In reaction to 2017 Corruption Perceptions Index by the Transparency International (TI), the Nigerian government wondered where the Berlin-based corruption watchdog got its facts to rank Nigeria 148 out of 180 countries, despite the efforts of President Muhammadu Buhari to curb corruption.
After reeling off its own facts on fighting corruption, the presidency concluded that “in the end, this whole episode may turn out to be just a political distraction, given the strong views some of TI’s patrons have expressed against the Buhari Administration”.
Therefore, Buhari believed that critics of his administration, who are associated with TI, must have influenced the ranking.
WHO PROVIDED DATA FOR RANKING?
Transparency International used nine sources to score Nigeria. No one of the sources is an individual.
The average score from the nine sources is 26.6, which TI rounded up to 27 in the Corruption Perceptions Index. For a country to be scored and ranked, at least three sources must have been used. Overall, TI used 13 sources in the 2017 ranking, nine of which were used to assess Nigeria.
SCORE
Since 2012, Nigeria has scored an average of 26.6 in the corruption perceptions index. Scores range from 0 to 100, where a 0 equals the highest level of perceived corruption and 100 equals the lowest level of perceived corruption.
RANKING
Nigeria has consistently maintained low ranking in the corruption perceptions index due to its persistently low score.
COULD TI’S PATRONS IN NIGERIA INFLUENCE RANKING?
The data used in scoring and ranking countries are not generated by TI. Therefore, it is unlikely that TI staff or associates can influence the position of a country in the corruption perceptions index.
Transparency International is no longer transparent. It has one of its own, wielding undeserved Red Card against Buhari’s government just as someone sympathetic to IPOB found her way into Amnesty International.
This govt will continue to work, for d benefit of the Nigerian people— Lauretta Onochie (@Laurestar) February 23, 2018
If Nigeria’s presidency felt that the country was unfairly ranked in the corruption perceptions index, the integrity of the primary data sources (methodology) should have been questioned rather than attacking Nigerians who have relationships with TI.
Data inputs were made by Damilola Ojetunde and Victoria Nwaziri
Chikezie can be reached at comeje@icirnigeria.org. Follow him on Twitter: @KezieOmeje