A recent data on corruption in Nigeria, released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), N721 billion was paid in cash by Nigerians as bribes to public officials in 2023.
The Nigeria Corruption Survey was conducted by NBS in collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and supported by the MacArthur Foundation and the Kingdom of Denmark
The report showed that in 2023, 27 per cent of Nigerians who had contact with public officials paid a bribe.
The NBS said this was a slight reduction from 29 per cent recorded in 2019, showing a minor decrease, meanwhile, when accounting for instances where bribes were requested but citizens refused, more than one in every three interactions between citizens and public officials in 2023 involved bribery.
The NBS also said that 70 per cent of Nigerians who were asked to pay a bribe in 2023, refused to do so on at least one occasion adding that the bribery refusal rate was found to be highest in the North-West (at 76 per cent), although all zones recorded refusal rates above 60 per cent.
The report noted that corruption ranked 4th among the most important problems affecting the country in 2023, coming after the cost of living, insecurity and unemployment. Despite this, Nigerians’ confidence in the government’s anti-corruption effort has been declining over time and across regions.
In 2019, more than half of all citizens thought that the government was effective in fighting corruption, but, in 2023, the share declined to less than a third of all citizens.
According to the report, the top public officials who requested bribes from Nigerians were Police officers, public utility officers, Federal Road Safety Corp (FRSC), doctors, nurses or midwives, teachers or lecturers.
These were followed by Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIO), Other health workers, Customs or immigration service, Tax or revenues officers and local government representatives.
In 2023 alone, the report said that more than half of all bribes paid to public officials were requested directly by those officials with nine out of 10 of these bribes being paid in cash or money transfers.
However, the report noted that men are 1.4 times more likely than women to pay or be asked to pay a bribe when interacting with public officials.
The ICIR reported how two former Inspector General of Police, and senior Police officers were accused of bribery in a shady land sale of designated Police Barracks.
Kehinde Ogunyale tells stories by using data to hold power into account. You can send him a mail at [email protected] (jameskennyogunyale@gmail) or Twitter: Prof_KennyJames