Nigeria is one of 13 African countries which saw a weakening of the quality of government policies and institutions in 2015. This verdict was given on Nigeria by the World Bank in their latest review of government policies and institutions in Africa.
Nigeria was ranked among more than half of African countries that posted relatively weak performance in their policy environment supporting development and poverty reduction in 2015.
“Urgent action is needed as more countries are facing downward pressure on the current account and fiscal balances, declining reserve positions, depreciating currencies, higher inflation, and rising debt burdens” says Albert Zeufack, World Bank Chief Economist for Africa.
The verdict means that the World Bank may demand a clear plan by the Buhari government to strengthen institutions and policies that lift Nigerians out of poverty if it decides to seek financial support from the World Bank. The Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun had hinted previously that the government will seek a World Bank loan to support infrastructure spending.
The World Bank’s annual Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA) rates the performance and challenges of poor countries in order to determine the allocation of zero-interest financing and grants for countries that are eligible for support from the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA).
CPIA scores assess the quality of countries’ policy and institutional progress using 16 development indicators in four areas: economic management, structural policies, policies for social inclusion and equity, and public sector management and institutions.
Countries are rated on a scale of 1 (low) to 6 (high) for each indicator. The overall CPIA score reflects the average of the four areas of the CPIA.
With a series of policy reforms, Rwanda continues to lead all countries with a CPIA score of 4.0 followed by Cabo Verde, Kenya, and Senegal, all with a 3.8 score. Improvements in several policy areas reversed the slide in Ghana’s score, lifting the country’s CPIA score from 3.4 in 2014 to 3.6 in 2015.
The number of African countries that saw a decline in CPIA score in 2015 is nearly double the number of improvers. The analysis notes that there was a slowdown in the pace of improvement in governance in 2015.
Only seven countries–Ghana, Comoros, Chad, Guinea, Madagascar, Rwanda, and Zimbabwe–strengthened their governance framework compared to nine in 2014 with another six countries experiencing a decline against four in 2014.
The low governance scores for African countries indicate that public institutions need to be more accountable for delivering human development services, security, and justice to citizens.
Overall, 13 countries –Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, The Gambia, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritania, Mozambique, Nigeria, Republic of Congo, South Sudan, Togo and Zambia–experienced a decrease in their economic management score, according to the World Bank report.
