Nigeria has been ranked very low on the Global Rule of Law Index. Quoting the Global Rule of Law Index, President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, said Nigeria ranked in the 151st position on the global rule of law index, coming far behind other African countries which started in the 6th position with Seychelles, Botswana (70th), Rwanda (80th), South Africa (85th), Ghana (97th), Morocco (111th), and Kenya (111st).
Adesina revealed this in Kenya in a keynote address at the 2025 Kenya Law Society Conference held on August 15, 2025. The theme of the conference is Public Finance, Governance, Justice and Development.
He said Africa must do better on the rule of law index, because the rule of law, which also includes the sanctity of contracts, is an important factor in attracting investments (FDI) to countries. He noted that the rule of law is important in attracting foreign direct investment that the American Bar Association has in place a rule of law initiative to “promote justice, human dignity and economic opportunity through the rule of law”.
According to him, evidence suggests that foreign direct investments move more to countries that have political stability, stable democracies, transparency and low levels of corruption, pointing out that Africa faces an annual foreign direct investment financing gap of over $100 billion because of its low ranking on the global rule of law index.
Other important drivers of FDI, he enumerated, include independent and transparent judiciary, strong regulatory frameworks, public accountability, efficient public service, competition policy, as well as respect for intellectual property rights. He said these factors are especially important for Africa, where many countries rely on revenues from natural resources to finance their economies, including oil, gas, minerals, metals, forests, marine resources and vast lands for agriculture.
To attract more FDI, Adesina said African countries must ensure that rule of law reigns in their domain.
