Amnesty International Survey Reveals Majority Of Nigerians Are Unimpressed By Buhari Govt’s Anti-Corruption War

An overwhelming number of Nigerians think corruption is on the rise and that the government is doing little to fight it, a new survey by Transparency International and Afrobarometre published on Tuesday, has shown.

The repott, which is a result of a survey of 43,143 people in 28 Sub-Saharan African countries conducted between March 2014 and September 2015, shows that Nigerians are among the least confident about the sincerity and effectiveness of efforts by their government to fight corruption in the continent, PREMIUM TIMES reports.

While 75 per cent of Nigerians believes that corruption is on the rise, a shocking 78 per cent say government is doing badly in fighting corruption.

“People and Corruption: Africa Survey 2015,” as the report is titled also shows that Nigerian only ranked below Liberia and Cameroon in the number of times they have paid bribe to access public service such as healthcare, school, court and policing.

According to the report, 43 per cent of public service users in Nigeria said they paid bribes.

Most Nigerians (72 per cent) rate the police as the most corrupt public institution in the country closely followed by government official (63 per cent), the report shows.

Nigerians, however, rate religious leaders (28 per cent) and traditional leaders (36 per cent) as the least corrupt classes of people in the country, the survey revealed.

Also the report showed that ordinary Nigerians are the second most helpless people in Africa to tackle corruption.

Only a shocking 39 per cent of the Nigerian respondents said they believe that ordinary people can make a difference in the fight against corruption. Sierra Leone is the only country with a worse score than Nigeria in this regard.

The survey also showed that poor people are twice as likely to pay bribe than rich people. Similarly, it also stated that rural dwellers are more frequently asked for a bribe to access public services more than urban dwellers.

“The poorest Africans are hit hardest by bribery: They are twice as likely as the most affluent in the region to have paid a bribe in the past 12 months.”

Six months into his (Muhammadu Buhari) administration, Nigerians are increasingly becoming impatient as only a handful of ex-officials accused of corruption have been charged, although many more are being investigated and questioned by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission.