By Tarkaa David, Abuja
Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has raised the alarm over the prevalence of corruption, asserting that 42 percent of high-ranking positions within the three arms of government and the private sector have been plagued by corruption between 2022 and 2023.
Speaking at the validation meeting of the Nigeria Corruption Index (NCI) Survey in Abuja, Prof. Tunde Babawale, the Provost of the Anti-Corruption Academy of Nigeria, said the findings revealed a disturbingly high level of corruption across the Legislature, Judiciary, Executive arms of government, and the private sector.
“Although at the level of the state, the score differs from one state to the other, but the bottom line is that there is an overall score that we found – over 42% in our own scale is highly corrupt for the entire country,” Babawale said.
He underscored the urgency for a substantial shift in attitudes toward corruption, stressing that tolerance for corrupt practices had become widespread.
Babawale urged a zero-tolerance approach towards corruption, particularly among the youth and society as a whole.
“The details of the NCI reveal a very grim picture of our institutions, highlighting the urgent need for a change in our approach to tackling corruption,” Babawale continued.
The NCI survey was aimed at examining grand corruption, particularly within high-ranking government positions and the private sector, and offering recommendations for anti-corruption policies.
Highlighting some findings, Babawale expressed concern about how corporate social responsibility was manipulated to perpetuate corruption between the private and public sectors.
“One of the things we found out is that people have built the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility fraudulently; they have used it to disguise corruption to also disguise the perpetration of corruption between the private and public sector.
“What I mean by that is that private companies sometimes bring out the concept of corporate social responsibility as real corporate social responsibility, when what it is, is actually perpetuating corruption by giving officials bribes and even equipment.
“Some get cars bought for them and all of it we found out in the course of our survey. So, the government has to take a look at that and purge it of all those impunity,” he said.
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