Nigeria’s democracy has only marginally improved over the last 16 years, and in that period it has consistently lagged its peers, especially Ghana, Kenya and South Africa.
A Pluboard analysis of the Economist Intelligence Unit’s data between 2006 and 2023 shows Nigeria at the bottom of the four-nation comparison on critical indicators of robust democracy, for all the years.
The EIU’s global democracy index for 2023 released Wednesday shows that Nigeria’s performance retained the 4.23 it scored the previous year while its rank rose a single point to 104.
The analysis ranked countries based on five key aspects of democracy – electoral process and pluralism, functioning of government, political participation, political culture, and civil liberties. While Nigeria made marginal progress since 2006, the report highlights the significant gap compared to regional peers.
Last year, Nigeria scored 4.23 while Kenya had 5.05 and Ghana recorded 6.30. South Africa, one of the continent’s most stable democracies, scored 7.05.
In sub-Saharan Africa, Nigeria ranked 19. Mauritius and Botswana had the best scores in the region at 8.82 and 8.53 respectively.
Nigeria’s score-climb has been from 3.52 in 2006. The disparities are shown in the chart above.
Longest democratic run
Nigeria has had its longest democratic run since 1999 when military rule ended, spanning six federal elections, the first-ever civilian-to-civilian transition in 2015, and an historic opposition victory in 2015. However, deep-seated flaws still mar its electoral system, including rampant electoral manipulation, systemic weaknesses and misgovernance.
In the EIU’s indicators for 2023, Nigeria scored lowest in political culture, followed by political participation and functioning of government. Its highest score was in electoral process and pluralism, followed by civil liberties.
Even so, Ghana’s score in electoral process and pluralism was far ahead of Nigeria’s. While Nigeria had 5.17, Ghana got 8.83.
Regional decline
Regionally, the aggregate index score for Sub-Saharan Africa declined in 2023, falling from 4.14 in 2022 to a historic low of 4.04.
“Democratic regression in the region in large part reflects the increase in the number military regimes across the continent,” the report says.
A total of 25 of the 54 states in Africa have experienced one or more coups or coup attempts over the past two decades. A military coup in Niger in July completed the military takeover of governments stretching across the Sahel, from Guinea in the West to Sudan in the east.
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