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1000Reasons

How we grade

The Report Card grades every Nigerian federal officeholder and state governor on the job they were elected to do, past and present. It is the 1000 Reasons adaptation of the legislative-scorecard idea, re-grounded on the records that actually exist in Nigeria. There are no published roll-call votes here, so we grade what can be sourced.

What the grade means

An A means the evidence shows the job was done well. An F means the evidence shows it was done poorly: promises broken, no measurable output, projects undelivered, conduct opaque. The grade is defensible commentary tied to public sources. It is never an accusation of a crime. A politician with an F is not, by that fact, a criminal, and a politician with a clean legal record can still earn an F for failing at the work.

The four axes

Every card grades four axes. The labels adapt to the office.

  • Promises vs delivery. Documented campaign and inauguration promises against what was actually delivered.
  • Record in office. For legislators: bills and motions sponsored, attendance, committee work. For the President, Vice President and Governors: budgets, policy execution, and appointments.
  • Delivery to the people represented. For legislators: constituency and zonal-intervention projects. For executives: statewide or national projects, internally generated revenue, debt, and service delivery.
  • Integrity and transparency. Asset declaration, conduct in office, party defection, and openness, as documented in the public record.

The grade scale

  • A strong, well-evidenced record.
  • B above average, with gaps.
  • C mixed: real wins and real failures.
  • D weak: little delivered.
  • F failing: promises broken, no output, projects undelivered.
  • NR not yet rated: insufficient public evidence on that axis.

The overall grade is a holistic read of the four axes weighted for the office, not a blind average, with a short summary that cites its basis.

Sourcing standards

We prefer, in order: court, EFCC and ICPC filings and judgments; INEC records; National Assembly and state-assembly order papers and the bill trackers maintained by PLAC, PlacBillsTrack and OrderPaper; budget and project data from BudgIT and Tracka; Auditor-General reports; and reputable Nigerian and international newsrooms. Every source carries a publisher, a date where available, and a resolvable link. We do not publish a claim we cannot link.

Legal record and status tags

Any criminal matter sits in a separate Legal record block on each card, shown with the same closed set of status tags used across the archive: alleged by default, rising to under investigation, arraigned, or convicted only where a formal proceeding or ruling is on record. A conviction later overturned is shown at its current status. None of this feeds the grade as guilt; it is presented so the reader can judge.

Limitations

  • Cards are compiled one office at a time; an office not yet graded is not a judgement, only a queue position.
  • Nigerian legislative records are incomplete and unevenly published; thin coverage is marked NR, not invented.
  • A high grade is not an endorsement and a low grade is not a verdict. The card presents the record and the citations; the reader judges.
  • Absence of a legal record is not a clearance, only an absence of documented public evidence we have surfaced.

Right of reply

If you are named on a card and the record is wrong, write to corrections@1000reasons.vote or use the corrections form. We acknowledge within 48 hours, publish accepted corrections in full, and preserve the original in the audit log.