[[i]]J.R. Ayee. “Reducing Police Corruption and Promoting Police Professionalism through Reforms.” Police Corruption and Police Reforms in Developing Societies(2015): 65.

Country Profile of Anglophone West Africa 

The Gambia is one of the smallest countries in West Africa and covers a total land area of 11, 300 square kilometres. The main feature of The Gambia is the River Gambia, which splits the country into North and South Banks. The Gambia shares a border with Senegal on all sides, except for 80 km of coastline along the Atlantic Ocean. The Gambia had a total population of 1,857,181 in 2013; the World Bank put the total population of the Gambia at 2,038,501 in May, 2018, with child dependency (under 15) ratio is 70.3 % to workforce of the country[[i]]. Unlike other Anglophone West African countries with abundance of natural resources, the country depends largely on donors. The Gambia’s economy is dominated by farming, fishing and tourism. Poverty is widespread in the country and in 2018, a third of the population lived below the poverty line of USD 1.25 per day. In rural areas, a high proportion of the population (almost 70%) is poor.  Thus, the majority of rural dwellers rely heavily on subsistence farming for their income.  Although agriculture is the country’s largest economic sector, underdeveloped irrigation networks leave food production highly vulnerable to unpredictable rainfall patterns and other weather-related shocks. In 2011, the World Bank and the IMF pegged the GDP of the Gambia at USD 898M and USD 977M, respectively. The per capita income in The Gambia is USD 532.30 as of December 2016 which is rated among the lowest per capita income in Africa.The Gambia is one of the poorest countries in the world. In 2015, it ranked 175th out of 188 countries and areas on the UNDP human development index.Poverty is widespread and the economy remained stagnant at 48.6% in 2015, compared to 48.1% of GNI in 2010.  Unemployment is high among women and young people. With regards to health indicators, the Gambia has made some progress. Infant mortality has reduced by more than 60 percent. Life expectancy -58.8 has increased in recent years.  Although the country has made progress in gender parity in health, education, and employment, disparities still exist in political and public life as it is a common feature in sub-Saharan Africa.

Ghana occupies a total landmass of 238,573 square kilometres. It shares boundaries with Cote d’Ivoire to the West, Burkina Faso to the North, Togo to the East, and the Gulf of Guinea to the South. Ghana lies along the western coast of West Africa. The 2010 population census recorded Ghana’s total population to be 28,308,301 million while the total population was estimated be over 28,308,301 in 2016. Ghana has a youthful population and over fifty percent of the population comprises children under 15 of age. The gross domestic product in 2016 was US$42.69 billion (World Bank, 2016). Life expectancy has improved from 52 years in the 1980s, to 57 years in 2009, and 63 years in 2016. This compares with 52 years in sub-Saharan Africa and 62 years in low income countries generally. Between 2005/06 to 2012/13, the country has witnessed increased rates of access to a range of health services. Nonetheless, there exists a vast disparity between urban and rural areas.  Seventy-seven percent of children of primary-school-age are enrolled in school (84 percent of males and 69 percent of females). Infant mortality per 1000 live births improved from ninety-eight in the 1980s to seventy-nine in 2009. Whilst 56 percent of the total population have access to safe water, only 39 percent of the rural population have access to safe water compared to 93 percent of the urban population. Between 1992 and 2013, Ghana’s national level of poverty fell by more than half – from 56.5% to 24.2%, thereby achieving MDG 1 target. However, poverty is still pervasive at the rural parts of the country. A majority of Ghanaians are engaged in the informal sector of the economy. The country has a mixed economy with traditional agriculture as the dominant sector. The agricultural sector is characterized by small-scale peasant farming, which absorbs about 60 percent of the total adult labour force, a relatively small capital-intensive modern sector dominated by mining and a few other industrial activities; a rapidly expanding informal sector dominated by petty traders, small artisans, technicians and small businessmen. With the recent discovery of oil in commercial quantities, Ghana has been elevated to the low middle-income status.

