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Chinelo Obogo
Despite the political pronouncements and anti-corruption efforts instituted by the Federal Government, many Nigerians still believe that President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti corruption war is ineffective and unconvincing, a report has claimed.
In a Performance Assessment Survey carried out by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), which was conducted nationally, between September and December 2018, and published in March 2019, it showed that 70 percent of the respondents perceived the current level of corruption to be as high as it was in the past five years.
According to SERAP, the objective of the survey was to get the personal experiences of ordinary citizens regarding corruption in selected sectors and institutions.
Lead consultant of the SERAP survey was Mwangi Kibathi and the report stated that the high corruption perception is a major indictment on government efforts at tackling corruption, because, while government may be exerting a lot of efforts, it is either not being felt by the ordinary Nigerian or the efforts have not been convincing enough.
This report is in sharp contrast with the constant proclamation by the Federal Government, on its achievements in dealing with graft.
President Buhari and senior members of his administration have,on several occasions in the past, said the federal government’s anti-corruption fight is effective and yielding positive results. But, the assessment carried out by SERAP is to the contrary.
The national survey targeted a total of 2,655 respondents, selected from seven states spread across the geo-political zones of Nigeria and the capital city of Abuja. The states, according to SERAP, were picked using stratified random sampling with special consideration to the demographic, socio-economic, general accessibility, security and geographical considerations. Rivers State contributed 17. 4 percent of the sample used in the survey, closely followed by , with 16.4 percent. Enugu had the least proportion at 9.4 percent.
The largest numbers of respondents were from the South West (25.8 percent) while the North Central and North East zones comprised 13 percent each. Among other zones, the South East had the most unfavorable view on the change in the level of corruption in the last five years, with about 75 percent observing that corruption increased in the period. On the current state of corruption in the last five years, the report showed that 70 percent of the respondents believed that corruption levels have either increased or remained the same.
This proportion includes about 56 percent of the respondents who actually perceived corruption levels to have actually increased in this period. Only a quarter of the respondents believed corruption reduced. SERAP said the report is also a pointer that majority of the public may lack confidence in the political will to tackle corruption but that although perceptions have their own limitations, the government cannot claim to be winning the anti-corruption war if Nigerians do not seem to share such sentiments. When asked to project the level of corruption in the coming year, about 41 percent of respondents believed it would either increase or remain the same, with about a third of the respondents expecting corruption levels to increase. On reasons for a projected increase in the level of corruption in the coming year, 31.5 percent pointed at the ruling elite, who, they said, are only pursuing their selfish interest, while 24.9 percent of the respondents believe the current anti-corruption effort is not comprehensive enough. About a quarter of the respondents who were optimistic about future corruption levels reducing based their hopes on elections bringing into power a new government and a new set of leaders who would apply more vigour on anti-corruption efforts.
According to SERAP, “this perception should trigger reflection among various the various anti corruption bodies in Nigeria. This kind of perception is likely to dilute the public support needed for successful anti corruption initiatives. There is a general perception that action against corrupt individuals is selective and shields some sections of the society based on their status.
“This perception is the basis of the expectation that the next government will exert anti corruption action fairly across board. When asked what they perceive as the hindrance to the anti-graft efforts of government, 18.4 percent of respondents said it is due to the poor coordination among the different anti-graft and security agencies, while 12 percent said it is due to the lack of political will from government. When asked what action they have taken in the last one year in response to situations they perceived as manifesting poor governance, 54.8 percent of the respondents said they did not take any action.”
