<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Corruption in Nigeria is so lucrative that the threat of jail term is not enough to deter perpetrators, and the president’s body language is also worsening the situation. The National Bureau of Statistics has estimated $4.6 billion as the cost of corruption in Nigeria, confirming the country’s worsening Corruption Perceptions Index of the Transparency International. Nigeria’s 2018 CPI ranking became worst-off after scoring 27 out of 100 points, far below the world average of 43, and Sub-Sahara Africa average of 32.02. Given that Transparency International relies on the perception of institutions rather than measuring actual corruption experiences of the citizens, this study is set out to capture the experience of the latter. The study employs a quantitative research methodology based on a sociological questionnaire. The findings reveal robust evidence that corruption reacts to standard economic incentives, as it is tagged as an economic cost of getting the job done. Corruption, therefore, became institutionalized and thus a telling effect on the emerging political culture and behavior. The anticorruption strategy has also been that of media trial and seizure of accused persons’ assets. Hence the effects of anti-corruption policies are often weakening as businessmen, politicians and public officials often find alternate strategies for rent seeking.</p></abstract>

Corruption in Nigeria is so lucrative that the threat of jail term is not enough to deter perpetrators, and the president’s body language is also worsening the situation. The National Bureau of Statistics has estimated $4.6 billion as the cost of corruption in Nigeria, confirming the country’s worsening Corruption Perceptions Index of the Transparency International. Nigeria’s 2018 CPI ranking became worst-off after scoring 27 out of 100 points, far below the world average of 43, and Sub-Sahara Africa average of 32.02. Given that Transparency International relies on the perception of institutions rather than measuring actual corruption experiences of the citizens, this study is set out to capture the experience of the latter. The study employs a quantitative research methodology based on a sociological questionnaire. The findings reveal robust evidence that corruption reacts to standard economic incentives, as it is tagged as an economic cost of getting the job done. Corruption, therefore, became institutionalized and thus a telling effect on the emerging political culture and behavior. The anticorruption strategy has also been that of media trial and seizure of accused persons’ assets. Hence the effects of anti-corruption policies are often weakening as businessmen, politicians and public officials often find alternate strategies for rent seeking.

Nigeria’s Corruption Score Card

Management Dynamics in the Knowledge Economy

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"Nigeria\u2019s Corruption Score Card"}

Corruption in Nigeria is so lucrative that the threat of jail term is not enough to deter perpetrators, and the president’s body language is also worsening the...

Nigeria’s Corruption Score Card

Published Online: Feb 20, 2020

Page range: 165 - 182

Received: May 08, 2019

Accepted: Jun 03, 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.25019/mdke/7.2.03

Keywords
bureaucracy, corruption perception, government failure, political witch haunting, rent-seeking

© 2019 Emmanuel Olusegun Stober, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Nigeria’s Corruption Score Card

Published Online: Feb 20, 2020

Page range: 165 - 182

Received: May 08, 2019

Accepted: Jun 03, 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.25019/mdke/7.2.03

Keywordsbureaucracy, corruption perception, government failure, political witch haunting, rent-seeking

© 2019 Emmanuel Olusegun Stober, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
bureaucracy, corruption perception, government failure, political witch haunting, rent-seeking