Liberia is the first black colony as well as the oldest republic in Africa inhabited by freed African slaves from the Americas. Liberia covers a total landmass of 96,320 square kilometres. The country is located in tropical West Africa along the North Atlantic Ocean. It shares boundaries with Guinea inthe North, Cote d’Ivoire in the East, Sierra Leone in the West and the Atlantic Ocean in the South. Liberia is divided into fifteen political and sub-divisions known as the counties. These counties are headed by superintendents. Liberia is further divided into sixty-eight statutory districts, ninety administrative districts and seventy-electoral districts. Liberia also has one of the lowest populations in Africa which is growing at a low rate. The 2008 population census recorded its total population as 3.5 million people. However, in May, 2018, the estimated population of Liberia was 4,835,206.  In 2016, the GPD was USD 2.1 billion and the per capita income was 753 which is among the lowest in Africa.  Liberia’s economy has shown signs of modest recovery in 2017, amid significant fiscal and external imbalances[[ii]]The growth of the economy is driven by the mining sector which has since witnessed the growth rate 29% in 2017. However, non-mining sectors like agriculture and services have performed very poorly. Inflation stood at 12.5% in 2017 compared to 8.5% in 2016. This is due to depreciation of the Liberia dollar following a decline in exports. The poverty headcount was 54 index in 2014. The current life expectancy rate in Liberia is 62 years. Liberia is among the poorest countries in the world with an unemployment rate of 85 percent coupled with high corruption at every level of the Liberian economy.  

Nigeria occupies a total landmass of 923,768 square kilometres - an area that is roughly twice the size of Sweden and less than half the size of Mexico. It is bordered by Chad to the north-east, Cameroon to the east, Benin to the west and by Niger on the north-west and north. The country has 853 kilometres of coastline adjoining the Gulf of Guinea. Administratively, Nigeria is a federation with 36 autonomous states, and these states are subdivided into 774 local government authorities. Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa with a total population of 197 million. It accounts for about 47% of the total population in West Africa.  The child dependency (under 15) ratio is 73.2 % to workforce of the country in 2018[[iii]]. . With the GDP of $487 billion in 2015[[iv]]Nigeria is the biggest economy in Africa. The country assumed the mantle of the continent’s largest economy in 2013, following a rebasing - revising the methods and base data used to calculate the GDP - exercise. However, its large population means that Nigeria remains a comparatively poor country in per-capita terms, with a lower GDP per capita than several of its sub-Saharan neighbours, including South Africa, Namibia, Gabon and Angola.  It is estimated that about 86 million Nigerians live below the poverty line. Inequality in terms of income and opportunities has reached an unacceptable level, and north-south divide has widened in recent years due to the Boko Haram insurgency and a lack of economic development in the northern part of the country. In 2016, life expectancy in Nigeria was 56 years[[v]]This compares with 66 years in Africa. The infant mortality rate per 100 live births stood at 117 in 2013. Between 2005 and 2015, Nigeria’s Human Development Index value increased by 13.1 percent.

Sierra Leone covers a total landmass of 71.740 square kilometre and lies across the West African coast. The country shares boundaries with Guinea to the north and north-eastern part of the country, Liberia to the south and south-eastern, and to the west by the Atlantic Ocean. For administrative purposes, the country has been divided into five provinces. The population of Sierra Leone is 7,692,019 million.  The country has rich mineral deposits including diamond, gold, iron ore and bauxite. The agricultural sector represents the main productive sector of the economy, but it recorded only 40% contribution to the GDP between 2009 and 2013. The industry sector including mining, quarrying, manufacturing, construction and electricity contributed 127.6% to the GDP due to the new production of iron ore and the developments in the construction, but recorded a decrease to 94.3% in 2013.The GDP per capita income in 2016 was 490 dollars. Although Sierra Leone recorded a very strong economic growth rate of 4.57% between 2008 and 2010, the country is still confronted with several development challenges[[vi]]. Over 62 percent of the citizens in Sierra Leone live far below the $1.25 a day poverty line and two-thirds of the citizens are illiterates. Poverty and unemployment remain gravely high. Subsistence agriculture, the informal sector and international humanitarian assistance comprise the basic means of livelihood for a large majority of the population. While life expectancy rate in the sub region is 54 years across most low-income countries, life expectancy in Sierra Leon is 52 years.  The unemployment rate stood 9.8% in 2013. In 2017, the inflationary pressures eased owing to relative stability of the exchange rate and the tight monetary policy stance of the Bank of Sierra Leone. In the following sections, we now proceed to discuss public administration of Anglophone West African countries under four (4) thematic areas: governance environment, machinery of government, public administration reforms, and local government system.