Abuja, Nigeria. April 29, 2013 – Latest weekly poll results released by NOI Polls Limited has revealed that about 4 in 10 Nigerians (42%) approve the performance of President Goodluck Jonathan for the month of April 2013, and this marks a further 4-point decline from his rating for March 2013 (46%). The results also indicate that 50% Nigerians rate the performance of the current administration as average. In addition, Nigerians have continued to experience worsening power supply, as over 5 in 10 Nigerians (51%) say power supply has gone worse in the month of April, up from 46% in March. These are the key findings for this month’s governance poll.
The results presented are the fourth in the monthly series of governance polls conducted by NOI Polls to gauge the opinions and perceptions of Nigerians regarding three crucial elements – the approval rating of the president, the performance of the current administration, and the situation of power supply in the country.
Similar to the previous months, respondents to the poll were asked three specific questions. The first question sought to gauge the approval rating of President Goodluck Jonathan over the past 1 month: Do you approve or disapprove of the performance of the president in the past 1 month? From the results, the majority (39%) stated that they approve of the President’s performance, while 3% said they strongly approve, followed by 25% who were neutral saying they neither approved nor disapproved. Also, 29% of the respondents polled said they disapprove and 4% said they strongly disapproved. Overall, a total of 42% of the respondents (39% + 3%) approve the performance of the president; while a total of 33% (29% +4%) disapprove of his performance.
When results are analysed by geo-political zone, some important disparities emerge. The Approval rating of the President is highest in the South-South (59% in total) and South East (58% in total). It is lowest in the North-Central (23% in total) followed by the South-West (29% in total), as these 2 regions also have the highest proportion of respondents that disapprove of the Presidents job performance. It is also pertinent to point out the North-Central has the highest proportion (41%) of Nigerians who neither approve nor disapprove of the Presidents performance.
However, when the current figures are compared with the results of the March 2013 poll, there has been a 4-point decline in the approval rating of President Goodluck Jonathan (from a total of 46% in March 2013 to 42% at present). Also, the proportion of Nigerians that disapprove of his performance has increased by 3-points (from a total of 30% in March 2013 to 33% at present). Similarly, the percentage of respondents that rated the president’s performance as neutral has increased by 4-points (from 21% to 25%).
These results show that the while the majority of Nigerians currently approve of the President’s performance, his approval rating has continued to experience decline in the past 3 months. Although it is worth noting that the decline observed in April is not as steep as that of March 2013. So far, April 2013 results currently represent the lowest approval rating for the President since January 2013.
The second question sought to gauge the opinions of Nigerians regarding the performance of the entire administration – the ministers at the federal level, and the governors and their respective cabinets at the state levels. Respondents were asked: How would you rate the performance of the current administration in the last month? In response, overall the majority (50%) said the administration has “performed averagely”, followed by 29% who are of the opinion that “they have performed poorly”. In addition, 15% said “they have performed well”, while 5% said “they have performed very poorly”, and 1% said “they have performed very well.
Once again, results analysed in more detail show some interesting highlights. More female respondents (58%) think the administration has performed averagely than male respondents (42%), while more males (39%) think they have performed poorly when compared to females (31%). The South-South has the highest proportion of respondents that think the current administration has performed well (24% in total). The North-West has the highest proportion of respondents that think the administration has performed poorly (42% in total).
In comparison with the March 2013 Governance poll results, the April 2013 results show that opinions of Nigerians about the performance of the current administration have declined slightly over the past month. In April, there has been a 2-point increase in the proportion of respondents who think the administration is performing poorly (a total of 34% in April compared to 32% in March). Also, there was a 2-point decline in the proportion of respondents who think the current administration has performed well (from 18% overall in February to 16% in March).
Finally, the third question sought to establish the state of power supply across the country in the last month:How would you describe power supply in your area where you live in the last 1 month? Current results show that the majority (29%) stated that their power supply “has improved a little” and this is closely followed by 27% who claim it “remains bad”. Furthermore, 24% of Nigerians said “it’s very bad and has gone worse”; while 18% said “there’s no difference at all”. A meagre 2% were of the opinion that power supply “has improved very much”.
Looking across the geo-political zones, there are a few differences that are worth noting. The South-East and South-South both have the highest proportion of respondents that think that power supply has improved (39% in total for each region) followed by the South-West (36% in total). The majority in the North-West (28%) claim there has been no difference at all in their power supply. The North-East had the highest proportion of respondents that claim power supply is bad in April (68%) overall and also that it is very bad and has gone worse (34%).
In comparison with the results from the March 2013 poll, the current results show a 5-point increase in the proportion of respondents across the country who claimed their power supply has worsened over the last month. In April 2013, 51% of respondents claimed their power supply was bad or had worsened, compared to 46% in March.
In conclusion, the results from this current poll has revealed that though the majority of Nigerians approve of the job performance of President Goodluck Jonathan in the month of April 2013 his approval rating has continued to decline, it declined by 4-points in April. Also in April, slightly more Nigerians think the current administration is performing poorly or very poorly compared to March. Finally, Nigerians have generally continued to observe experience decline in power supply to their households in April compared to March 2013.
Survey Methods
The opinion poll was conducted on April 24th to 26th 2013. It involved telephone interviews of a random nationwide sample. 1,015 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%. 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
Disclaimer
This press release has been produced by NOI Polls 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 NOI Polls be acknowledged as author whenever and wherever our poll results are used, cited or published.
NOI Polls 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 NOI Polls for actions taken as a result of information provided in this report. Any ratings, forecasts, estimates, opinions or views herein constitute a judgment as at the date of this document. If the date of this document is not current, the views and content may not reflect NOI Polls’ current findings and/or thinking.
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