Abimbola Akosile
6 October 2009
Lagos — Nigeria yesterday emerged 35th position out of the 53 countries in Africa, which were assessed and ranked on good governance by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation in its 2009 Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG).
This is a slight improvement of the country's 2008 ranking, which was 39th out of the 48 countries assessed in sub-Saharan Africa.
It recorded 46.5 marks out of 100, scoring below the overall continental average, which is 51.2 marks, and also scored below the West African regional average, which is 51.7 points. However, there was an improvement on its Human Development performance, scoring 50.8 marks, compared to 45.9 marks in 2008.
The country, which was recently given a low rating in the Global Corruption Report (GCR) 2009 released by Transparency International (TI), a global anti-corruption civil society organisation, also ranked 11th out of the 16 member countries in West Africa. In 2008, she came 14th in the same ECOWAS region.
In the 2009 Ibrahim Index of African Governance, which was released by the Foundation yesterday in Cape Town, South Africa, Mauritius came first in all the four governance categories for the third year running, scoring 82.8 marks out of 100, while Somalia emerged last in Africa, also for the second year running, with 15.2 marks overall.
In the West African region, Cape Verde emerged the best country in terms of good governance, scoring 78.0 marks out of 100 and emerging second in Africa. On the other hand, Cote d'Ivoire scored 36.6 marks to place 16th in West Africa and 47th in Africa. Ghana scored 66.0 marks to emerge second in West Africa and seventy in Africa.
The 2009 Ibrahim Index of Governance was published by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, an organisation committed to supporting great African leadership. The Ibrahim Index is Africa's leading assessment of governance, established to inform and empower the continent's citizens.
For the first time, this year's Ibrahim Index covers all 53 countries in Africa. It also includes data from 2008, making it more current than any other assessment of African governance.
It (Index) measures the delivery of public goods and services to citizens by government and non-state actors across 84 indicators of governance. Those governance indicators are grouped in four overall categories: Safety and Security, Participation and Human Rights, Sustainable Economic Opportunity, and Human Development. All the 53 countries in Africa are then ranked according to their total scores across the categories.
At category level, Nigeria scored below the continental and regional averages in all four categories that constitute the Ibrahim Index. However in Human Development, Nigeria's performance was stronger in relation to the continent and the region as reflected by higher ranks in this category.
Under the Safety and Rule of Law category, Nigeria scored 50.6 out of 100, placing 36th out of the 53 African nations and 12th out of the 16 countries in the West African region.
Under Participation and Human Rights, Nigeria scored 41.8 points, coming 33rd in Africa and 13th in West Africa, while in the area of Sustainable Economic Opportunity, the country scored 42.6 out of 100, placing 34th in Africa and 10 in West Africa.
Nigeria had the highest scores and ranking under Human Development, garnering 50.8 out of 100, placing 25th in Africa and 6th in West Africa; while under 2009 IIAG; it scored 46.5 points, coming 35th in Africa and 11th in West Africa.
Mauritius tops the 2009 Ibrahim Index with a total score of 82.8, ranking first in all four main categories. Cape Verde is ranked second with a total score of 78.0. Seychelles is ranked third with a total score of 77.1, followed by Botswana with a total score of 73.6. South Africa is ranked fifth with a total score of 69.4.
Somalia is the worst governed country on the continent, with a total score of 15.2. In 52nd place, Chad has a total score of 29.9, while Zimbabwe is third from bottom in 51st place with a total score of 31.3.
Southern Africa is the continent's best performing region, with an average score of 58.1, followed closely by North Africa with an average score of 57.7. West Africa is ranked third with an average score of 51.7, followed by East Africa with a score of 46.9. Central Africa is the worst performing region, with an average score of 40.2.
Central Africa is also the worst performing region across all four categories. All seven Central African countries are ranked outside the top 20, with all of them except Gabon performing below the average for the continent.
Reflecting important structural and methodological improvements over that of last year, the 2009 Ibrahim Index includes a new framework for assessing governance, and improvements to make the index more reflective of current governance realities.
At the full board of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation convened in Cape Town yesterday morning for the launch of the third iteration of the Ibrahim Index, the founder and Chairman of the Foundation, Mo Ibrahim, said: "The 2009 Ibrahim Index gives us the clearest - and most current - snapshot of governance performance on the continent we have ever had. With Southern Africa out-performing North Africa, we can see a picture emerging that fundamentally challenges our perceptions about Africa. Our objective is to generate debate about what we can expect our governments to deliver in our name."
Also speaking on the 2009 Index, Sir Ketumile Masire, former President of Botswana and a board member of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation said: "What is also clear is that there is room for improvement in the measuring of governance across the continent. There is a real lack of consistent data that undermines our ability to gauge the success of efforts, by both national governments and international development agencies, to improve lives and create new opportunities".
The Ibrahim Index of African Governance was created in recognition of the need for a robust, comprehensive and quantifiable tool for citizens and civil society to track government performance in Africa.
The 2009 Ibrahim Index of African Governance is based on the latest available data for each indicator; this data is from either 2007 or 2008. Previous years' indices are calculated using the latest data that would have been available that year.
The Mo Ibrahim Foundation said it is committed to supporting great African leadership that will improve the economic and social prospects of the people of Africa. The Foundation's focus is the promotion of good governance in Africa and the recognition of excellence in African leadership.
The foundation also confers the Ibrahim prize for Achievement in African Leadership, the largest annually awarded prize in the world. The Prize Committee, chaired by Kofi Annan, awards $5 million to a former executive head of state or government who has demonstrated excellence in leadership during his or her time in office. The announcement of the next winner will take place on Monday, October 19.
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Recent events regarding the Nigerian government's handling of the Banking Crisis and Delta problem are encouraging. Perhaps within another election period, Nigeria can continue to climb towards the decency of South African, and the Seychelles in terms of quality of all aspects of life in Africa. Their climb and consequencially, their future leadership is desparately needed, particularly in West Africa
It is unfortunate that Nigeria emerged 35th position out of 53 countries in Africa in terms of Governance by the Mo Ibrahim foundation in its 2009 Ibrahim Index of African Governance.What does that tell one about the sleeping giant Nigeria?What this means however, is that Nigeria has been since Independence be Headed by people who had acquired little or no strong Educational background such as late Tafawa Belewa.Among other Heads of who did not have basic or regular strong academic background but military Schools are thus Ironsi,Gowon,Mohammed,Obasanjo,Buhari,Babangida,Sanni Abacha,Abudullahi to mention but few,however, one may be wrong on this. These Heads of State were not trained on how to improve the lifes of their people but how to force their ways into people and ruin them.Besides,nobody is sure if Shehu Shagari really had a strong education which would have given him a boost as to know the word- rule of law,Human Rights, Freedom of speech and Economic Rights for Nigerians.For Nigeria to improve in future Governace assesment by Mo Ibrahim,Nigerians we should be thinking, this time about Electing an Administration that is not half baked but with solid Academic background that will always be verifiable any where Globally.This writer is not saying that those with military background can not lead but you can blend it with best idea to serving your people and not looting their treasury which tragically continues today to characterise any given Nigerian Administration military or Democratic.Nigeria needs STRONG LEADERS and not politicians.We have plenty of politicians more than we need.Nigeria never had HEROS but ZEROS and looters with blood on their hands.It is up to we the people to change the dynamic[s] of our country.Lets stop the parasites.
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