One week after the anti-corruption policy planners in Nigeria described graft and financial crimes as the greatest threat to our national security and survival, Transparency International added a cheerless note in its latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) released yesterday, saying the fight against corruption is failing .
Nigeria dropped further in her ranking among the world’s most corrupt countries, according to the global anti-graft body which said we now rank 130th in the list of the most corrupt of 180 nations, with a Corruption Perception Index score of 2.5 and confidence range of 2.2-2.7
Last year,Nigeria ranked 121st with a CPI score of 2.7 and confidence range of between 2.3 and 3.0, along with Nepal, Sao Tome and Principe, Togo, and Vietnam.
The Corruption Perception Index measures the perceived level of public sector in 180 countries and territories around the world.
This is coming on the heels of last week’s anti-graft summit at Sheraton Hotel and Towers, in Abuja, where members of the House of Representatives Committees on Anti Corruption and Judiciary and others bemoaned that whereas “corruption pays in Nigeria and that integrity, patriotism, honesty and hard work are not adequately rewarded…. Government at all levels should demonstrate political will to eliminate corruption and financial crimes, and that the immunity clause for some class of political office holders should be expunged from our Constitution.”
Some Nigerians react to ranking
The Transparency International release has generated some prompt and scathing reactions among Nigerians, who say the report is an indictment on government, which appears to be waging a halfhearted campaign against corruption in the country.
Deputy National President, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Peters Adeyemi, told NEXT yesterday in a telephone interview that he is not surprised about the country’s declining CPI ranking, saying it was obvious that the government was not fighting corruption the right way.
“One would have thought that the fire-brigade thing that the CBN (Central Bank of Nigeria) is doing in the banking sector would have pushed the country up in the global ranking. It is not surprising. It is very obvious that Nigeria is not fighting corruption the way it was being done in the past. No matter whatever criticisms people might have against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) by the Olusegun Obasanjo administration, “it is very obvious that at least spirited efforts were being made to ensure that the so-called sacred cows, who thought they were untouchable, were made to account for their actions in abusing public trust. But, in the last couple of years, we have seen that government has not been fighting corruption the way it should. There is no way the country would have a better perception index when there are several government officials, particularly past-governors, who were paraded on charges of corruption, yet they are walking the streets today as free citizens, with the cases still pending against them,” he said.
Lagos-based commentator on public issues, Iboro Otongaran, described the report as a reflection of the public opinion within and outside the country against the current administration that the country has slowed down on its commitment to the fight against corruption. “The country has not really had fresh cases brought against people found to have committed various acts of corruption. All the ongoing high profile corruption cases in court were brought forwards from the previous administration. Except the cases against the bankers, there is no political office holder that has been brought to account for his acts of corruption, apparently because they have the powerful backers to influence officials of the anti-corruption agencies,” he said.
Assisi Asobie, Chairman, Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), who said he was not surprised about Nigeria’s CPI performance, said the report is actually emphasizing the need for the country to have a general reform programme that cuts across both the socio-economic and political systems in the society.
“Until that holistic programme is put in place, it is not going to be possible for the country to make an improvement in her perception index/ We cannot make that vital improvement by merely leaving the fight in the hands of the anti-corruption agencies alone. It is a fight that must be driven from the top, and situated within a general reform programme.”
On the impact of the report on the work of the anti-corruption agencies, Mr. Asobie said “all the agencies involved in the business of fighting corruption as well as promoting transparency ought to be sacked, because it means the world is not seeing us as doing very well at all, There is no doubt about that. We ought to double our efforts towards that. But the important thing is for the country to have a general reform programme, not just the issue fighting corruption, which alone will not solve the problem
Stemming corruption
According to the Chair of Transparency International (TI), Huguette Labelle: “At a time when massive stimulus packages, fast-track disbursements of public funds and attempts to secure peace are being implemented around the world, it is essential to identify where corruption blocks good governance and accountability, in order to break its corrosive cycle.”
“Stemming corruption requires strong oversight by parliaments, a well performing judiciary, independent and properly resourced audit and anti-corruption agencies, vigorous law enforcement, transparency in public budgets, revenue and aid flows, as well as space for independent media and a vibrant civil society,” said Labelle. “The international community must find efficient ways to help war-torn countries to develop and sustain their own institutions.”
In the latest ranking, Nigeria is slightly better than Uganda which is ranked 131st in the list of corrupt nations.
The report, which noted the impact of corruption on the world economy as nations are struggling to grapple with the negative impact of the global economic crisis, appears to be a sad commentary on the gains of government’s ongoing effort at tackling corruption in the country.
Majority of the 180 countries covered in the report recorded index scores below five on a scale from 0 (perceived to be highly corrupt) to 10 (perceived to have low levels of corruption).
Highest scorers in the 2009 CPI are New Zealand at 9.4, Denmark at 9.3, Singapore and Sweden tied at 9.2 and Switzerland at 9.0. These scores reflect political stability, long-established conflict of interest regulations and solid, functioning public institutions.


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