THE problem of corrupt countries like Nigeria using fake and inaccurate domestic data to blur the reality of the living conditions of its peoples led to the evolution of global comparative social indicators as viable, accurate, authoritative and verifiable alternative measures of development. One such important aggregate statistic is the United Nations Human Development Index (HDI), which is a comparative composite measure of development of a country with respect to essential macroeconomic variables, namely: life expectancy, literacy, education, and standards of living for countries worldwide. Because it incorporates measures of living standards, the HDI is a good indicator of citizens' wellbeing, in important respects.It is widely regarded as a barometer of a country's political governance, national economic policies and of their impact on the quality of life of its citizens.In its most current publication (as of 10 June 2011), Nigeria is ranked 145 out of 170 member states of the U.N. With HDI of 0. 423, Nigeria is rated far below Morocco (0.567), which is the lowest African country in the list of Medium Human Development. Libya is the highest African country with 0.755 HDI of 0.755, followed by Mauritius (0.701), Tunisia (0.683) and Algeria (0.677). The continuing deterioration of Nigeria on these indicators of comparative world development does not surprise any discerning and dispassionate observer. Nigeria is the proverbial sheep that piles shit on its tail and stupidly thinks it's messing its owner's house.Why do Nigerian leaders and government officials perennially indulge in erroneous statistical data and sycophantic illusions about the state of the country' Can they not feel the pulse of the citizenry' Do they not read the papers, listen to commentaries' Do they not learn from the happenings of leadership failure in other African countries' Why don't they anchor their policies on empirical reality of the crying poverty level of most Nigerians' For the records, Nigeria can never be developed by foreigners nor can it achieve development based on anti-people policies. This is the lesson of the HDI.The HDI is a magisterial publication that thoroughly surveys the comparative evidence of good and bad (inept and corrupt) governance all over the world. It presents a clear and unambiguous relationship (or lack of it) between national political governance (through national development policies) and citizens' wellbeing.It immediately allows both the citizens of the country and the world at large to evaluate the effectiveness of a country's bureaucracy and governance in human development terms. For top government officials of countries like Nigeria, that are easily cajoled by diplomatic nicety of foreign leaders and their organizations when they shower praises on them with deceptive awards and accolades, the HDI publication putatively speaks differently to the speciousness of the praises.It is a lamentation of the failure of governance and how corrupt, inept and opportunistic policies impact adversely on economic growth and productivity, how these combine to fuel arms procurement, ethnic tensions and militancy, and underground economy. Unfortunately, Nigerian Government and its leaders at all levels continue to delude themselves into believing that the World Bank, the IMF, China and similar nationalities will somehow translate grand corruption and anti-people policies into socioeconomic development.'Ezi-Herbert, PhD Professor of Accounting & Financial Management, Veritas University (The Catholic University of Nigeria), Abuja
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