Abuja, Nigeria. October 1st, 2013 – The first day of October symbolizes freedom in the history of Nigeria and marks a special day in which Nigeria gained its independence from the British rule. Year after year, its celebration serves as a reminder of the great sacrifices that were made and of the great ideals which were the foundation of the Nation. Today, as Nigeria celebrates 53 years of independence; NOIPolls presents its annual Independence Day special edition poll to commemorate the Nigerian Independence Day. This poll is the second in the Independence Day Poll series; the first was conducted in October 2012. Click here for the result of 2012 snap poll
In this Independence Day Special Edition Poll, results of the poll have revealed that an overwhelmingmajority of Nigerians (94%) say they are truly proud of the Nation, because it is “My Father-land”(64%) and “We are blessed with natural resources” (16%). Also, Employment Creation (22%), Corruption (18%), Education (18%), Electricity (17%) and Security (9%) were identified as the five most important issues that need to be addressed in the next 1 year. Furthermore, after 53 years of independence, Nigerians consider “Democracy” (22%) to be the country’s greatest achievement,followed by “Telecommunications” (19%) and “Unity” (13%). These are a few of the key findings from the Independence Day Poll conducted in the week of September 16th, 2013.
Firstly in order to gauge the level of national pride among Nigerians, respondents were asked: Are you proud to be a Nigerian? Findings revealed that the overwhelming majority of Nigerians (94%) responded positively, affirming they are truly proud to be Nigerians. Analysis by gender shows that slightly more males (97%) than females (92%) agree that they are proud to be Nigerians. On the contrary, the poll revealed that only 6% of Nigerians claim they are not proud of to be Nigerians.
Further analysis across geo-political zones reveals that all the respondents from the North-East (100%), 98% from the South-East, 96% each from the North-Central & South-South and 82% from the South-East zones are proud to be Nigerians. Furthermore, the North-West zone (18%) accounted for the highest proportion of respondents that claim they are not proud to be Nigerians.
In addition, when current findings are compared with 2012 results, there is a 1-point increase in the proportion of Nigerians that are proud of their nationality (93%) in 2012 to (94%) in 2013. There was also a 1-point increase in the proportion of respondents that claim they are not proud to be Nigerians (5% in 2012 to 6% in 2013).
Subsequently, respondents who indicated they are proud to be Nigerians (94% of the total) were asked: Why are you proud to be a Nigerian? Overall, the majority (64%) indicated they are proud to be Nigerians simply because Nigeria is “My father land”. Other reasons specified by respondents include “We are blessed with natural resources “(16%), “Peaceful country” (6%) and “Great country” (4%).
Analysis based on geo-political zones shows that the North-Central zone (81%) accounted for the highest proportion of respondents that indicated “My father land” as the rationale for being proud to be Nigerians. This is followed by the North-West (77%) and the South-East (63%).
Comparing the responses of this current poll with 2012 results show similar results; as the majority also indicated that they were proud to be Nigerian because it is “My father land” and this proportion increased in 2013 by 2-points (62% in 2012 to 64% in 2013).
Similarly, respondents that claimed they are not proud to be Nigerians in the initial question (6% of the total) were asked: Why are you not proud to be a Nigerian? Results revealed that the majority (64%) are not proud to be Nigerians because of “Bad leaders”. Other reasons cited are “Corruption” (32%) and “No peace” (4%).
Looking across geo-political zones reveals that the North-west zone 84% had the highest number of respondents that blamed “Bad leaders” while all respondents from the North-Central zone (100%) that are not proud to be Nigerians blamed “Corruption”.
Again comparing findings of this current poll with 2012, there was a pronounced increase of 28-points in the proportion of respondents that indicated “Bad leaders” as the reason why they are not proud to be Nigerians. There was also a marked increase of 23-points increase in the proportion that indicated “Corruption” in 2012. Also, compared to 2012 when 32% indicated they were not sure of their reasons by selecting “Don’t know”; no respondents said that in 2013.
In order to measure the perceptions of Nigerians about the country’s performance since independence, respondents were asked: At 53 years, how well do you think Nigeria has fared as a nation in terms of the economy when compared to Ghana? With regards to economic performance, results reveal that the majority (42%) think Nigeria has performed averagely when compared to Ghana. Furthermore, 36% (29% + 7%) rated Nigeria’s performance negatively, followed by 22% (20%+2%) that rated the country’s performance positively.
