President Buhari’s Approval Rating Dips to 39 Percent in June 2016

LATEST governance poll results released by NOIPolls have revealed that President Muhammadu Buhari’s job approval rating for the month of June 2016 stood at 39 percent. This latest score represents a 9-point decline when compared to the rating in May 2016 which stood at 48 percent. The survey also revealed a general decline in the approval rating of the President across 5 geopolitical zones, when compared to the month of May.  The North-West zone at 61 percent recorded the highest approval rating, closely followed by the North-East

zone with 59 percent. On the other hand, the South-East and South-South zones had the least approval rating of 8 percent and 24 percent respectively.

Nigerians were also asked to rate the President on key indicators and results revealed a high level of dissatisfaction of Nigerians on the performance of the president in the areas of Conflict resolution (28 percent), Agriculture and Food Security (21 percent), Health Care (20 percent), Education (18 percent), Economy (15 percent), Job creation (13 percent), Infrastructure (13 percent), and Poverty alleviation (11 percent) as he was rated poorly in these areas. However Nigerians seemed to show some level of satisfaction with his performance in the areas of National Security (48 percent) and Corruption (45 percent), where he received the highest ratings compared to other indicators measured in the poll. Though the president received an average rating in the area of National Security, more needs to be done in conflict resolution, especially in controlling inter-communal and/or intra-communal conflicts evidenced by the increased herdsmen-farmers conflicts in some zones in recent times.

This result is the thirteenth approval rating for President Muhammadu Buhari’s job performance and the 6th in the monthly series of governance polls for the year 2016. It represents the opinions and perceptions of Nigerians regarding the job performance of the President. These are some of the key findings from Governance snap poll conducted in the week of June 27th 2016.

Survey Findings

Findings from the poll revealed that the President’s approval rating stood at 39 percent in June 2016. Monthly trend analysis on the President’s performance rating revealed a 9-point decrease in his approval rating when compared to May 2016. This represents the lowest approval rating of President Buhari since NOIPolls started its approval ratings of the President 13 months ago; with the highest recorded in October 2016 at 80 percent.

More findings from the poll revealed that almost 4 in 10 adult Nigerians (39 percent: 19 percent + 20 percent) approved the President’s job performance. On the contrary, 41 percent (23 percent + 18 percent) of the respondents disapproved of the President’s job performance whereas 20 percent were indifferent.

Analysis by geo-political zone revealed that the North-West zone at 61 percent recorded the highest approval rating and this is closely followed by the North-East zone at 59 percent. The South-East zone at 8 percent had the least approval rating followed by the South-South zone at 24 percent.

To further evaluate the performance of the President respondents were asked to rate him on some key indicators. The President received the highest rating in the area of National Security (48 percent) and Corruption (45 percent), suggesting some level of satisfaction of Nigerians with his performance in these areas. However, he was rated poorly in the areas of Conflict resolution (28 percent), Agriculture and Food Security (21 percent), Health Care (20 percent), Education (18 percent), Economy (15 percent), Job creation (13 percent), Infrastructure (13 percent), and Poverty alleviation (11 percent).

The President’s high rating in the area of national security is an indication of perceived peace and gradual return of economic and agricultural activities especially in the North-East zone where insecurity has been a major problem. However, there are high expectations by Nigerians that the growing Fulani Herdsmen and Farmers conflicts in the North-Central, South-East, North-East and South-West zones, and the lingering bombing of pipelines by militant groups would be given adequate attention.

In conclusion, almost 4 in 10 Nigerians (39 percent) approved the President’s job performance in June 2016 and this represents the lowest approval rating since the President assumed office in May 2015. His ratings on some key indicators reflects dissatisfaction of the President’s performance in Job creation, Health Care, Infrastructure, Conflict resolution, Agriculture and Food Security, Education, Economy, and Poverty alleviation; while Nigerians showed some level of satisfaction with his performance in the area of national security and Corruption.

Survey Methods

The opinion poll was conducted in the week of June 27th 2016. 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. 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. We conduct periodic opinion polls and studies on various socio-economic and political issues in Nigeria.