Here we Mo again……. Nigeria and the Mo Ibrahim Index

The Mo Ibrahim Index assesses the quality of governance in Africa in relation to the provision of public goods and services as well as policy outcomes. It covers four broad areas of governance:

• Safety & Rule of Law (Rule of Law, Accountability, Personal Safety and National Security)
•  Participation and human right (Participation, Rights and Gender)
• Sustainable economic opportunity (Public Management, Business Environment, Infrastructure and the Rural Sector)
•  Human Development (Welfare, Education and Health)

How did Nigeria perform generally?

Nigeria performed poorly in the 2013 index. It ranked 41 out of 52 African countries with an overall score of 43.4 out of 100. Nigeria ranks the bottom four in West Africa and scored below average in three of the four broad areas. Not surprising, its lowest score was in the sub category area of infrastructure with a score of 14.9 out of 100. Nigeria also scored poorly in the sub category areas of personal safety, participation and accountability with scores of 15.8, 28.8 and 35.3 respectively. Interestingly, its highest scores are in the sub category areas of National Security and Health. It scores 58.3 in public management and ranks 14 in this area.

How did Nigeria perform compared to its West African counterparts?

Position	Country	Safety & Rule of Law	Participation and Human Rights	Sustainable Economic opportunity	Human Development	Overall Score
1	Cape Verde	80.1	81.7	64.5	80.7	76.7
2	Ghana	70.8	68.1	54.4	74	66.8
3	Senegal	59.2	67.6	54.8	62.3	61
4	Sao Tome & Principe	67.4	66.9	38.4	66.8	59.9
5	Benin	61.7	65.9	49.9	57.2	58.7
6	Gambia	53.6	35.7	58.4	66.5	53.6
7	Burkina Faso	56.4	53.4	54.2	47.8	53
8	Mali	48.2	53.4	50.6	50.6	50.7
9	Niger	54.3	57.4	43.1	47	50.4
10	Liberia	55.5	56	39.1	50.7	50.3
11	Sierra Leone	55	53.4	41.8	42	48
12	Togo	54.7	39.4	35.4	53.7	45.8
13	Nigeria	41	37.7	42.2	52.7	43.4
14	Guinea	46.8	45.9	33.5	46.7	43.2
15	Cote d’Ivoire	38.8	33.1	43	48.8	40.9
16	Guinea Bissau	34.7	38.5	28.3	46.7	37.1

It is obvious that the Nigerian government needs to step up governance and take action to address the weak areas identified in this assessment. It also needs to intensify efforts in curbing corruption as I stressed in my first blog post in 2011. Tackling corruption should be a major priority of the Nigerian government as it is a binding constraint to the efficient provision of public services (see policy brief).

Link to the 2013 Mo Ibrahim Index results