Last week, I argued that modern governance suffers from a curious blind spot. We measure almost everything that governments produce, yet devote remarkably little attention to measuring the institutional capability that produces those outcomes. GDP, Inflation and others are indispensable indicators, but they share an important limitation: they measure consequences rather than capability.
That distinction is not semantic; but fundamental. A nation can temporarily enjoy strong economic growth while the institutions responsible for sustaining that growth steadily deteriorate. Another may experience disappointing short-term economic performance while quietly building systems that will produce superior outcomes over the following decade. Conventional indicators rarely distinguish between the two. They record performance after it has occurred. They seldom tell us whether the institutional foundations of future performance are becoming stronger or weaker.
This is precisely why Nigeria needs a Capacity Index. Capacity is one of the most frequently used – and least precisely understood – concepts in public policy. Politicians speak about building capacity. International organisations fund capacity-building programmes. Consultants promise capacity enhancement. Yet remarkably little agreement exists regarding what capacity actually means, let alone how it should be measured.