From the standpoint of geo-political zones, the South-South zone (51%) accounted for the highest number of respondents that rated the economic performance of Nigeria as average compared to Ghana’s; this is followed by the North-Central zone (48%). In addition, the South-West zone had the highest proportion of respondents (53%) that said the Nigeria has performed poorly, while the North-East (41%) and North-West (40%) zones had the highest number of respondents that said Nigeria has performed well in terms of the economy.
Comparing responses to the same question in 2012 reveals that the proportion of respondents that are of the opinion that the nation performed averagely in Economic matters, increased by 2-points from 2012 (40%) to 2013 (42%). In addition, there was a 13-points increase in the proportion that said Nigeria has performed well, from 2012 (7%) to 2013 (20%).
Respondents were also asked: At 53 years, how well do you think Nigeria has fared as a nation in terms of foreign relations when compared to Ghana? With regards to foreign relations, the overall majority (41%) are of the opinion that Nigeria has performed averagely when compared with Ghana. In addition,36% (28%+8%) stated that Nigeria has performed well, while 22% (21%+2%) indicated Nigeria has performed poorly.
From the geo-political standpoint, the North-Central zone (50%) accounted for the highest proportion of respondents that say Nigeria has performed averagely in terms of foreign relations when compared with Ghana. Also the North-East zone (59%: 51%+8%) had the highest proportion that confirmed Nigeria has performed well while the South-West zone (31%: 25%+6%) had the highest proportion of respondents that are of the opinion that Nigeria has performed poorly in foreign relations.
Similarly respondents were asked: At 53 years, how well do you think Nigeria has fared as a nation in terms of development when compared to Ghana? Results indicate that once again the majority (40%) think Nigeria has performed averagely in development compared with Ghana. In addition, 38% (30%+8%)believe it has performed poorly while 22% (20%+2%) have the opinion that it has performed well.
Further analysis based on geo-political zone showed that the North-West (45%) and South-West (45%) zones had the highest proportion of respondents that claim Nigeria has performed averagely in terms of development. The North-East (48%) accounted for the highest proportion that think Nigeria has performed well in terms of development and the South-West zone (45%) had the highest number of respondents that believe Nigeria has performed poorly.
Furthermore, At 53 years, how well do you think Nigeria has fared as a nation in terms of governance when compared to Ghana? In terms of governance, the majority 51% (34%+17%) believe Nigeria has performed poorly in terms of governance when compared with Ghana. In addition, 33% think Nigeria has performed averagely and 16% (15%+1%) are of the opinion that it performed well.
Again looking across geo-political zones revealed that the highest percentage of respondents that rated the governance of Nigeria as poor, were from the North-Central zone (63%). In addition, the North-West zone(38%) and South-East zone (38%) had the highest proportion that think Nigeria has performed averagely in terms of governance while the North-East zone (48%) accounted for the highest proportion that have the opinion that Nigeria has performed well.
In order to establish the priority of issues currently facing the country, respondents were asked: What is the single most important issue Nigeria as a nation has to address in the next 1 year? The poll results revealed that there are a wide range of issues that Nigerians consider most important. Interestingly, the majority of Nigerians (22%) think the most important issue that needs to be addressed in the next 1 year is “Creating new and more jobs to tackle unemployment”. This is closely followed by “Corruption” and “Education” (18% each) and “Power/Electricity” (17%). Furthermore, 9% affirmed that “Security” should also be given attention, as well as 4% who indicated the “Economy”.
Analysis based on geo-political zones shows that the South-East zone (37%) accounted for the highest proportion of respondents that indicated “Creating new jobs/unemployment” as the most important issue that needs to be addressed in the next 1 year. In addition, while the North-East zone (26%) accounted for the highest proportion of respondents that indicated “Corruption” as the most important issue to be addressed, the North-East zone (47%) had the highest number of respondents that proposed “Education” should be given attention in the next 1 year.
Comparing the findings of this current poll with 2012 results reveals that in the previous year “Electricity” (18%)was regarded as the most important issue to be addressed compared to “Creating new jobs to tackle unemployment” which is considered to be the top priority for Nigerians at present. Furthermore, there was a 7-Points increase in the proportion of respondents that indicated “Creating new jobs/unemployment” is the top priority from 15% in 2012 to 22% in 2013. Also, “Corruption” increased in importance by 3-points from 15% in 2012 to 18% in 2013 and there was a remarkable 10-Points increase in the proportion that indicated education in 2013.
