After years of lacklustre performance on the Mo Ibrahim Good Governance Index, Nigeria is gradually making progress in the ranking of good governance in African countries. The recently released 2014 edition of the index shows that Nigeria  moved up to 37th position among 52 countries covered by the survey, from the 41st place it occupied last year.
Two years ago, the organisation founded by Sudanese billionaire entrepreneur, Mohammed Ibrahim, delivered a damning verdict on Nigeria when it claimed that Nigeria had not experienced realistic governance since 2006. The 2012 survey scored Nigeria low in security, rule of law, political freedom, transparency and accountability, and human development.
However, this year’s survey, described as the most comprehensive in recent years, is an encouraging report, even though the detailed survey shows that Nigeria is still “below average”in  good governance in Africa as well as the West African region. Among the criteria used in this latest survey are security, human rights, economic stability, rule of law, free and fair election, corruption, infrastructure, poverty level, health and education.
While the report acknowledged that Nigeria remains Africa’s frontline economy, it  said the country has done little to improve its human rights record while the security situation, corruption and poverty continue to deteriorate. Over all, Mauritius maintained the top spot, followed by Cape Verde, Botswana, South Africa and Seychelles. Even then, these top five performers were marked down in few key thematic requirements, in particular, economic development opportunities.
Instructively, Mauritius and Cape Verde have maintained the top and second position respectively for four consecutive years,while Somalia, Central African Republic, Chad, Eritrea and Guinea-Bissau remain on the lowest rungs of the index. Egypt and Libya have the fastest drop in ranking due to political violence in these countries.
We commend the Mo Ibrahim Foundation for its efforts and passion for good governance in Africa. Good leadership is key to good governance, as virtually everything rises and falls as a result of leadership. Sadly, most African nations are bereft of good political leadership. Many of them (including Nigeria) failed abysmally in the primary indicators used for the assessment.
In that regard, there is an urgent need for political leaders in Africa to return to the path of good governance by re-commiting themselves to the service of the people, especially in areas that impact directly on human development. Such areas include education, health, poverty alleviation and empowerment, job creation and infrastructure development. Rule of law, transparency, accountability and anti-corruption programmes should also be given serious attention.
Nigeria was scored high in the sub-categories of education, economic stability as well as free and credible elections. Indisputably, these are areas in which the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan has made significant progress,while corruption and insecurity remain the Achilles heel of Nigeria.
Since the essence of the ranking is good governance, we urge the various tiers of government in the country to improve on the areas in which Nigeria was poorly rated. Of particular concern is corruption, which has for years put our nation in the top bracket of the world’s most corrupt nations.
In the same  way, government should give priority attention to general human development. It is necessary to pay more attention to infrastructure, especially power, since this will improve productivity, generate employment and increase foreign direct investment in the country.
It has become rather embarrassing that Nigeria continues to sit on the bottom rungs of some of the continent’s  development indexes. Government should see the report as a wake-up call and use its lesson to turn things round by the next survey. It can do this by ensuring that there is remarkable improvement in the key indicators used for the assessment.
It needs restating that government should be up and doing in improving the lives of the people. This is why governments exist. Nigeria’s mediocre performance on the good governance index is a reflection of the failure of our government to fulfill the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy that are clearly enunciated in the country’s Constitution.

Nigeria’s slight improvement in good governance ranking