Abuja, Nigeria. March 5, 2013 – Latest weekly poll results released by NOI Polls Limited has revealed that more than 5 in 10 Nigerians (54%) approve the performance of President Goodluck Jonathan for the month of February 2013, marking a 4-point increase from his rating for January 2013. The results also indicate that 52 percent of Nigerians rate the performance of the current administration as average. These were two key findings from the governance poll conducted in the week of February 25th 2013.
The results presented are the second in the new 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.
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 (47%) stated that they approve of the President’s performance, while 7% said they strongly approve, followed by 25% who were neutral saying they neither approved nor disapproved. Also, 20% of the respondents polled said they disapprove and 1% said they strongly disapproved. Overall, a total of 54% of the respondents (47% + 7%) approve the performance of the president; while a total of 21% (20% +1%) disapprove his performance.
When the current figures are compared with the results of the January 2013 poll, there is a 4-point increase in the approval rating of President Goodluck Jonathan (from a total of 50% in January 2013 to 54% at present). Also, the proportion of Nigerians that disapprove of his performance has dropped by 9-points (from a total of 30% in January 2013 to 21% at present). Similarly, the percentage of respondents that rated the president’s performance as neutral has increased by 5-points from 20% to 25%. These results clearly show that the majority of the respondents currently approve of the President’s performance and his approval ratings have risen slightly in the past 1 month.
In comparison to previous poll results released by NOI Polls, the February 2013 results presents a slight reversal from the steady declining trend earlier reported; from 79% in October 2010 to 54% in May 2012, and 50% in January 2013. February 2013 results represent a slight reversal of the declining trend that was formerly observed in the approval rating of the President. We attribute this to the feel good factor from winning the AFCON Cup and the renewed hope for better things in the Sports Sector.
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, the majority (52%) said the administration has “performed averagely”, followed by 21% who are of the opinion that “they have performed very well”. In addition, 18% said “they have performed poorly”, while 5% said “they have performed very poorly”, and 3% said “they have performed very well.
A comparison with results from the Governance poll conducted in January 2013 shows that opinions about the performance of the current administration have remained consistent over the past month. The same percentage of respondents (52%) thought the administration had performed averagely while the proportion of respondents who thought they had performed well and performed poorly each grew marginally by 1% over the 1 month period. There was a 3% decrease in the percentage of respondents that have the opinion that they have performed very poorly and 1% increase in the percentage of people who think they have performed very well.
Finally, the third question sought to establish the state of power supply in the country. Therefore, respondents were asked: How would you describe power supply in your area where you live in the last 1 month? The majority (38%) stated that power supply “has improved a little”, followed by 24% who said “there’s no difference at all”. 7% of the respondents were of the opinion that power supply “has improved very much”. 20% of the respondents said that power supply “remains bad”, while 11% said “it’s very bad and has gone worse”.
Looking across the geo-political zones, there are a few differences that are worth noting. The South-East has the highest proportion who thinks that power supply has improved a little (52%) and very much (11%). The North-Central has the highest percentage of respondents who claim that power is very bad and has gone worse (18%) followed by the North-West.
A comparison with results from the poll conducted in January 2013 indicates that there are no major changes in the opinions of Nigerians about their power supply situation. The same proportion of respondents (38%) stated that their power supply has increased a little while other opinions varied very slightly.
In conclusion, the results from this current poll has revealed that the majority of Nigerians approve of the job performance of President Goodluck Jonathan in the month of February 2013, and his approval rating increased by 4 points over the past 1 month. Also, more Nigerians think the current administration is performing averagely, and there has also been an improvement in this performance compared to last year. Finally, the majority of Nigerians polled are also of the opinion that power supply in their area has improved a little, irrespective of geo-political zones.
Survey Methods
The opinion poll was conducted on February 25th to 27th 2013. It involved telephone interviews of a random nationwide sample. 1,009 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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