Mo Ibrahim, founder, Mo Ibrahim Foundation| credits: dailypost.com.ng
Nigeria, again, got a poor rating in the 2012 Ibrahim Index of African Governance, published on Monday by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation.
The country was scored low in human rights, political freedom, transparency and accountability.
Other African countries that got the bashing of the foundation were South Africa, Kenya and Egypt.
This information came as the Mo Ibrahim Prize committee announced that none of the continent’s recent former leaders won the £3.2m award for “excellence in African leadership” set up by Sudanese-born billionaire, Mo Ibrahim, in 2007.
In the rankings by the Foundation, the four countries performed woefully in safety and rule of law, and participation and human rights – two of the four categories used in assessing good governance across the continent.
The other two categories are sustainable economic opportunity and human development.
For the first time, Nigeria dropped to the bottom 10 countries in the overall rankings as the worst performer of the four.
The country was ranked 14th out of the 16 countries in West Africa and 43rd out of the 52 countries listed overall. Nigeria was 41st last year and 37th in 2006.
According to the index, although South Africa, Egypt and Kenya ranked fifth, 14th and 25th respectively, people’s freedom to participate in political processes has declined in each country.
Egypt has shown a significant improvement in economic opportunities, while Kenya and South Africa have registered a decline in that category.
A board member of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, which has published the index since 2007, Abdoulie Janneh, said, “Given the vast natural and human resources of these four regional powers, these governance results are a concern.
“Each of these countries plays a key role in the economic and political landscape of the continent. To continue to optimally play this role requires a sustained commitment to balanced and equitable governance.”
This year’s index examines data from each of the four categories, which are broken down into 14 sub-categories, for each country between 2000 and 2011. It uses 88 indicators drawn from 23 independent data providers from Africa and internationally.
Mauritius came top in the overall index, followed by Cape Verde, Botswana and the Seychelles, continuing the same pattern as last year.
Somalia has, since the index was first published, occupied the last position. The country came last in each of the four category rankings. Somalia’s overall score has declined since 2006. Tanzania moved into the top 10 for the first time this year, while Liberia, Sierra Leone and Angola registered significant improvements. Sudan and South Sudan were not included this year.
The Sudanese-born philanthropist, Mo Ibrahim, told The Guardian (of London) that economic success could not be allowed to overshadow human rights and democratic processes in Africa.
Ibrahim – who spoke ahead of the index launch – said, “What we need in Africa is balanced development. Economic success cannot be a replacement for human rights or participation, or democracy, it doesn’t work.
“It worries us a lot when we don’t see the trickle-through factor, when gain goes to the top one per cent or two per cent, leaving the rest behind.”
North Africa, he added, was an obvious example of the consequences of ignoring people’s needs and rights.
Ibrahim commended Tunisia for its positive stride in education but worried at the unemployment level there.
He said, “Literacy in Tunisia is almost 100 per cent. It’s amazing – no country in the region or even in Asia can match Tunisia in education. So we have wonderful human development achievement in education and health, etc. But hundreds of thousands of men and women who graduated from college cannot find work, and not only that but [they] look around and they see an oppressive, corrupt regime. Then you have a volatile mix.”
Governance in Africa has improved overall since 2000. Although Ibrahim acknowledged there was still a long way to go before gender equality was achieved, he said particular progress had been made in women’s rights.
“We’re very pleased. This is an area (in which) we’re moving forward, but we’re coming from a very low base,” he said.
“It’s easy to introduce new legislation against domestic violence or give women rights over land and in divorce cases, but it’s much more difficult to change attitudes and the culture of “male supremacy,” he said. “Education helps and the spread of information helps, and courageous, unflinching, uncompromising, political leadership is also required.”
Meanwhile, for the third time, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation decided not to award the prize for African leadership to any one this year. The prize committee said no one matched the judges’ criteria.
The prize recognises and celebrates excellence in African leadership and provides winners with the opportunity to pursue their commitment to Africa once they have stepped down from office. It is awarded to a democratically elected former African head of state or government.
The prize committee said, “(We) reviewed a number of eligible candidates but none met the criteria needed to win this award. The award is about excellence in leadership. In the first six years the prize committee has selected three very worthy laureates who continue to be an inspiration and whose examples, we hope, will be emulated.”
The Mo Ibrahim prize is regarded as the world’s biggest individual prize. $5m is paid to the winner over 10 years and $200,000 annually for life from then on. Another $200,000 is made available per year for 10 years for good causes backed by the winner.
In 2011, Cape Verde’s former president, Pedro Verona Pires, won the prize. The 2008 prize went to Botswana’s ex-leader, Festus Mogae, while Mozambique’s Joaquim Chissano got the prize in 2007
Source : punchng[dot]com
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