The Open Data Institute has ranked Nigeria a dismal 75th position out of 77 countries in its 2013 Global Report on Open Government Data (OGD). The report gives a country-by-country ranking and presents an overview of OGD practices at national level and around the world through the Open Data Barometer.
The report says countries selected in the Open Data Barometer are from those included in the forthcoming 2013 Web Index. These sample countries as identified in the report, were selected to represent a wide range of regions, levels of development and political systems. The countries surveyed in the Open Data Barometer are: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, Benin, Botswana, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, and Greece.
Other countries surveyed in the Open Data Barometer include Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Korea, Republic of, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mexico, Morocco, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Qatar, Russian Federation, and Rwanda.
The other countries are Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, United Republic of, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, UAE, Uganda, United Kingdom, United States of America, Uruguay, Venezuela, Yemen, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The report says that: “In the Open Data Barometer sample of 77 diverse states across the world, over 55% have developed some form of Open Government Data (OGD) initiative, with over 25% of the total sample establishing initiatives with dedicated resources and senior level political backing.”
The United Kingdom, United States of America and Sweden were the top 3 countries on the OGD ranking while Nigeria, Zambia and Mali were in the last 3 positions.
The Open Data Barometer survey asked a range of questions to explore the extent of OGD adoption in different countries, including: establishing whether underpinnings for OGD were in place through Right to Information (RTI) laws; whether central government had an OGD initiative; whether city or regional governments were running OGD initiatives; whether there was demand from civil society and the technology community for OGD; and whether governments were providing support for OGD re-use through training, innovation events, grants and voucher schemes.
The report says: “By looking at these different dimensions we are able to get a sense of how broad-based existing OGD initiatives are.”
The report explains that the low open data readiness in Africa is particularly impacted by limited internet penetration and a scarcity of training for the entrepreneurs and civic technologists. It added that these sets of people often act as key intermediaries between open data, and wider use of that data.
It went further to state that: “Developing open data on the African continent may require both substantial focus on building the capacity and sustainability of such intermediaries, as well as exploring different approaches to making data accessible that do not rely on Internet penetration, such as through print media, community radio and mobile phones.”
The comparative data in the Open Data Barometer can provide the starting point for deeper analysis of different OGD programmes around the world, and for thinking about the different kinds of interventions that can be encouraged to secure benefits from open data
The Open Data Barometer aims to uncover the true prevalence and impact of open data initiatives around the world. It analyses global trends, and also ranks countries and regions via an in-depth methodology that considers: readiness to secure the benefits of open data; actual levels of implementation; and the impact of such initiatives. This is the pilot edition of the Open Data Barometer. This report also marks the first large-scale research collaboration between the Open Data Institute and the World Wide Web Foundation. For more on this project development please visit www.opendatabarometer.org
