human Development and Participation & Human Rights. Sustainable Economic Opportunity also registered an improvement, but at a slower pace.

“However, these positive trends stand in contrast to a pronounced and concerning drop in Safety & Rule of Law, for which 33 out of the 54 African countries – home to almost two-thirds of the continent’s population – have experienced a decline since 2006, 15 of them quite substantially,” the statement said.

By Ebere Ndukwu …

RipplesNigeria …without borders, without fears