Furthermore, respondents were asked: Assuming you were to become the President of Nigeria, what would be your first assignment in office? Findings reveal the majority of Nigerians (29%) claimed they would tackle employment as their first assignment assuming they were appointed President. This is followed by the economic issues (16%), corruption and Power (both 12%). In addition 11% indicated that if they were to become President, attention would be given to security matters and 10% indicated they would address Education.
Analysis by gender reveals that female respondents indicated preference to addressing employment creation and economic issues, while male respondents were mostly concerned about power, corruption and security.
Further analysis based on geo-political zones highlights that the highest proportion of respondents that indicated unemployment as the first assignment they would address were from the South-East zone (39%) and theNorth-East zone (25%) accounted for the highest proportion of respondents that indicated economic issue as priority. In addition, while the North-west zone (15%) accounted for the highest proportion of respondents that said corruption would be their priority for the nation, the South-South zone (24%) had highest number of respondents that stated Power would be given priority as their first assignment.
Again comparing the findings from this current poll with 2012; Security was the first pick when respondents were asked about their first assignment in office assuming they became President. In 2013, this has reduced significantly in terms of priority dropping by 25 points from 36% in 2012 to 11%. Currently, the top priority selected by respondents to address is employment and this increased by 3 points from 2013.
In order to gauge the perceptions of Nigerians on the achievements of the Nation since independence, respondents were asked: In 53 years, what do you consider to be the greatest achievement of Nigeria? Reactions to this question revealed that the greatest achievement of Nigeria as identified by the majority (22%) is “Democracy”, this is followed by “Telecommunications” (19%), “Unity” (13%), “Independence” and “Agriculture” (12% each).
Exploring the perceptions of Nigerians across geo-political zones reveals that the South-East zone (37%) had the largest proportion that think “Democracy” is Nigeria’s greatest achievement, and the South-West zone (37%) accounted for the highest proportion of respondents think “Telecommunications” is the greatest achievement.
Finally, respondents were asked: What are your expectations for Nigeria in the next 1 year? Responses indicate that the majority (19%) indicated their expectations for Nigeria over the next 1 year is “Addressing unemployment”, closely followed by “Steady power supply” and “Peace and unity” (18% each). Other expectations include “Good governance” (13%) and “Addressing insecurity” (11%).
Further analysis across geo political zones indicates that the North-East has the highest proportion of respondents (50%) that indicated “Addressing unemployment” is their expectation while the North-West has the highest proportion (51%) that indicated “Peace and unity”. Furthermore, the South-South (30%) had the largest number that indicated “Steady power supply” is their expectation in the next 1 year.
Conclusion
The overwhelming majority of Nigerians (94%) have indicated that they are proud to be Nigerians and the main reason is simply because it’s our Father-land (64%) and blessed with natural resources (16%). Furthermore, the minority that claim they are not proud to be Nigerians have this viewpoint mainly because of bad leaders (64%) and Corruption (32%). In addition, when Nigerians were asked about their expectations over the next 1 year, the majority indicated that they expected unemployment to be addressed (22%), an issue that has become of increasing significance by 7-points (Up from 15% in 2012). In addition to unemployment, corruption (18%), education (18%), electricity (17%), and security (9%) were other important issues that Nigerians expect to be addressed in the next 1 year. Finally, after 53 years, the majority of Nigerians (22%) consider “Democracy” to be the country’s greatest achievement followed by “Telecommunications” (19%) and “Unity” (13%).
Survey Methods
The opinion poll was conducted on September 16th to 18th 2013. It involved telephone interviews of a random nationwide sample. 1,013 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 3%. NOIPolls Limited is the No.1 for country-specific polling services in West Africa. We work 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
Disclaimer
This press release has been produced by NOIPolls Limited to provide information on all issues which form the subject matter of the document. Kindly note that while we are willing to share results from our polls with the general public, we only request that NOIPolls be acknowledged as author whenever and wherever our poll results are used, cited or published.
NOIPolls hereby certifies that all the views expressed in this document accurately reflect its views of respondents surveyed for the poll, and background information is based on information from various sources that it believes are reliable; however, no representation is made that it is accurate or complete. Whilst reasonable care has been taken in preparing this document, no responsibility or liability is accepted for errors or fact or for any views expressed herein by NOIPolls for actions taken as a result of information provided in this report. Any ratings, forecasts, estimates, opinions or views herein constitute a judgement as at the date of this document. If the date of this document is not current, the views and content may not reflect NOIPolls’ current findings and/or thinking.
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