Nigeria has been ranked one of the eleven African countries with worsening governance performance since 2014.

This was revealed in the 2024 Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG).

According to the report, governance progress in Africa has been at a standstill since 2022. Conflict, insecurity and a declining democracy have stunted human and economic development and have been highlighted as contributors to the stagnant governance progress in African countries.

It further noted that a little over half of the continent’s population in 33 out of 54 countries has experienced progress, while overall governance progress reached in 2023 had become worse than in 2014 for the remaining 21 countries, including Nigeria.

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“The 2024 IIAG shows that after four years of almost complete stagnation, Africa’s Overall Governance progress ground to a halt in 2022 as rising conflict and insecurity, as well as a shrinking democratic space across the continent undermine critical progress achieved in human and economic development,” the report read in part.

“Over the decade 2014–2023, there is progress for just over half (52.1%) of Africa’s population, living in 33 out of 54 countries, but for the remaining half, the level of overall governance reached in 2023 is worse than in 2014.”

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Nigeria is missing from the list of the 13 African countries on the path of accelerating progress cited in the report.

The report noted that the Congo Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Gabon, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Morocco, Somalia, Togo and Zambia are the 13 African countries on a course to accelerating progress.

“For 13 countries — Congo Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Gabon, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Morocco, Somalia, Togo, Zambia — hosting over 1/5th (20.5%) of the continent’s population, there has been progress over the decade and the pace of this has even accelerated since 2019,” the report read in part.

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The report mentioned Nigeria and 10 other African countries experiencing a decline in governance since 2014.

“Meanwhile, for 11 countries — Botswana, Burkina Faso, Eswatini, Guinea, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan, Tunisia, and Uganda — home to almost 1/3 (29.3%) of the population, there has been deterioration since 2014 and the pace of this is even worsening over the second part of the decade,” the report stated.

Since Muhammadu Buhari took up the mantle of leadership from Goodluck Jonathan, his predecessor, in 2015, Nigerians have been experiencing a series of hardships. Insecurity has persisted and the economy suffered a decline.

When Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Buhari’s successor and incumbent president, was inaugurated in May 2023, he announced the petrol subsidy removal, which has had numerous negative ripple effects on the lives of millions of Nigerians.

The naira, Nigeria’s currency, has plummeted in value with more Nigerians losing much of their purchasing power. Nigeria has also seen an increasing population of people living in poverty in the last decade.

These challenges appear to be symptoms of the country’s poor governance as highlighted in the 2024 IIAG.
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