CORRUPTION IN NIGERIA: CAUSES, CONSEQUENCES AND THE WAY FORWARD

CORRUPTION IN NIGERIA: CAUSES, CONSEQUENCES AND THE WAY FORWARD

 

INTRODUCTION

Corruption is a worldwide phenomenon. It is a common malaise that ravages both the developing and advanced societies, despite their structural and cultural differences. Corruption is found in the various stages of human development; political, economic, judicial etc. Otite (1983) has noted that even though the ubiquity of corruption is otherwise acknowledged, its magnitude and character are defined by different social and cultural contexts and time frames.

Wraith and Simpkins (1963) have shown that corruption has been with societies throughout history. They point out, for instance, that 19th century Britain was marked by great corruption just as Smith (1964) has shown the extent and character of corruption in pre-Nigerian Hausa societies. For some people, corruption, especially in Africa, is an adaptation of the traditional cultural practice of gift-giving in return for favours. The need to be corrupt derives from the obligation to help others in need, to educate one’s children and those of relatives, feed kinsmen and organize feasts and funerals, etc (Otite,1983). However, Africans distinguish gift-giving and other forms of social exchanges from bribes and corrupt practices. As Otite argues, where gift giving is made part of modern transaction, the real intentions to infringe and pervert rules may be concealed by continuity with an old custom. Although corruption remains a global challenge to the quest for development and welfare, it is a recurring theme in the African discourse.

The Nigerian scenario and experience provide a useful illustration of the nuances surrounding corruption and how it interfaces with the state and the struggle for development. Nigeria, like most African states, appears to be at a cross road. It is ridden with crisis and contradictions. The crisis is multifaceted and entails issues of good governance, economic deprivation, underdevelopment, political violence and ethno-religious and communal crisis. Nigeria is endowed with enormous material and human resources. It is the largest oil producer in Africa and the sixth largest in the world. However, despite its material wealth, Nigeria has been rated as one of the poorest countries in the world (as majority of its people live below the poverty line of less than US$1 per day, with some in absolute poverty), Gross Domestic Product, (GDP), per capita income stands at $1300, for a population of well over 140 million people (UNESCO, 2006, NPC, 2006). The depth of the crisis is evident in the massive unemployment and a general lack of opportunities for economic ventures, low living standards, devalued currency and a failure to meet the health, food, habitat and security needs of majority of its people. The economic situation in Nigeria is such that most parents are unable to care for and properly feed their families. At the heart of these crises is the problem of corruption. Ikubaje (2006) noted that corruption has become so prevalent in Nigeria that almost all governance crises, economic woes and development predicaments are attributed to the scourge of corruption. Against this backdrop, Nigeria’s return to democratic governance in 1999 raised public expectations regarding a holistic battle against corruption in both the public and private domains and in the management of national resources. Perhaps, it was the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo, which, more than any other regime in Nigeria’s political history made an open declaration to exorcise the ghost of corruption in Nigeria. President Obasanjo, on assumption of office on May 29, 1999, singled out corruption as the greatest bane of Nigeria, and promised to tackle the problem head long such that “it will not be business as usual” (Omotola, 2006: 215). This paper examines the causes and consequences of corruption in Nigeria with a view to proffering solutions to the menace.

 

THE PROBLEM

Corruption constitutes a canker worm that has eaten deep into the entire fabric of Nigeria’s social system. Successive governments have taken diverse steps to nip the scourge in the bud albeit with debatable degrees of success. Despite the celebrated declaration of war against corruption, Nigeria’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI) appears to continually go down. For instance, the Transparency International in its Corruption Perception Index, CPI ranked Nigeria as the second most corrupt nation in the world for three consecutive years: 2001, 2002 and 2003 (ICPC, 2007). In 2006, Nigeria was ranked as the twenty-first (21st) most corrupt country, globally. In the 2009 global corruption perception index, released by the global anti-corruption agency, Nigeria dropped from its 121st place in 2008 to 130th position, out of the 180 countries surveyed. The report of the 2011 CPI released by the global anti-corruption watch dog in December 2011 showed that Nigeria emerged 143 among the 183 nations covered by the survey with a score of 2.4 on a scale of 10 points. The 2012 CPI ranked Nigeria as the 135th most corrupt nation out of the 178 countries surveyed, scoring 27% out of a possible 100%. As with the 2012 report, the 2013 CPI for Nigeria did not show any cause for celebration.

 

The report indicated that Nigeria ranked as the 144th most corrupt nation out of the 177 countries indexed, scoring 27 % out of 100%. For the 2014 CPI report, Nigeria which is regarded as Africa’s largest economy, was rated by the Transparency International as the 136th most corrupt country out of 175 nations covered by the survey with yet a score of 27% out of a possible 100% ((See “Corruption Perception Index” @ http://www.transparency.org/policy_research/survey_indices/cpi). Rightly or wrongly, the seeming failure of the war against corruption in Nigeria may not be unconnected with the epileptic nature of political will on the part of the political leadership as well as the weakness of relevant institutions charged with the responsibility of being at the vanguard of the war. This probably explains why skeptical eyebrows are raised whenever the war against corruption is paraded as one of the success stories of the government. It is in view of these foregoing problems that this paper examined the causes and persistence of corruption in Nigeria.

In doing this we raised a number of questions such as:

(1) what are the root causes of corruption in Nigeria?

(2) What are the institutional mechanisms put in place to check the scourge of corruption in Nigeria?

(3) How effective are those mechanisms and

(4) What are the consequences of corruption on Nigeria’s socio-economic, political and infrastructural development?

On the flipside, this paper attempted to identify the causes of corruption in Nigeria; identify the institutional responses to the menace, determine the effectiveness of those mechanisms and determine the consequences of corruption on Nigeria’s overall development. To put the discussion in proper focus, this paper is divided into several parts.

After an introduction, a statement of the problem, theoretical framework and the methodology, part two discusses the broad issues of understanding corruption; corruption in Nigeria, causes of corruption in Nigeria and Nigerian government’s intervention in the fight against corruption. Part three examines the consequences of corruption while the final segment of the paper concludes with recommendations on measures for eradicating or mitigating the spectre of corruption in Nigeria.

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