Nigeria has been ranked among the bottom 10 performers in terms of governance in the African continent, according to the 2012 Ibrahim Index of African Governance, IIAG, released yesterday, by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation. According to the report, despite improvements in governance in many countries, Nigeria along with other African regional powerhouses — Egypt, Kenya, and South Africa — have shown unfavourable governance performance since 2006. The report disclosed that over the past six years, all four countries had declined in two of the four main IIAG categories — Safety & Rule of Law and Participation & Human Rights, stating that each of these four countries deteriorated the most in the Participation sub-category, which assesses the extent to which citizens have the freedom to participate in the political process.
South Africa and Kenya, the report also declared, have registered declines in Sustainable Economic Opportunity, while Nigeria has for the first time this year fallen into the bottom 10 governance performers on the continent.
According to the report, over the last six years, Tanzania has climbed up the IIAG’s rankings, making it into the top 10 for the first time. Angola, Liberia and Togo have left the IIAG’s group of the 10 worst performers, replaced by Eritrea, Guinea Bissau and Nigeria.
Reacting, Abdoulie Janneh, former Executive Secretary of the United Nation’s Economic Commission for Africa and Board member of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, said: “Given the vast natural and human resources of these four regional powers, these governance results are a concern.
“Each of these countries plays a key role in the economic and political landscape of the continent. To continue to optimally play this role requires a sustained commitment to balanced and equitable governance.”
The report rated West Africa lowest in gender issue, saying that the region is “underperforming in this core governance dimension in comparison to other Participation & Human Rights sub-categories.”
On gender issue
Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and Board Member of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation said: “Gender equality is a fundamental governance issue, as captured by the IIAG. It is not only a question of human rights. Africa’s women have the capacity to bring about remarkable change and therefore equity and equality between men and women is in the strategic interests of African leaders and governments.”
However, in the issue of regional trade, the report stated: “While West, Central and Southern Africa are slowly improving their overall governance scores, both North Africa and East Africa have registered declines.
“East Africa has now been overtaken by West Africa in the category of Sustainable Economic Opportunity. Two of the anchor countries of East Africa — Kenya and Uganda — have demonstrated deteriorations in Sustainable Economic Opportunity, dragging down the regional trends.”