Today's Leaders Forum Praise 2019: Corruption in Nigeria; Causes and Cure - Adebimpe Muinat Adebayo

Corruption can be loosely defined as a form of dishonesty or criminal activity exhibited by people entrusted with public or private authority who abuse such authority in quest of aquiring personal and selfish gains. 

Adebimpe Muinat Adebayo

Corruption occurs in different levels and capacity ranging from little favours within a group of people to that which affects the government and general public at large.

To the main point of focus; Causes of Corruption in Nigeria:

The causes of corruption are inexhaustible however the most obvious causes are selected for the purpose of this discussion.

1. Poverty; 

The high level of poverty and lack of basic amenties of life is one of the major causes of corruption. The fear of living in poverty often pushes some persons in authority to amass wealth by hook or crook.

2.  Greed; 

This is the case where a public officer who lacks basically nothing embezzles public funds for selfish and personal reasons.

3. Political Instability;

A situation where by the political stability of a nation is not guaranteed then corruption is not far fetched as the incessant change in the politics either makes the fight against corruption one-sided or swept under the carpet.

4. Low Freedom of Press and Information;

Looking at the Nigerian system, the freedom of press and information is not as expected because most news outlet are not totally given the freedom to air most information they get. Often times, some vital information are being held away from the public there by giving some categories of persons privilege of information which should ordinarily be available to common man.

5. Lack of Commitment by Public Office holders;

Most Public officers do not really have the interest of the masses at heart as such they pursue their personal interest and misappropriate public funds in achieving that.

6. High level of in-group favoritism

This is very obvious in our society as some certain group of cabals who are at the centre of activities gets more favoured in virtually every sector of the economy than the common man.

The Suggested Cure or Solutions for Corruption

Although, these suggestions might not be one hundred percent solution but if followed religiously; it will in fact reduce the incidence of corruption greatly.

1. Expunging and ending impunity; 

When public officers who are protected by the impunity clause realise that the removal and ending of impunity clause signifies the beginning of effective punishment for misconduct they will be forced to act justly and rightly. Successful enforcement of this with a standard legal frame work will reduce level of corruption.

2. Reformation of pubic finance administration; Reforms which focuses on financial administration and strengthening the role of auditing agencies will go a long way in curbing corruption.

3. Transparency and access for information; 

Access to information which is very essential is another to make government responsive as  this will have a positive effect on various public sector in the country.

4. Empowerment of citizens;

Strengthening the citizens and empowering them to hold their government accountable is another way to ensure a corrupt free system(using the whistle blowing approach as a point of reference).

5. Close monitoring of public officers international assets;

     "This is another sure method of curbing corruption because without access to international financial system corrupt officials will find it hard to hide the proceeds generated from their corrupt practices."

Measures should be put in place to ensure that public officers do not own any international account.