Africans are highly concerned about issues like corruption and poverty and blame their national governments for poor performance. That’s according to a survey conducted in five countries by GlobeScan.
Commissioned by the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), the survey was done in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa, where a total of 6,059 people were interviewed between February 17, 2016 and April 14, 2016 on the themes of “Conflict, Corruption & Economic Opportunity in Africa”.
“This survey helps illuminate a checklist for governments looking to bridge the gap between what their citizens care about and their current policies,” says Pamela Aall, CIGI Senior Fellow.
With the hot topic of state capture by the Gupta family, South Africa got a rating of 75 per cent in concerns over corruption, the same percentage obtained by Ghana.
Nigeria received the highest rating with 86 per cent followed by Kenya at 84 per cent. Senegal came in with the lowest ratings at 53 per cent.
The launch of the electronic passport for countries within the AU is a stepping stone to promote an integrated African continent, but the issue of the cumulative number of migrations is a tough job to handle within the AU.
One in five people said they were “very likely to consider emigration” in the next five years. Ghana was the leading country in terms of its citizen’s likelihood of moving out of the country, scoring 33 per cent. Kenya was the lowest with 14 per cent. Poor economic growth is the leading reason why citizens from all five countries may migrate to other countries.
“The combination of generally low marks for government performance on key issues like alleviating poverty and addressing corruption, and high levels of concern around the same things, signals the need for governments to shift their focuses towards these key issues,” says Chester Crocker, CIGI Distinguished Fellow.
The survey is part of CIGI’s multi-year project examining Africa and its capacity to prevent, contain, and resolve violent conflicts.
