Abuja, Nigeria. October 8th, 2013 – Governance poll results released by NOIPolls Limited for the month of September have revealed that almost half of Nigerians (49%) approve of the President’s performance over the past month. This rating represents an 8-point decline in the President’s approval rating fromAugust (57%) to September (49%). More findings showed that majority (50%) are of the opinion that the present administration performed averagely. In addition, there is a 5-point increase in those who have seen improvements in their power supply for the month of September (from 36% in August to 41% in September). These were the key findings from the Governance Snap Poll conducted in the week of September 23rd 2013.
The result presented is the ninth of the monthly series of governance polls conducted by NOIPolls 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. One, with the aim of gauging the job approval rating of President Goodluck Jonathan over the past month (September)respondents were asked: Do you approve or disapprove of the performance of President Jonathan in the past 1 month? results revealed that overall, majority 49% (42% +7%) are in support of the President’s performance over the past month, with 42% approving and 7% strongly approving of the performance of the President. Relatively, 24% (19%+5%) of respondents disapproved of the President’s performance, with 19% disapproving and 5%strongly disapproving, while, 27% of the respondents were neutral in rating his performance. These figures represent a significant 8-point decrease in the President’s approval rating from August (57%) to September (49%), and a 5-point increase in the proportion that disapproved of the president’s performance from August (19%) to September (24%).
Analyses by geo-political zones reveal that the South East with 74% (61%+13%) down from76% in the month of August, has the highest proportion of respondents that approve of the President’s performance. This is followed by the South South with 61% (55%+6%) down from66% in the month of August. In addition, the South West with 42% (38%+4%) up from 23%, has the highest proportion of respondents that disapprove of the President’s performance while theNorth West with 42% up from 32%, has highest number of neutrals.
Evaluating the President’s rating in a nine months series show that the highest approval ratings of the President’s performance were obtained in August (57%), February (54%) and July (53%). Similarly the lowest approval ratings received by the President were in the months of May (44%), June (44%) andApril (42%).
Subsequently, with the aim of assessing the performance of the current administration respondents were asked:How would you rate the performance of this current administration in the past 1 month? Findings reveal that half of Nigerians (50%) believe that the current administration has performed averagely well, others,23% (20%+3%) affirmed they performed well, while 27% (21%+6%) say they performed poorly.
An assessment of the current administration’s performance by the geo-political zones reveal that the North Central (61%) and North West (59%) zones have the highest proportion of respondents that rate the performance of the current administration as average; while the South West has the highest proportion of respondents (47%: 38%+9%) that rate the performance of the current administration poorly.
Trending the performance of the current administration over a nine month period, the analysis below reveal that the job approval rating of the current administration (executive cabinet- governors and ministers) ministers experienced a surge in February (24%) but declined consecutively till April (16%). A second surge of approval was witnessed in July (28%) and peaked in August (35%). After which we have observed a 12-point decline in the month of September (23%).
Lastly, in order to gauge the quality of power supply in Nigeria within the past month, respondents were asked:How would you describe power in your area in the past 1 month? Reactions to this question revealed that the general situation of power improved over the past month as majority 41% (33%+8%) of Nigerians experienced an improvement in their power supply. From these figures, we see a 5-point increase in the proportion of Nigerians that experienced an improvement in the power situation from August (36%) to September (41%).
Further analysis by geo-political zones reveal that the power situation has improved in the South South (49%: 41%+8%) and the South East (47%: 7%+40%) but has remained poor/gone worse in the South West (54%: 32%+22%) North West (53%: 44%+9%), these figures are relatively the same when compared to results in August 2013.
Evaluating the situation of Power across Nigeria in nine months depicts a general fluctuation in the improvement experienced by Nigerians. January, February and September recorded the best power ratings so far with 47%,44% and 41% respectively while March, April and June with 31%, 31% and 32% respectivelyrecorded the lowest ratings.
In conclusion, the results from the current poll have shown that almost half of Nigerians (49%: 42%+7%) are in support of the Presidents performance over the past month. This figures represent a significant 8-point decrease in the President’s approval rating from August (57%) to September (49%). More findings showed that majority (50%) are of the opinion that the present administration performed averagely. In addition, the month of September saw a general improvement in the situation of power as the proportion of Nigerians that experienced improvement increased by 5-points from August (36%) to September (41%). Although, the power situation in Nigeria saw a general improvement from August to September however the approval rating of the president experienced an 8-Points decline. This suggests that several other factors apart from power and the current on-going reforms may have affected the way Nigerians perceive the performance of the President.
Survey Methods
The opinion poll was conducted on August 26th to 28th 2013. It involved telephone interviews of a random nationwide sample. 1,017 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, No1 for country specific polling services in West Africa, 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 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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