Niger’s president wins the Ibrahim African leadership prize

FEW PRIZES are as prestigious, or as seldom awarded. In 2006 Mo Ibrahim, a Sudan-born British telecoms billionaire, endowed an annual prize for good governance in Africa. It goes to a head of government who has run a sub-Saharan country well—and has left office gracefully when it is time to go. The winner receives $5m.Alas, in the past 15 years Mr Ibrahim’s foundation has withheld the prize more often than it has granted it. Stepping down when constitutionally required to do is not hard, compared with what Nobel prizewinners for physics have to achieve. Yet depressingly few African leaders manage it. Since 2015 no fewer than 13 have sidestepped or weakened term limits to stay in power. That has narrowed the pool of potential Ibrahim laureates, who also have to have been democratically elected and demonstrated “exceptional leadership” while in office.