Nigeria is one of the three African countries to under-go a peer review exercise, in line with the countinent's quest for good governance and resultant development. Currently only twenty-four out of fifty-three African countries are subscribed to the African Peer Review Mechanism, which is a governance tool of the New Partnership for Economic Development (NEPAD). The other two countries are South Africa and Algeria.

Also, members of the African Union Parliament have passed a resolution making it compulsory for all AU member states to accede to the APRM process. To the parliamentarians, getting each of Africa's fifty-three nations to adopt the peer review process forms the fastest way to curb ethnic wars, rebel putsches, famine and widespread poverty on the continent.

The 6th APRM Summit took place alongside the 8th African Union Heads of State and Government Summit, which held in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia.

At the opening of the APRM summit on Janaury 27, President Olusegun Obasanjo noted that some common challenges were found in the three countries that had been reviewed. He said Ghana, Rwanda and Kenya were faced with similar challenges regarding capacity constraints, land distribution, population growth and gender disparities.

Obasanjo however singled out Rwanda, a country from which other member states could learn about gender mainstreaming. He emphasised that the APRM was not a score-card of governments but a review of the whole country including structures such as the judiciary, the legislature and corporate governance amongst others.

The African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) is conceptually an instrument voluntarily acceded to by Member-States of the African Union as an African self-monitoring mechanism. Only three countries namely Ghana, Kenya, and Rwanda, have been peer-reviewed so far out of the twenty subcriber countries.

To ensure that the primary purpose is realised, Member-States have committed themselves to adopting appropriate laws, policies and standards as well as building the necessary human and institutional capacity. In addition, participating countries have also agreed to adopt specific objectives, standards, criteria and indicators for assessing and monitoring progress in key areas on a regular basis.

The African leaders noted that the Report on South Africa was a draft that still contained factual errors, and did not include the most recent comprehensive South African Programme of Action, which had been sent to the panel as agreed upon in the second week of January 2007. South Africa is one of 24 countries on the continent that have signed up for the APRM

Reports have revealed that it was decided that the South African Report along with the review reports of Algeria and Nigeria would be tabled and discussed during the next African Union Heads of State Summit in July 2007.

The African presidents were to have reviewed the report on all of South Africa's civil society and government sectors, at the session, before its publication in South Africa.

Speaking on Nigeria's review exercise, which is at the second stage, the Special Adviser to the President on New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD), Ayo Aluko-Olokun, claimed the process will benefit the country more, as it has provided a platform for assessment of the level of governance by its leaders and identified deficiencies and institutional weaknesses.

According to Olokun, also the National coordinator for APRM, the process has four thematic areas covering democracy and political governance, economic governance, corporate governance and socio-economic development.

To the Special Adviser, APRM was a demonstration of African leaders' collective aspiration for good governance. "The over-reaching goal of the APRM is for all participating countries to accelerate their progress towards adopting and implementing the NEPAD priorities and programmes, achieving the mutually agreed objectives and compliance with the successful best practices in respect of each of the areas of governance and development", he said

South Africa's much awaited African Peer Review Mechanism country review report was not tabled to African leaders at the 6th Summit of the APRM as expected, but was instead postponed to July.

"The heads of State did not table South Africa's report largely because it is still a draft and incomplete," the APRM Governing Council's Chairperson, Public Service and Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi said. She explained that the sector wide report on South Africa's civil society and government organs would be tabled in July, adding that the exact dates would be available at a later stage.

It was decided that the South African Report along with the review reports of Algeria and Nigeria will be tabled and discussed during the next African Union Heads of State Summit in July 2007. The African presidents were to have reviewed the report on all of South Africa's civil society and government sectors, at the session, before its publication in South Africa.

Last year, the Head of the APRM Country Review Mission for South Africa, Professor Adebayo Adedeji visited South Africa and praised the manner in which the country's various sectors had handled the APRM process.

Launched in 2003 as part of the New Partnership for African Development (Nepad), the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) is an instrument by which African nations ensure mutual oversight on political, economic and corporate governance.