Fishermen in the Niger Delta. (Photo Courtesy Elizabeth Dickinson/AllAfrica)

A major review of Nigeria compiled by its African peers says too much power is concentrated in the central government, inhibiting "true federalism," and that the executive branch of government has excessive power compared to the legislature and the judiciary.

The report also says that "corruption remains the greatest and most troubling challenge to realising Nigeria's huge developmental potential," making it unlikely that the government will achieve its objective of becoming one of the world's 20 largest economies by the year 2020.

These are among a host of findings published this week in the African Peer Review Mechanism's Country Report No. 8 – Federal Republic of Nigeria – a 514-page study compiled on the basis of a joint effort by Nigerians and a "country review mission" comprising experts from around the continent appointed by the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM).

The APRM, of which former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo was a principal architect, was set up by governments as a self-described "African self-monitoring mechanism… designed and implemented by Africans for Africa."

A project set up under the auspices of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad), the APRM aims to promote better standards of political, economic and corporate governance, as well as socio-economic development. A total of 29 member states of the African Union have voluntarily signed up to the mechanism so far.

Sketching the background to its review, the APRM report on Nigeria says the country's main challenge is "the paradox of poverty in the midst of plenty." It asks: "Why does the biggest oil producer in sub-Saharan Africa [at the time the report was drawn up] have the world's third-largest concentration of poor people?"

Dealing with the issue of democracy and good governance, it says the country has "excelled" in promoting the peaceful resolution of disputes in West Africa. But internally, it has been "embroiled in military and intrastate conflicts."

Despite the return to civilian rule in 1999, "an over-concentration of power in the central government inhibits true federalism. The excessive powers of the executive vis-à-vis the legislature and judiciary – a legacy of the long period of military rule – curtail the realisation in practice of the principle of separation of powers with its inherent checks and balances."

The report also identifies the civil service as in need of further reform. "Demoralising issues such as poor pay, political patronage, a slow response to technological change and modern organizational methods, corruption and gross indiscipline characterise the civil service," it says.

It calls corruption "endemic at all levels of society" and says bodies such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) are under-resourced and "sometimes seen to be influenced by the executive."

Other findings in the report:
•    Women are largely under-represented on elective and non-elective decision-making bodies at federal and state level.
•    Although Nigeria has signed the international Convention on the Rights of the Child, only 18 of 36 states have implemented its Child Rights Act.
•    Although economic rehabilitation since 1999 has reversed macro-economic imbalances, macro-economic policy remains constrained by a low revenue base. This is caused by factors including tax evasion, slow progress in diversifying the economy, high unemployment and the economy's vulnerability to shocks and insecurity, mainly in the oil industry.
•    The economy is uncompetitive, characterised by a large informal economy, high costs of doing business and "significant idle capacity."
•    Nigeria's reliance on "distributing resources rather than on creating wealth" undermines growth in the private sector, which is dominated by multinationals, operating largely as "enclaves" with no relationship with the country's many small and medium enterprises.
•    Corporate governance reforms needed include properly implementing existing laws and updating others: "Notably," says the report, "the penal code does not recognise corruption as a crime."
•    Investment is constrained by poor infrastructure, especially roads and electricity supply.
•    The country's level of governance provides "an inadequate check on boards of directors." Insiders have stripped companies of assets, directors have sometimes failed to perform their fiduciary duties, and there are "instances of inaccurate, sometimes deliberately misleading, reports by companies."

Download and read the full report, including:

•    the Nigerian government's formal response to it,
•    the National Programme of Action adopted by the government on the basis of its own self-assessment,
•    President Yar'Adua's response to the report; and
•    The responses of other African presidents to the report