How did Nigeria perform in the 2013 Transparency International Corruption Index?

Yet again, Nigeria is ranked the 3^rd most corrupt country in the West African Region. This was highlighted in the 2013 Transparency International Corruption Perception Index released today. Transparency International Corruption Perception Index ranks countries based on how corrupt their public sector is perceived to be. The measurement is based on a scale of 0 to 100 with a score of 0 perceived as "highly corrupt" and 100 "very clean". Not surprising, Nigeria’s performance on the ranking is lower than its 2012 ranking. It ranked 144 out of 177 countries with a score of 25 compared to 2012 when it ranked 139 out of 176 countries with a score of 27.

In Sub-Sahara Africa, Botswana ranked the best at 30 with a CPI score of 64. Cape Verde ranked the best in the West African region with a position of 41 and CPI score of 68.Ghana ranked 63 with a CPI score of 46. Please see table below showing Nigeria’s performance in comparison with other West African countries.

Position	Country	2013 Rank	2013 Score	2012 rank	2012  score
1	Cape Verde	41	58	39	60
2	Ghana	63	46	64	45
3	Senegal	77	41	94	36
4	Liberia	83	38	75	41
5	Burkina Faso	83	38	83	38
6	Benin	94	36	94	36
7	Niger	106	34	113	33
8	Sierra Leone	119	30	123	31
9	Mauritania	119	30	123	31
10	Togo	123	29	128	30
11	Gambia	127	28	105	34
12	Mali	127	28	105	34
13	Cote d'ivoire	136	27	130	29
14	Nigeria	144	25	139	27
16	Guinea	150	24	154	24
15	Guinea Bissau	163	19	150	25

http://cpi.transparency.org/cpi2013/results/

Public Sector Reforms in Nigeria: what entry points?

Public sector reforms are usually challenging to implement, particularly in countries with limited political will for reform. This has been highlighted in various literatures. An interesting paper by Geoffrey Shepherd titled ‘Civil Service Reform in Developing Countries: Why Is It Going Badly? critically analyses the ‘universal approach’ to civil service reforms (merit based reforms) and acknowledges the difficulties it faces. It also makes some useful recommendations on how Civil Service Reforms (CSR) can be made more successful. Though written 10 years ago, and focused on the ‘core civil service’, many of the issues presented in the paper are still relevant today and are useful for wider public sector reforms.

What are the key issues?

In many developing countries like Nigeria, patronage is a dominant feature in both the core civil service and the wider public service. Public sector jobs are used by politicians to keep supporters/constituents happy. In some cases, it has become a ‘safety net’ or ‘welfare scheme’ due to the limited amount of jobs available. However, Shepherd’s paper recognises that patronage is not all bad; it has some advantages and has worked in certain conditions particularly when the size of the civil service is small.

What are the entry points for Public Sector Reforms (PSR) in Nigeria?

In a country like Nigeria where the governance is weak and the levels of corruption high, public sector reforms should be creative and dynamic. Geoffrey Shepherds’ paper proposes two key dimensions that can be followed to effectively reform the civil service. These dimensions can be applied to reforming the public sector In Nigeria.  He recommended both changing the mind-set and seeking alternative approaches to reform.

There are situations where reforms outside the public sector may be needed to ensure successful reforms in the public sector. Shepherd’s paper makes a good recommendation that may be useful and can be considered in the Nigerian context. The paper recommends ‘the transfer of excess employment in the civil service into a social security regime.’ This involves keeping the productive civil servants in the service and transferring the non-productive ones into a welfare scheme (like a social security scheme). This is an interesting approach that should be considered in countries like Nigeria where jobs are scarce and patronage politics dominates the public service.

In the spirit of Shepherd’s paper, here are my recommendations for reforming the public service in Nigeria:

1. Citizen focused PSR- Realising and emphasizing that the overarching goal of the public service is to serve the people (either through creating an enabling environment, effectively managing the public finances or directly providing services).  PSR programmes should support efforts that would enable citizen’s demand for services which would put pressure on the government to reform. This should be the starting point before focusing on merit based reforms. As Geoffrey pointed out ‘Notably, merit-based civil-service reforms were initiated in the Nineteenth Century when popular or economic demand for better public services overcame the political class’s preference to use civil-service appointments as the currency of politics (or the means of personal gain)’. This approach will entail the following:

• Effective Communications: Using evidence based research to highlight issues both positive and negative (in an easily understandable format) and clearly linking them to the impact it has on citizens. For example, showing the cost of having unqualified personnel in the public sector or the costs of corruption and the impact it has on citizens welfare. This can be done through policy briefs, social media, mainstream media etc. This would be useful in encouraging and enabling citizens to demand for services as well as influencing the government to reform.

