Nigeria again scored 24 out of 100 points and was ranked 150th out of 180 countries in the 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index released by Transparency International on Tuesday. the punch reports.
Although the country maintained the previous year’s (2021) score of 24 out of 100 points, there was a change in ranking from 154 to 150 as some other countries underperformed in 2022.
This was as the Independent Commission on Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offenses noted that it was not in a position to react or comment on the scoring and ranking.
Anti-corruption agency spokeswoman Ms Azuka Ogugua said: “The federal government has always reacted to the annual report and is expected to react to the last one. However, ICPC is not in a position to react or comment on the report.”
However, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission did not respond to a query from our correspondent on Tuesday about what the CPI means for its fight against corruption in the country.
EFCC spokesman Wilson Uwujaren did not respond to phone calls, texts or WhatsApp messages from our correspondent on Tuesday.
PUNCH reports that the CPI is IT’s tool for measuring levels of corruption in the systems of 180 countries around the world, based on prevailing indices.
These predominant indices are bribery, the diversion of public funds, the use of public officials for private gain without consequences, the ability of governments to contain corruption and enforce effective integrity mechanisms in the public sector, bureaucracy, and excessive bureaucratic burden that can increase opportunities for corruption, meritocratic versus nepotistic appointments in the civil service.
For Nigeria, the CPI sourced its ranking data from eight world-renowned organizations, some of which Nigeria is a partner.
The eight organizations are the World Bank Country Policy and Institutional Assessment, the World Economic Forum Executive Opinion Survey, the Works Justice Project Rule of Law Index, the Varieties of Democracy Project, the Risk Guide to Global Insight Country, PRS International Country Risk Guide, Economist Intelligence Unit Country Ratings. , and the Transformation Index of the Bertelsmann Foundation.
In previous years, Nigeria had experienced a consecutive drop in the CPI ranking. In 2012, the country scored 27, and in 2013 it scored 25, then went back to 27 in 2014, dropped to 26 in 2015, rose to 28 in 2016, 27 in 2017 and 2018, 26 in 2019, dropped to 25 in 2020, and 24 in 2021 and 2022.
According to the president of Transparency International, Delia Rubio, global corruption levels have stagnated for 11 years in a row.
Rubio said: “Corruption has made our world a more dangerous place. With governments collectively failing to make progress against them, they fuel the current surge in violence and conflict, and endanger people everywhere. The only way out is for states to do the hard work, rooting out corruption at all levels to ensure that governments work for all people, not just a minority.”
In a press conference on Tuesday, the Civil Society Center for Legislative Advocacy along with TI noted that the pardon granted to two jailed former governors: Joshua Dariye of Plateau State and Jolly Nyame of Taraba State in 2022 by the administration led by Buhari, indicated a major setback in the country’s anti-corruption efforts.
