Abuja Nigeria, March 7th 2017 – Latest Presidential Job Approval rating in Nigeria conducted by NOIPolls has revealed that, for the first time in the last one year, Nigerians have rated the current administration average. This comes on the heels of the latest 50 percentage point approval rating of the Acting President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo for the month of February 2017. The last time the presidential approval rating edged up to 50 percent was in February 2016, when it stood at 57 percent. Besides, this current rating depicts a 6-point increase from that of January 2017, which stood at 44 percent; and demonstrates improved perception amongst the citizenry towards the governance efforts of the Acting President. Interestingly, this improved perception was significantly observed amongst residents of the South-West geo-political zone, where the Acting-President hails from and, which experienced a 24-points increase from January 2017. Similarly, the improved perception was also observed in the North-Central and South-East geo-political zones with 14-points and 10-points increases respectively, compared to January 2017.
More findings revealed that the Acting President’s job performance approval was mainly backed by reasons such as ‘slight reduction in prices of goods and services’ (22 percent), ‘recent visit to the South-South & South-East regions’ (19 percent), ‘improved security across the country’ (16 percent), ‘slight appreciation in the value of the Naira’ (9 percent), and ‘enhanced agricultural activities & fertilizer distribution’ (8 percent) amongst other positive reasons. On the other hand, respondents who disapproved of his job performance cited reasons such as ‘poor economic situation’ (39 percent), ‘high cost of living’ (24 percent) and ‘high unemployment rate’ (15 percent) as key reasons for not approving his performance.
These are some of the key findings from the recent Governance poll conducted by NOIPolls between the 24th and 28th of February 2017. These results represent the twenty-first approval rating in a monthly series of governance polls conducted by NOIPolls to gauge the perceptions of Nigerians regarding the job performance of the President.
Survey findings
President Muhammad Buhari had, on the 19th of January 2017, sent a letter to the National Assembly conveying his decision to proceed on leave and thus, transferring power to his Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, as required by Section 145 (1) of the Nigerian Constitution. Professor Osinbajo has been Acting as President of Nigeria since his departure till date, and this poll was conducted to assess his job performance as Acting President for the first full month of February 2017.
In order to assess the general perception of Nigerians regarding the performance of Acting President (Prof. Yemi Osinbajo) over the past one month, the findings from the poll revealed that 50 percent of adult Nigerians interviewed approved the job performance of the Acting President’s job performance. This current rating represents a 6-point increase from January 2017 rating (44 percent); indicating an improved perception from previous months. On the other hand, 31 percent disapproved of his performance, while 19 percent remained neutral, neither approving nor disapproving of his performance.
Interestingly, this improved perception in the presidential job approval rating was significantly observed amongst residents of the South-West geo-political zone, where the Acting-President hails from, which experienced a 24-points increase from January 2017. Similarly, the North-Central and South-East geo-political zones also witnessed some improvement in the perception of performance with 14-points and 10-points increases respectively, compared to January 2017.
Respondents were asked reasons for either their approval or disapproval of the acting president’s job performance, and findings revealed that Nigerians who approved of the Acting President’s performance cited reasons such as ‘slight reduction in prices of goods and services’ (22 percent), ‘recent visit to the South-South & South-East region’ (19 percent) ‘improved security across the country’ (16 percent) ‘slight appreciation in the value of the Naira’ (9 percent), and the ‘enhanced agricultural activities & fertilizer distribution’ (8 percent). Some other respondents stated that the Acting President ‘is hardworking and we prefer his leadership style’, ‘He always gives credit to the President’, ‘plans to establish modular refineries’, and the ‘cleanup of Ogoni land’ amongst other positive reasons.
On the other hand, respondents who disapproved the Acting President’s job performance mainly ascribed their position to issues such as: ‘poor economic situation’ (39 percent), ‘high cost of living’ (24 percent), ‘high unemployment rate’ (15 percent). Other reasons include ‘the epileptic power supply’, ‘non-payment of salaries and pensions’, ‘poor infrastructure’ and the ‘closure of land borders’ amongst others.
In conclusion, the poll has revealed that for the first time in close to a year, Nigerians have rated the job performance of Acting President- Prof. Yemi Osinbajo- at an average score of 50 percent for the month of February 2017. The month of February marks the first full month that Prof. Osinbajo as acted as President and this current rating demonstrates a general improvement in the perception of Nigerians regarding the presidential job performance, particularly amongst his kinsmen from the South-West geo-political zone.
Finally, a key highlight from this poll is that while 50 percent of Nigerians approve the job performance of the Acting President for the month of February 2017, a significant proportion (31 percent) still do not approve of his performance; and this calls for critical evaluation and policy response. Evidence from the data clearly suggests that the economy remains at the front-burner of what needs to be urgently tackled by the government; as issues such as the high cost of living, high unemployment rate, poor infrastructure and non-payments of workers’ salaries all revolve around the economy.
Survey Methods
The public opinion poll was conducted between the 24th and 28th of February 20th, 2017. It involved telephone interviews of a random nationwide sample. 1,000 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 No1 for country specific polling services in West Africa. We 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 judgment 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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[1]http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/220955-breaking-buhari-writes-national-assembly-makes-osinbajo-acting-president-third-time.html
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