Nigeria Now 2nd Most Corrupt Country In West Africa

Nigeria has slipped on Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index 2019, scoring 26 per cent.

Nigeria scored 27 out of 100 in TI’s 2018 report but dropped by a point in 2019, making Africa’s most populous country take the 146th position.

The country has also become the second most corrupt nation in West Africa, ahead of only Libya

This is despite the anti-corruption war being championed by Nigerian President, Maj.Gen Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).

TI’s latest report states that Africa’s most populous country like most other countries in Sub-Saharan nations has continued to witness a high rate of corruption which has now worsened due to vote-buying.

The report shows that despite the corruption war being championed by Buhari in the last four and a half years, Nigeria has failed to score higher than 28 per cent.

Nigeria scored 28 out of 100 in 2016 and 2017 but fell in 2018 to 27 and fell further to 26 in 2019.

In the latest report, Nigeria scored the same as Iran, Honduras, Guatemala, Bangladesh, Mozambique and Angola.

Out of 180 countries surveyed, Nigeria scored better than only 28.

They include – Comoros, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Eritrea, Nicaragua, Cambodia, Chad, Iraq, Burundi, Congo, Turkmenistan, Haiti, Democratic Republic of Congo, Libya, Guinea-Bissau, North Korea, Venezuela, Equatorial Guinea, Sudan, Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria, South Sudan and Somalia.

The TI survey measures public sector corruption in 180 countries.

The countries with the highest score were New Zealand and Denmark which both scored 87 out of 100.

Others that were highly placed include- Finland (86), Switzerland (85), Singapore (85), Sweden (85), Norway (84), Netherlands (82), Luxembourg (80) and Germany (80).