Public officials received N721bn cash bribe in 2023 — NBS

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says roughly N721 billion was paid in cash bribes to public officials in Nigeria in 2023, corresponding to 0.35 per cent of the entire Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Nigeria.

This is despite 70 per cent of Nigerians refusing to pay bribes in 2023 on at least one occasion.

This is according to the NBS Corruption in Nigeria: Patterns and Trends Report released in Abuja on Thursday.

It revealed that more than 95 per cent of all bribes paid in 2023 were paid in monetary form (cash or money transfer), a slightly larger share than what was recorded in 2019.

“Others are food and drink at eight per cent, animals at seven per cent exchange for other services at four per cent.”

The report indicated that in 2023, out of all citizens who paid a bribe, 8.6 per cent reported their experience to an official institution capable of investigating or otherwise following up and acting on that report.

“This represents a marked increase in the bribery reporting rate since 2019 when it stood at 3.6 per cent.

“The increase is primarily driven by developments in the Northern zones, where the bribery reporting rate increased markedly from 4.7 per cent in 2019 to 13.4 per cent in 2023.

“In the Southern zones, the bribery reporting rate instead decreased moderately from 2.5 per cent in 2019 to 1.7 per cent in 2023.”

The report said more formal procedures were initiated due to reporting at 45 per cent and fewer cases had no follow-up at 17 per cent.