A survey based on 18 basic World Development Indicators has ranked Osun State top among the 36 states of Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory.
The result of the survey is contained in a book, titled; “Development Performance Ranking of Nigerian States and Monitoring of African Countries,” launched on Tuesday in Abuja.
The book was written by the Vice-Chancellor of Al-Hikmah University, Ilorin, Mohammed Ibrahim.
According to the data ranking in the book, the overall best state, based on the average score of all the selected development indicators, was Osun. Anambra and Lagos tied for second position, while Ekiti came fourth. Others in the top 10 are the FCT, Abia, Imo, Kwara, Edo and Kogi states.
The author said he wrote the book to educate Nigerians and Africans on the need to demand transparency, accountability and good governance from their leaders towards achieving national development and wellbeing for the people.
Mr Ibrahim lamented that in spite of the resources available in Nigeria, data from the survey made it oblivious that corruption remains the bane of development in the country and Africa as a whole.
According to the author, the book employed descriptive, comparative, survey design based on secondary data extracted from the 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS 2013) to assess the intra-state and inter-state development performance status of all the 36 states and FCT.
He said 18 basic development performance indicators, in line with the World Development Indicators, were used in the survey which revealed that Nigeria as a whole performed woefully.
Some of these indicators are electricity, education, sanitation, youth literacy rate, health, unemployment, improved drinking water, population of skilled health professionals, maternal and infant mortality rates, and life expectancy rates.
This is not the first time ratings from Independent and International Organizations would place Osun high in Development, Poverty Allievation as well as Enhancing the Lives of the citizens of the state.
Early 2018, the state was ranked the least miserable and poverty ridden state in Nigeria by the UNDP-NBS report. Also, various verdicts of local and international research has identified Osun as a growing state with the foundation of economic prosperity laid by the immediate past administration of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola continued by the incumbent Gboyega Oyetola government.
