NEARLY half of Africa's people live in a country where governance has worsened over the past decade, as deteriorating security erodes progress, a new annual index asserts.

This year’s report for the Ibrahim Index of African Governance found that despite positive movement in 33 countries, overall governance was worse in 2023 in 21 countries, accounting for just under half of Africa's population, compared with the 2014 baseline survey results,

The Mo Ibrahim Foundation, devoted to good governance and democratic progress in Africa. says in its current annual report that for several countries, including densely populated Nigeria and Uganda, the deterioration in overall governance had worsened over the second part of the decade.

The Sudanese-British philanthropist states in the report that analysts really see a huge arc of instability and conflicts. “This deterioration, and security and safety of our people, is the biggest driver of deterioration and governance...putting everything down in general," he stated.

Pointing at the coups in West Africa and the war in his native Sudan, he said poor governance also fostered violence and instability. "If there is deterioration in governance, if there is corruption, if there is marginalization...people are going to pick up arms," the report observed.

Infrastructure - from mobile phone access to energy - and women's equality, were better in 2023 for roughly 95 percent of Africans, the report affirmed, elaborating that health, education and business environment metrics had also improved continent-wide.

Still public perceptions on progress were grim even when the corresponding governance dimensions showed progress in measured indices, as all public perception indicators, apart from those tracking women's leadership, were in clear decline.

The worst drops were in perceptions of economic opportunities and of safety and security, the report specified, suggesting this could be due to higher expectations in countries that were making progress “and also a tendency to focus on what is not working.”

All the same this problem of expectation is a matter of serious concern, since if public dissatisfaction is high that obviously can lead to unrest, it can lead to increased migration as well as armed conflicts, the report added.