Nigeria’s return to the TOP 20 MOST GENEROUS COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD (2018) is an indication of just how kind and generous Nigerians can be. I can hear the question already being asked ‘Can anything good come out of Nigeria?’ emphatically YES!
CAF World Giving Index score (calculated as a combined average of the proportion of people who reported one or more of the following in the month prior to the interview: helping a stranger, donating money and volunteering time) ranks Nigeria 16th just after CANADA’s 15th!
Although Nigeria scored quite low at 36% in donating money compared to Indonesia 78% (ranked 1st) and even Kenya 46% (ranked 8th), reasons behind the country making it back to the top 20 most generous countries since 2013 ( after about 5years) could be as a result of a combination of socio-economic factors- but then the trend seems to be global going by CAF chief executive John Low’s statement that “The world is becoming a more generous place,” according to John Low “It is heartening to see that, even during these times of economic uncertainty across the world, people are increasingly likely to donate money to causes that help others. It is also hugely encouraging for the future that so much of the increase in giving has been driven by the younger generation.”
Research informs that though driven by the younger generation, much of the generosity comes from the middle-class people, and if 63.6million of Nigeria’s estimated middle-income class by 2020 were to give just 2000naira in 2020- less than 0.001% of their average annual income- that could amount to 126 billion naira in resources to not-for-profit and civil society organisations in 2020.
However, to achieve this, the government needs to:
- Ensure that non-profits and civil society organisations are regulated in a fair, consistent and open way;
- Make it easy for people to give and offer incentives for giving where possible
- Promote civil society as an independent voice in public life and respect the right of not-for-profit organisations to speak out on important issues.
On the flipside, not-for-profit and civil society organisations need to:
- Ensure good governance and be honest about the impact to build public trust in civil society and not-for-profit organisations
- Meaningfully engage local communities in decision making towards supporting and strengthening community systems for development
- Recognise and build on traditional forms of giving to create organisations and a culture of giving which works to the strengths of the local context.
Join our One Thousand Naira Challenge or GivingThursday to help grow giving in Nigeria
Post contributed by Ikwo Oka
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