Global Report X-rays Corruption in Nigeria
By Etim Imisim
This Day News, Nigeria
Transparency International (TI) will on Thursday, March 25 launch its
“Global Corruption Report 2004” at Terrace Court in London.
Global anti-corruption watchdog TI is also presenting its National
Integrity Index (NIS), which will x-ray and probe governance issues in
Nigeria and 24 other countries. The second in the series of country
studies, the NIS covers 2002-4. The focus is political corruption.
Other countries covered are Armenia, Australia, Bangladesh, India,
Jamaica, Kenya, Malawi, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mozambique and New
Zealand. Other are Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Sierra Leone, South
Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, The Gambia, Uganda, United Kingdom,
Zambia and Zimbabwe. A composite study is being done of the Caribbean.
The Dutch government funded the first series of TI NIS country
studies, which focused on 2001. TI worked then with the Fraud
Management Studies Unit of the University of Teesside, Liverpool. The
subsequent series of 25 country studies is being funded by the British
Government’s Department For International Development.
TI’s previous country probes have never been flattering to
Nigeria. The last ratings and earlier ones declared the country the
second most corrupt nation on Planet Earth, which the authorities
dispute.
But last week visiting World Bank President, James Wolfensohn, cited
TI’s Nigerian corruption score when he indicted the nation for doing
too little to fight corruption.
The bank holds corruption responsible for political instability. It
believes no meaningful development is possible in a country where
corruption is as pervasive as it says it has discovered in Nigeria.