Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Monday, October 06, 2014

Nigeria's ranking among African nation-states

The Mo Ibrahim Foundation ranks African countries by several standards of good government. Nigeria has consistently ranked below average. This year is no different.

Nigeria Ranks 37th in 2014 Ibrahim Index of African Governance

The 2014 Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG)… shows that Nigeria ranks 37th out of 52 African countries.

This appears an improvement from the 2013 ranking… but the Director of the IIAG at Mo Ibrahim Foundation… told THISDAY in a telephone interview that the score was insignificant, because Nigeria deteriorated further in two of the four major categories of the index.

The four categories composed of safety and rule of law, participation and human rights, sustainable economic opportunity and human development are further divided into 14 subsections with 94 indicators…

In this year's ranking Nigeria scored lower than the African average (51.5) and ranked 37th (out of 52) overall. Also, the country scored lower than the regional average for West Africa (52.2), ranking 12th (out of 15) in the region.

Mauritius repeated the feat it achieved last year topping the list as the best country in Africa with 81.7 score in the overall governance with Cape Verde, Botswana and South Africa in the second, third and fourth positions respectively…

The Ibrahim Index of African Governance is an analysis by Mo Ibrahim Foundation aimed at improving the level of governance of African countries. The annual index provides a framework for citizens hold governments accountable, while helping governments to focus attention on creating prosperous nations by ensuring better delivery of goods and services, and favourable policy outcomes, across every country on the continent…

Sudanese-born Mo Ibrahim made his money on Celtel, one of the first mobile phone companies to serve Africa and the Middle East. He sold it in 2005 for $3.4 billion and pocketed $1.4 billion. He's now trying to fight corrupt leadership in the region through the Mo Ibrahim Foundation.

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