ANALYSIS: Learning from Rwanda: Why Nigeria needs effective governance scorecard

Could a governance scorecard reduce corruption and improve governance in Africa? In Nigeria? Could it hold leaders accountable and improve government performance? Could it reduce corruption and ensure that citizens participate in important decisions that affect their lives? This is a lot to ask from a scorecard, but Rwanda, which has pioneered such a model, has seen stunning improvement in economic, political and social development. This progress is due, in great part, to a number of “homegrown initiatives” that track government performance, involve ordinary citizens in that tracking, and hold leaders accountable for making measurable progress in their communities and country. Results from Rwanda indicate that holding leaders accountable with a measurable scorecard could do all of these things in Nigeria and in Africa.

Since the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi, Rwanda has delivered impressive development results, including rapid economic growth and poverty reduction. At 61.3 per cent, Rwanda has the highest proportion of women in parliament of any country in the world. The innovative use of technology, such as drones, is being used to deliver medicines to remote areas. With a very high rate of immunization, almost universal insurance coverage and a focus on gender equity and female education, Rwanda has seen rapid and significant declines in infant, child and maternal mortality.

Life expectancy for women in Rwanda is 71; in Nigeria, it is 56. For men, it is 67 in Rwanda and 54 in Nigeria. In Nigeria, the infant mortality rate (deaths per 1,000 live births) is 74. In Rwanda, it is 26. In Nigeria 1,222 women per 100,000 die in pregnancy or childbirth. In Rwanda, this maternal mortality rate is 297. This is in spite of the fact that Nigeria is, by all measures, significantly richer than Rwanda.

How did this happen, as Rwanda was devasted in 1994; essentially, there was not a country, but only death and destruction everywhere.

To make a rapid and impressive change like this requires at least four things: a shared vision of a better future, a plan for implementing the vision, a way to monitor progress (or not) toward that vision, and accountability for those in charge of implementing the vision. All of these elements are in place in Rwanda.

After the 1994 genocide, Rwanda developed what they call homegrown solutions to address some of its enormous societal challenges. All of these homegrown solutions engage citizens in evaluating public services such as education, health and leadership, and all are based on traditional practices. Simply put, they hold leaders accountable for providing for the common good. Few outside Rwanda understand or appreciate the importance of these citizen-based efforts and the level of citizen participation in governance.

Three of the most significant are called Ubudehe, Imihigo and the Rwanda Governance Scorecard. Ubudehe is a participatory process developed from a traditional concept of working collectively in agriculture. Ubudehe took place when all social and ethnic groups prepared the fields together before the rains came and the planting season arrived. It now refers to a participatory process of budgeting and planning at the village level, whereby citizens themselves allocate decentralized funds according to village priorities. Imihigo is a traditional ritual that occurred when a group of people came together and engaged publicly in activities that tested their bravery. The community was being tested as well as the individual. Imihigo is now used in Rwanda at all levels to represent a performance management contract. It is used to set and evaluate progress in all areas – education, health, governance, food security, business etc. It is a powerful tool used to keep leaders accountable and transparent.

The Rwanda Governance Scorecard, produced by the Rwandan Governance Board was launched ten years ago to assess the status of governance in Rwanda. The scorecard evaluates performance on eight essential “pillars”: including the Rule of Law, Political Rights and Civil Liberties, Participation and Inclusiveness, Safety and Security, Investing in Human and Social Development, Economic and Corporate Governance, Anti-Corruption. In each pillar, data are collected from the most reliable international and national data sources, including IMIHIGO as well as nationwide citizen satisfaction data emerging from the Citizen Report Card. The Citizen Report Card is a public audit tool where citizens provide feedback on service delivery in Agriculture, Livestock, Infrastructure, Land and Private sector, Education, Health, Hygiene and sanitation, Social Welfare and Family issues, Gender-Based Violence, Local Administration, Justice, Governance and Human rights and Security.

The Governance Scorecard uses data from the Citizen Report Card as well as many other indicators and data sources. It is a complex and statistically sound undertaking. The data are compared to national and sector-based targets and commitments, to determine where progress is – or is not – being made on these commitments. The scorecard results are taken very seriously in Rwanda. Leaders are held accountable for reaching the agreed-upon targets. Numerous senior leaders have lost their positions for not making progress in their specific sector. This year, the safety and security pillar which focuses on personal security and property, national security, and reconciliation, social cohesion and unity, received the highest score of 95.5 per cent, certainly a very enviable score from a Nigerian point of view.

According to Emmanuel Nibishaka, the deputy chief executive officer of the Rwanda Governance Board (RGB) that coordinates all of these efforts, the scorecard “has helped us to monitor, assess and improve our social, economic and political development. It has consistently triggered key policy actions and strategies which have helped us improve low performing sectors.”

These data-driven homegrown initiatives have helped foster a culture of accountability and transparency. Every community knows the common objectives, because they helped identify them and, because of the scorecard, every community can see whether their leaders are achieving measurable results.

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There are performance scorecards in Nigeria and Africa but they are not institutionalized and leaders are not held accountable. They are mostly from civil society and non-governmental organizations. The most popular and most referenced is the Ibrahim Index of African Governance (by the Mo Ibrahim foundation). Nigeria has consistently scored less than 50% and ranks in the bottom 20%, despite it being Africa’s largest economy.

There have been four coups in West Africa in the last two years. A common thread is that governments are not performing for ordinary citizens. Corruption, poor performance and citizen frustration are common denominators in all of these countries in which the military has seized power. Could a regular self-assessment and holding leaders accountable for why they were elected help prevent coups and lead to development improvements, as it has in Rwanda?

At AUN, I teach a course on development for all our entering students. Last week, I put a table up listing some basic development indicators for Nigeria, South Africa, Ethiopia and Rwanda. I asked them which country they thought was doing the best in development performance. The data were clear. The student response was Rwanda. While income is not as high there, as the students pointed out, life expectancy was longer and maternal mortality, infant and child mortality were lower. Their choice was a reasonable one.

Surely it is clear: holding leaders accountable is the only way Nigeria and other countries can make the progress in the human development so needed at this special moment in history. Scorecards, in addition to other fundamental reforms, would seem to be a very useful tool toward that end.

This article is part of the AUN-Premium Times Data Hub Project. Read more articles here.