- Egypt, Gabon, Morocco, Togo, 9 Others Making Progress in Governance, Says Report
By Abiola Olawale
A report published by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation has placed Nigeria among eleven African countries that have seen worsening governance levels in the last ten years dating back to 2014.
In the report titled “2024 Ibrahim Index of African Governance”, Nigeria fell three places from 30th on the continent to 33rd.
According to the report, over the past decade, 33 countries in Africa have demonstrated advancements in overall governance, while 21 countries have experienced a decline in governance quality in 2023 compared to 2014.
Among these 21 countries, Nigeria is included in a notable subset of 11 nations—specifically Sudan, Senegal, Tunisia, Uganda, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Eswatini, Guinea, Mauritius, and Mozambique—that have exhibited the most significant deterioration in governance during the past decade, particularly in the latter half of this period.
According to the report, Nigeria experienced decline in 10 out of 16 sub-categories, with five showing drops greater than 5 points.
The most significant decline was in Security and Safety, which fell by 11 points, placing Nigeria among the 10 most declined countries over the past decade and in the bottom five for 2023.
At the indicator level, the Absence of Armed Conflict recorded a steep decline of 49.8 points, ranking Nigeria as the fifth most declined country in this category and the lowest-ranked in 2023, positioned 54th.
The report reads in part: “Over the decade, 33 countries, hosting just over half (52.1%) of the continent’s population, have made progress in Overall Governance. For 13 of them – Congo Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Gabon, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Morocco, Somalia, Togo, and Zambia – hosting over 1/5th (20.5%) of the continent’s population, progress is even accelerating over the second half of the period.”
“But for the remaining 21 countries, hosting 47.9% of the population, the Overall Governance level is worse in 2023 than in 2014. For 11 of those – Botswana, Burkina Faso, Eswatini, Guinea, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan, Tunisia, and Uganda – home to almost 1/3 (29.3%) of the population, deterioration is even worsening over the second part of the decade.”
This comes months after several individuals took to the streets to protest against what they described as bad governance.
It would be recalled that several protesters under the umbrella of ##EndBadGovernance took to the streets from August 1 to August 10, 2024, respectively.
