Corruption in Nigeria

This study examines the consequences of corruption in Nigeria as regard to Transparency International report, using General Sani Abacha administration as a case study. Nigeria is the most populous black nation with an estimated population of 150 million people and still growing. It has a population larger than sixteen West African Countries put together which makes it a very important player not only within West Africa but Africa in general. Nigeria is blessed with human and material resources. Consequent upon this, it is expected that a larger population of the country lives in affluence, ironically preponderance of Nigerian population live in abject poverty. Poverty has pervaded the entire segment of the country. Surprisingly, democratic system of government has not suppressed the virulent growth of poverty in Nigeria. There are more questions than answers. For instance, it is aptly correct to ask: why poverty amidst plenty in Nigeria? Corruption has become a popular phenomenon in the nation’s political system. It has indeed become a society￾induced activity in the sense that, it now enjoys popular support from the people, invariably, corruption has been democratized. This happens as a result of the 1 inability to capture and understand the generic meaning of corruption, which has further given it a toga of social recognition and acceptance in all the societies within the country. Although, corruption is a global phenomenon, it occurs in monarchy, democracies and military dictatorships; at all levels of development and in all types of economic systems from open capitalist economies to centrally planned economies. The fact remains that corruption differs widely in its forms, pervasiveness and consequences, in developed countries the effect may be less severe, while in developing countries particularly African continent where the effect may be too severe for citizens to bear, as demonstrated. In Nigeria, corruption affects every facet of human development. Little wonder, the Transparency International (TI), an NGO of international repute continue to rate and score Nigeria high among the corrupt countries in the world. The futile attempt by the government to fight the cankerworm stems from the fact that government itself is greatly infected with the virus and an average Nigeria is seen as corrupt in most parts of the world. It is against this background that this chapter examines the causes, types and effects of corruption. And the various ways of achieving corruption free society through the recommendations capable of reducing the practice corruption