Abuja, Nigeria. February 8, 2013 – Latest weekly poll results released by NOI Polls Limited have revealed that about 6 in 10 Nigerians agree that the country has fared better as a united nation, instead of being separate. The results also indicate that 48 percent of Nigerians think the planned 100 year celebration of Nigeria in 2014 is justified. These were two key findings from the centenary polls done in the week of February 4th 2013.
According to media reports, Tuesday February 5th 2013 marked the flagging-off of Nigeria’s year-long Centenary celebration at the Banquet Hall of the State House by President Goodluck Jonathan. While delivering his address, the President expressed his appreciation to eminent Nigerians and corporate organisations who have actively participated towards making the launch of the Centenary celebration a success.
It was against this background that NOI Polls, Nigeria’s leading opinion polling organisation, sought to gauge the awareness of Nigerians regarding the country’s Centenary and their opinions on the planned celebrations. Respondents to the poll were asked five specific questions. The first question sought to establish awareness regarding Nigeria’s forthcoming Centenary. Respondents were asked: Are you aware that Nigeria would be 100 years as nation in 2014? The results indicate that almost 7 in 10 Nigerians (69%) said they were aware that Nigeria would be 100 years in 2014; while 31% of respondents stated that they were not aware.
Respondents who were aware that Nigeria would be 100 years in 2014 were further asked about their awareness of the planned celebration: Are you aware of the year-long centenary celebration to mark the amalgamation of Nigeria? of the 69% of respondents who were aware that Nigeria will be 100 in 2014, a further majority (68%) were aware of the planned celebration, while 32% were not aware.
The third question sought the opinions of Nigerians regarding the need for the planned centenary celebration. Respondents were asked: Do you agree or disagree that 100 years celebration of the amalgamation of Nigeria is justified? The results indicate that majority (48%) of the respondents agree that the celebration is justified, followed by 31% that disagree. Also, 11% of the respondents are neutral, while 5% each strongly agree and strongly disagree.
When responses from the third question were further analysed across geo-political zones, the analyses shows that the South-East zone has the greatest proportion of respondents (75%) that agree the centenary celebration is justified; while the North East has the largest percentage of respondents (62%) who disagree with the celebration. Generally, the results indicate that 53% of Nigerians are of the opinion that the centenary celebration is justified.
Next, respondents were asked the following question: Do you think Nigeria has achieved the vision of the founding fathers after its first 100 years? The overwhelming majority (72%) responded negatively, stating they did not think Nigeria has achieved the vision of its founding fathers in the first 100 years. Furthermore, 26% answered “Yes” to the question while 2% stated they did not know or refused to answer the question. This finding highlights earlier findings from the company’s 2012 independence poll, where 88% of the respondents thought that the current vision of the country is not the same as it was in 1960. Please visit www.noi-polls.com for results of the Independence Day Poll.
Finally, given the mixed opinions that have trailed the issue of Lord Lugard’s amalgamation of the Northern and Southern protectorates to form one single nation called Nigeria; respondents were asked the following question:Do you agree with the opinion that Nigeria would have fared better if it had remained two separate protectorates? Majority (61%) of the respondents answered “No”, indicating that they disagree that Nigeria would have fare better if the country had remained two separate protectorates. Also, 37% responded “Yes” to the question, while 2% said they do not know or refused to answer. The results indicate that at least 6 in 10 Nigerians (61%) are of the opinion that it was a right decision by Lord Lugard to amalgamate the Northern and Southern protectorates, and that Nigeria has fared better by remaining one nation.
Furthermore, when the data was cross-tabulated and the responses analysed across the geo-political zones, it is clearly observed that the only region that had a significantly different opinion regarding the amalgamation is the South-East zone, where majority (63%) of the respondents seemed to hold the view that Nigeria would have fared better if it had remained two separate protectorates.
In conclusion, the results of this current poll have clearly indicated that most Nigerians are aware that the country will mark 100 years of amalgamation in 2014, and they consider this worth celebrating. Also, despite the fact that most Nigerians (72%) do not think that Nigeria has achieved the vision of its founding fathers; yet the majority of those polled (61%) are still of the opinion that Nigeria has fared better as one united indivisible nation instead of remaining two separate protectorates.
Survey Methods
The opinion poll was conducted on February 5th to 7th 2013. It involved telephone interviews of a random nationwide sample. 720 randomly selected phone-owning Nigerians aged 18 years and above, representing the six geopolitical zones in the country, were interviewed. With a sample of this size, we can say with 95% confidence that the results obtained are statistically precise – within a range of plus or minus 4%. NOI Polls Limited is Nigeria’s leading opinion polling and research organisation, which works in technical partnership with the Gallup Organisation (USA), to conduct periodic opinion polls and studies on various socio-economic and political issues in Nigeria. More information is available at www.noi-polls.com
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Email: editor@noi-polls.com
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