Corruption is getting worse in Nigeria, according to the latest corruption
perception index (CPI) released by Transparency International (TI) on
Wednesday.
While the country scored 27/100 and was ranked 136th in 2016, the latest
CPI scores Nigeria 28/100 but with a rank of No. 148 out of 180 countries
surveyed a significant 12 places below where it was the previous year.
This will come as a blow to the President Muhammadu Buhari administration
who came into office on the strength of his anti-corruption credential.
Although the administration has put many suspects on trial and seized
assets of politicians and government officials, it has also been accused
of condoning corrupt practices by top government officials.
The index, which ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived
levels of public sector corruption in the opinion of experts and business
people, uses a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is
very clean, according to TI.
NIGERIA NOW MORE CORRUPT THAN KENYA
An analysis by TheCable shows that Kenya, which was rated more corrupt
than Nigeria in 2016, has now overtaken the west African country, climbing
to 143 from 145.
Other sub Saharan African countries ranked higher than Nigeria are
Botswana whose joint 34 rank is the best in Africa as well as Rwanda
(joint 48) and Nambia (joint 53).
Nigeria is ranked 148 along with Guinea and Comoros.
In 2015, Nigeria scored 26/100 and was ranked 136 although only 168
countries and territories were surveyed then.
New Zealand maintains the No. 1 rank with a score of 89/100, Denmark No. 2
with 88, while Finland, Norway and Switzerland are joint No. 3 with 85.
CORRUPTION FIGHT IN NIGERIA STALLED
Meanwhile, the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), the
national contact of TI, says it is seriously worried about the new but
unfavorable trend in the fight against corruption in the country, as
buttressed in the newly published CPI.
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, CISLAC said in a statement releasedon Wednesdayevening.
This fresh setback in the fight against corruption confirms that
grand-corruption, political corruption, nepotism, favoritism and bribery
persist in Nigeria at all levels. It is CISLACs view that the negative
perception is mainly a consequence of the inability to combat grand
corruption and astronomical plundering of public coffers costing the
Nigerian tax payers around 25% of annual GDP. Since the current
administration has come to power on the anti-corruption ticket, no
significant politically exposed person has been duly sentenced on
anti-corruption charges, it added.