Index to Nigerian Newspapers

The Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Related Offences Commission, Dr. Musa Aliyu, has highlighted the endemic corruption in Nigeria and urged the media and public to join the fight against it. He highlighted instances of corruption in Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) where government officials listed their family members in payrolls. Dr. Aliyu also revealed that huge assets stolen from Nigeria and other African nations were kept abroad and that his team is collaborating with other anti-graft agencies to trace and repatriate such assets. He criticized countries in the Global North for helping corrupt Africans loot the continent and called for a review of the nation's laws to make corruption less attractive.7

Nigeria has dropped in the 2021 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) ranking released by Transparency International (TI). The country scored 24 out of 100 points in the 2021 index, ranking 154th out of 180 countries surveyed. CISLAC Executive Director Auwal Ibrahim Musa cited security sector corruption, high level of financial recklessness, abuse of budgetary processes and failure of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to follow due process of appropriation as reasons Nigeria was ranked low in the CPI. He also called for the National Judicial Council (NJC) to ensure that officers appointed are competent and qualified. The NJC should shun nepotism in its appointment of judges and take disciplinary actions against them, while the Auditor General revealed that N49 billion was spent by nine MDAs without appropriation by the National Assembly. The government should also address the shrinking civic space and clampdown on freedom of speech, as well as the arbitrary and illogical decision to ban Twitter for seven months. Finally, systemic corruption in the Nigeria Police Force has continued unabated, putting the country in bad light.

The late Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu warned that corruption was making Nigeria look big for nothing, and successive military rulers led the charge against it. Despite a flurry of administrative policies, none have made a dramatic impact. Corruption has become the basis for the vicious propaganda that pitted military politicians against civilian politicians, defining good and bad Nigerians and making it possible for the country to admit of ambitious men with sinister purposes in government. President Olusegun Obasanjo established the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in 2003, but corruption remains with a smirk on its face, making it the giver of favours and creator of instant wealth with no questions asked.