Breaking: Nigeria ranks 33 out of 54 in overall governance in Africa

Nigeria scored 47.9 in overall governance, ranking 33 out of 54 countries in Africa, the Mo Ibrahim foundation says. News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the 2018 Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG) was launched by the foundation during a live event on Monday. Nigerian flag Although Nigeria increased in ranking from 35 in 2017 to 33 in 2018, the country’s overall score dropped from 48.1 to 47.9. According to the report, this score is lower than the African average of 49.9 and also lower than the West African average of 54.3.

The report stated that Nigeria received its highest category score in Participation and Human rights scoring 53.2 and its lowest score in Sustainable Economic Opportunies scoring 43.5. It further showed that Nigeria received its highest sub-category score in Participation snagging 62.7 and its lowest in Transparency and accountability scoring 34.5. 

The 2018 Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG) covers ten years’ worth of data from 2008-2017 inclusive for 54 African countries. Reflecting on the 2018 Index report, Mo Ibrahim, Chair of the Foundation said, “there are many positive trends emerging from this year’s Index.

“Fifteen countries out of the 34 who register progress in Overall Governance over the last decade even manage to accelerate their pace of improvement in the last five years. “Among those, Côte d’Ivoire, Morocco, and Kenya display the most impressive progression, stepping up from 41st, 25th and 19th to 22nd, 15th and 11th ranks over the past decade. “On average on the continent, improvements in indicators related to Health and Infrastructure stand out. “There are also recent and welcome improvements in Rule of Law and Transparency & Accountability, even if scores in the latter are still low,” Ibrahim said.

The Mo Ibrahim Foundation was established in 2006 with a focus on the critical importance of leadership and governance in Africa, by providing tools to assess and support progress in leadership and governance. The IIAG provides an annual assessment of the quality of governance in African countries and is the most comprehensive collection of data on African governance. (NAN)