Corruption is a cankerworm that has eaten deeply into the fabric of our nation, it is the reason why Nigeria is in the sorry state she has found herself, where in the midst of plenty majority of her citizens wallow in abject poverty, lack, and wants. There is no gainsaying the fact that corruption has pervaded every stratum of our society, unfortunately, over the years, successive governments have failed to address this systemic problem.
The perception of corruption in Nigeria worsened between 2016 and 2017, as revealed in a new report by Transparency International (T.I). Nigeria ranked 148 out of 180 countries assessed in 2017 on the perception of corruption, the annual Corruption Perception Index, CPI, by Transparency International.
The index published a few months ago, showed that out of 100 points signaling maximum transparency and no corruption, Nigeria scored 27 points. The results show deterioration in the perception of corruption in public administration in Nigeria compared to 2016.
In 2016, Nigeria scored 28 points and ranked 136th in the ranking of countries. With the one-point reduction in the score, Nigeria slipped in the country-ranking by 12 positions, from 136 in 2016 to 148 in 2017.
On the African continent, Nigeria ranks 32nd position in Africa out of 52 assessed countries in 2017. While Botswana leads the continent with the record of competent and largely corruption-free public administration, Nigeria hopelessly falls behind with 27 points. In West Africa, Nigeria is the second worst country out of 17 countries, leaving only Guinea Bissau behind.
The preceding analysis shows how deep we as a nation have sunk down the despicable abyss of corruption.Corruption is the root cause of the socio-economic problems that we are facing as a nation today. These problems include but not limited to poverty, illiteracy, insecurity, unemployment, poor health, suicide, and political instability.
One is compelled to ask why a country as blessed as Nigeria that is endowed with enormous natural resources, is rated among the poorest in the world. The answer to this interrogation is not far-fetched, which is CORRUPTION.
A report by Brooking Institution has shown Nigeria as a nation with the highest number of extremely poor people. A position previously held by Indian with a population of 1.324 billion people as against Nigeria’s 200 million. The report projected that the number of Nigerians living in extreme poverty increases by six people every minute. And that Nigeria has about 87 million people in extreme poverty compared with India’s 73 million.
The prevailing economic hardship cum extreme poverty has contributed to strings of suicide in the country, especially in recent times. Nigerians in a desperate bid to escape the harsh realities and hopelessness of the times have resorted to taking their own lives by jumping into Lagoon, hanging self with rope, or drinking poison. According to a recent World Health Organization (WHO) Suicide Ranking, we have about 15.1 per 100,000 population in a year, which has placed Nigeria as the 30th most suicide-prone (out of 186 nations) and the 10th in Africa. This should be an issue of serious concern and worry to all Nigerians especially the authorities and critical stakeholders.
The high level of illiteracy is a reflection of the rot in the nation’s educational system. Poor funding, examination malpractice, unstable educational policies, poor attitude of government to education, politicizing education are among factors that have adversely affected our standard of education. For instance, Nigeria’s educational sector received much lower than the 26 percent of the national budget in 2017, as recommended by the United Nations. 6 percent of the N7.30 trillion budget was allocated for education, which is contrary to the recommendation by UNESCO. UNESCO survey revealed that 65 million Nigerians are illiterate. These statistics are alarming and the fact is that illiteracy has an adverse impact at both individual and societal level. People who are illiterate are more prone to poverty, poor health, and social vulnerability. Unfortunately, these are the lot of many Nigerians.
The institutionalization of corruption in Nigeria is undoubtedly the cause of the high level of insecurity that has bedeviled the citizenry. Insecurity is Nigeria’s biggest threat. Boko-haram insurgency, banditry, ethnic clashes, herdsmen killings, militancy, cultism, kidnapping, and politically motivated killings are the prevailing security challenges in the nation. These have made life a living hell for Nigerians. The worse affected are the people of the North-East and North-central geo-political zones.
Corruption certainly is a clog in the wheel of Nigeria’s progress and a fundamental challenge that must be tackled. It is therefore crystal clear that the myriad of socio-economic problems in Nigeria cannot be redressed without addressing corruption. A lot of our efforts have been built towards jailing, naming, and shaming of people in our country, which is also very important but the effort should be built on prevention of corruption from our polity instead in the first place. It will do us a whole lot of good if we should focus on the prevention of corruption and the quality of human development which will be more cost-effective compared to the amount of human, material and capital resources that will be expended in continuing with the status-quo.
If at all we must realize the dream of getting rid of corruption in our polity, there must be a demonstration of sincerity by the leadership of this country in the fight against corruption. For example, what is exactly going on in the NNPC, in terms of subsidy, how much is being spent from the public coffer, who is making the decision as to what is being spent, at what point will the minister of petroleum who happens to be the president, tell the nation the accurate expenditure that is going on a matter like subsidy? These are questions that Nigerians urgently need clarification.
Going forward, the fight against corruption should be holistic without any political, tribal, ethnic, and religious coloration. Institutions should be built and empowered to independently take on the fight against corruption. We need analytics to show us the cost of corruption, the impact of corruption, how corruption is a constraint and a barrier to growth and development, to the prosperity of the nation, and to the stability of society. By doing this, the scope of the conversation is widened and attracts more partners that will commit themselves to tackle the problem of corruption.
We should beware of the dangerous mindset that reduces corruption into one single activity, giving consideration to the multi-dimensional issues that are interconnected in creating the distortion that leads to huge opportunity for bad behavior. Opportunity for bad behavior, when identified, can give the window for the design of system, institutions, and mechanism, which will guide against such opportunities. Where the opportunity to be corrupt is high, the tendency to be corrupt will be high, where the tendency to be corrupt is high, there will be much more corruption compared to other societies.
The preventive measure of reducing opportunities for corruption is important. We should consider reducing the opportunity for corruption. In doing this, it is necessary to restructure the structural rigidity that creates so much insensitivity for discretionary actions and discretionary powers. This will open up the system, the financial system, economy, and the policy decision making process. Opening up the system is what is usually called transparency, which is the antidote to bad behavior. And the more transparency that is in the system, the less the opportunity for two people, two parties, two group to on their own decide things that affect the larger number without their knowledge, hence the need to ensure the passage and signing into law the freedom of information bill. This will enable the citizens to know exactly the bases of all decision that pertains to them. If we can get ourselves back to the part of these key reforms of our society that reduces the massive opportunities for clandestine behavior we would have nipped the evil seed of corruption in the bud.
