New poll results on governance have again shown a decline in the number of Nigerians in approval of President Jonathan’s governance performance in recent times.
The Monthly governance snap poll results released yesterday by NOIPolls Limited for the month of December 2013 indicate that 4 in 10 Nigerians (or 40%) approve of the President’s performance over the past month, indicating a 10-point decline in the proportion of Nigerians who approve of his leadership, from November.
The rating is also the lowest approval rating for the President in 2013, Figures by NOIPolls showed.
Also, the poll result reveal a slight improvement in the situation of power supply in the country December 2013, with an 8-points increase in the rating from November’s 26% ratings.
However, the 8-point improvement in the power supply ratings could not impact the significant 10-point decline in approval rating of the president by the citizens, going by the poll result.
The poll results further show that 25% of Nigerians rate the performance of the current administration – including the Executive Cabinet; Ministers and State Governors as good; representing a 5-Point decline from the 30 % November rating.
However, the poll result revealed a slight improvement in the situation of power supply as the proportion of Nigerians that said they experienced some improvement increased by 8-points from November (26%) to December (34%), 2013.
The results are the 12th in the monthly series of governance polls and concluding poll for 2013 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 of them was to gauge the perception of Nigerians about the performance of President Goodluck Jonathan over the past one month.
According to NOIPolls, the respondents were for instance asked: Do you approve or disapprove of the performance of President Jonathan in the past one month? The results revealed that 40% of Nigerians approve of the Presidents performance over the past month.
Comparatively, 29% of the adult population respondents disapprove of the President’s performance; while 31% were neutral in rating the President’s performance, as they neither approve nor disapprove of his performance.
“These figures represent a significant 10-point decline in the President’s approval rating from November (50%), and a 7-point increase in the proportion that disapprove of the President’s performance from November (22%)”, the report stated.
On geo-political basis, figures indicate that the South-East zone at 58% had the highest proportion of respondents that voted an approval for the President’s performance.
On the contrary, the North-West had 40%, North-East 38% and South-West 35% zones which had the highest proportion of respondents that disapprove of the President’s performance.
The highest proportion of respondents that were neutral towards the president’s performance were from the South-South and South-West zones 35% each.
Evaluating the President’s governance rating during year 2013 also show that the President obtained the highest approval for his performance in August at 57%, followed by October 55% and February at 54%.
On the other hand, he received the lowest approval ratings in the months of December at 40% and April at 42% for 2013.
Furthermore, analyses using quarterly averages reveal that the third quarter of 2013 with an average of 53% was the President’s best quarter in terms of approval ratings; while the 2nd quarter with an average of 43% was the worst quarter in terms of the President’s approval rating.
The year round average approval rating in 2013 was 49%, according to NOIPOlls.
The opinion poll was conducted in December 16th to 18th 2013. 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.
By: Onyinye Nwachukwu
