Nigeria’s democracy without good governance conundrum

 

Are we cursed or are we the cause? I mean did our ancestors or adversaries swear to us that this great country shall never be developed? By this time next month, we will be basking in the euphoria of our 65^th independence anniversary. Same way we rolled out drums to celebrate our unbroken 26 years of uninterrupted civil rule in June this year. Why is Nigeria a crippled giant as described by the current Director General of Nigeria Institute of International Affairs, Professor Eghosa Osaghae? Am pained that in this country, we celebrate mediocre performance as sterling. Sad!

Ordinarily democracy should drive development and good governance but that is not the situation in this motherland. All development indices on Nigeria are pointing south. BussinessDay of Sunday, August 31, 2025 reported that the 2025 Chandler Good Government Index has again mirrored Nigeria’s snail movement towards holistic development and good governance. Released recently in South Africa, the CGGI 2025, among other things, indicated how Nigeria lags behind peers across the continent with Mauritius, Rwanda, Botswana, Morocco, and South Africa topping the chart. Nigeria is ranked 116th out of 120 countries globally in the Prospects 2025. This places Nigeria in the bottom five worldwide, underscoring persistent governance challenges.”

The newspaper reported further that Nigeria’s scores across the 2025 CGGI pillars are among the lowest, with only one area showing relative strength. In context, Nigeria emerge thus: Leadership & Foresight 115th; ⁠Robust Laws & Policies 117th; ⁠Strong Institutions 110th; ⁠Financial Stewardship 89th (Nigeria’s strongest pillar); ⁠Attractive Marketplace 107th; ⁠Global Influence & Reputation 109th, and ⁠Helping People Rise 119th, which is Nigeria’s weakest pillar on the index. In regional comparison, Nigeria falls well behind Africa’s top five performers, both in fiscal management and people-centric outcomes. In fiscal management, Nigeria ranked relatively better in financial stewardship (89th) reflecting some resilience in budgetary and debt management compared to other governance dimensions.

Away from Chandler’s report, what has Mo Ibrahim Index of Africa Governance has to say about my dear country? According to the 2024 GGI, Nigeria scores 45.7 out of 100.0 in Overall Governance, ranking 33rd out of 54 in Africa. Scores lower than the African average (49.3) and lower than the regional average for Western Africa (52.6). Breaking down the report, THISDAY of November 24, 2024 has this to say “The latest report from the IIAG is another sad reminder of what governance has become on the continent. It’s a stinking score card on anti-corruption measures, protection of civil liberties and caring for the environment in most African countries. Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of the 2024 report is that Nigeria is one of the eleven countries on the continent with the highest level of deterioration in governance in the last decade. Slumping three places from 30th to 33rd on the continent, Nigeria is ranked as one of the worst-ruled countries in Africa since 2014. This should concern critical stakeholders in the country.”

The newspaper went further, “Meanwhile, Nigeria scored 45.7 per cent, flopping on absence of armed conflict (2.1 per cent) and scoring 39 per cent on security and rule of law and 47.3 per cent on accountability and transparency. On anti-corruption, Nigeria scored 28.9 per cent, 47 per cent on inclusion; 43 per cent on equality; 59 per cent on women equality; 48.6 per cent on economic opportunity; 41 per cent on infrastructure and 44.6 per cent on health; 51 per cent on education; 44 per cent on social protection and 45 per cent on sustainable environment.” The Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership was instituted in 2007 by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation. Unfortunately, none of past Nigeria president has won the prize.

How have Nigeria fared in the fight against corruption? According to an online source, “In Transparency International's 2024 Corruption Perception Index, Nigeria scored 26 out of 100 and was ranked 140th out of 180 countries. This score represents a slight improvement from its 2023 rank of 145th, though it remains below the average score for Sub-Saharan African countries, indicating a perception of high corruption.” On March 20, 2024, United Nations Development Programme published its most current Human Development Report. What has the report got to say about Big Brother Nigeria? “For Nigeria, the HDI has shown a 22% increase in 19 years but remains low at 0.548, categorizing the country as having low human development. The report emphasizes Nigeria's significant loss in HDI due to inequality, estimated at 32.7%. Gender disparities persist, with a notable gap between male and female HDI values and a Gender Inequality Index ranking placing Nigeria poorly. Furthermore, Nigeria's Multidimensional Poverty Index indicates that 33% were multidimensionally poor in 2021.”

As asked earlier? Are we cursed or are we the cause? We have all democratic institutions in Nigeria. We have three arms – Executive, Legislature and Judiciary. We also have three tiers of government – Federal, State and Local governments. By simple arithmetic, we have 11,082 elective political offices in the country. They are from the bottom up – 8, 809 Councillorship positions, 768 Local Governments and six Area Councils making up 774 positions, 993 State Houses of Assembly offices, 36 state governorship positions, 360 House of Representatives slots, 109 senatorial districts and one presidential seat. I decided not to add the vice president, deputy governors and vice chairmen of councils because they are not stand alone positions. These thousands of elected politicians and their ministers, commissioners, supervisory councilors and their aides are responsible for grounding development in Nigeria. This is not a political party matter. It’s not military or civilian government either. It’s cumulative leadership failure.

It’s sad that Nigeria prides itself as highly religious and spiritual country. Churches and mosques are on every street corners. Fasting and prayers are seriously observed but our attitude to holiness is lackluster. Citizens justifiably have trust deficit in their leaders as the constitutional responsibility of providing security and welfare for populace are observed in breach. Many countries that we got independence at about same time has left us behind. Our aspiration of being one of the world top 20 economies by 2020 was never realised while five years to the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals date, Nigeria is not on course to achieving any of the 17 SDGs. What a shame!

I do hope this piece will ginger our leaders to do things differently and model our governance system in a manner that’s citizen-centric. Nigerians want their living standard improved and not their cost of living increased. We want good infrastructure, security and rule of law. Are those too difficult to provide?