• Strategic engagements: Supporting engagements and mechanisms that would improve the interface between the public servants and the citizens. E.g. regular town hall meetings on service delivery issues, complaints mechanisms, service delivery evaluations etc.

• Transparency:  Supporting reforms or efforts on transparency e.g. the publishing of service standards, budgetary allocations.

2.  Being opportunistic: Identifying windows of opportunities that may exist within and outside government as entry points. Sometimes supporting small reforms may yield tangible change with positive impact on the public service and the citizens. E.g. efforts are being made to institutionalise the Growth Enhancement Scheme (GES) in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture which started off as a pilot scheme aimed at supporting farmers with agricultural inputs. The power sector reforms are also another example showing where pockets of opportunities may exist. In addition, outside the government there are some individual reformers that exist who are fearless, passionate for reforms and are making some impact but may need to be supported e.g. Ordinary Ahmed (see blog post on Ordinary Ahmed) 

3. Tackling corruption: In the case of Nigeria, corruption is one of the major obstacles in the effective provision of public services. PSR should incorporate efforts to tackle some of its root causes e.g. focusing on election reforms (see blog post ).

4. Alternative approaches to traditional public sector reforms: There are situations where reforms outside the public sector may be needed to ensure successful reforms in the public sector. For example, focusing on economic reforms may be an entry point (though this could be a long term approach) that would bring about poverty reducing growth (job creating reforms). This would reduce the pressure on the public sector to provide jobs for people even when it is not needed. E.g. about 8,000 job seekers applied for 10 administrativepositions at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital in Enugu recently. 

Finally technocratic fixes or universal best practices on public sector reforms may not be a good entry point in countries like Nigeria with limited political will for reform. Context matters (understanding the political economy is vital). Citizen focused public sector reforms that emphasizes improved public services may be a good entry point and merit based reforms may come naturally as a pre-requisite to improve public services.

Some useful literature

G. Shepherd, ‘Civil Service Reforms in Developing Countries- Why is it going badly?’ 11^th International Anti-Corruption Conference 2003

D.K. Leonard, ‘Where are pockets of effective agencies likely in weak governance states and why,-A Propositional Inventory’2008

Z. Scott, ‘Evaluation of Public Sector Governance Reforms-2001-2011-Literature Review’

S. Rao, ‘Civil Service Reform Topic Guide’-GSDRC 2013

S. Buns and Fritz, ‘Making Public Sector Reforms Work-Political and Economic Contexts, Incentive sand Strategies’ 2012

Public Service Delivery-Nigerian Style

Public servants in Nigeria should focus on serving the people and not their self-interests.

‘Man must chop’- Illegal oil refining in the Niger Delta

A recent report released by the Stakeholder Democracy Network (SDN), a non-governmental organisation based in Port Harcourt reveals issues around illegal oil refining in the Niger Delta (Bayelsa, Rivers and Delta). The report suggests that illegal oil refining is fast becoming the major livelihood for most local communities in the Niger Delta region.  It has become part of the local economy. Even those originally involved in farming have migrated to illegal oil refining as an occupation.

What is driving this?

• Failure of government to provide basic public services
• Poverty
• Unemployment
• Poor pipeline maintenance by the International Oil Companies (IOC)
• Loss of  local livelihoods such as fishing and farming due to oil pollution

 What are the effects?

• Environmental pollution
• Significant health and safety risks to the illegal refiners and communities in the area (many seem to have persistent cough and breathing problems according to the report)

     Why is it lucrative despite the dangers involved?

• The need to survive- people need to earn a living that affords them the opportunity to meet their basic needs.
• It attracts high returns- low cost to set up but high returns. Materials needed for the refining camp are affordable and easy to get. The average cost for setting it up is N750, 000 ($4700). An average sized camp earns about $7800 per month.

 Key recommendations from the report

• Intensify efforts to stop the supply of stolen crude oil
• Tackle the issue of high unemployment and poverty
• Provide public services and access to private goods and services
• Fill the local petroleum supply gap through renewable solar products

This report reveals key issues facing local communities in the Niger Delta region. It makes  good recommendations which the Nigerian government should pay attention to. Oil spill damage is one of the drivers of illegal oil refining as a result of the damage to traditional livelihoods. Yet oil theft, needed to supply the illegal oil refining, is also is one of the causes of the spillages, producing a vicious circle. Historically the government’s response to oil spills (whatever the cause) has been inadequate.  Addressing the concerns raised in this report requires a genuine transformation. 

Click here to access full report

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