In what may come as a shock to Nigerians, a household survey carried out by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in conjunction with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNDOC) says Nigerians spent roughly N402 billion as bribes to government officials between June 2015 and May 2016.
Here are highlights from the survey
- .Almost a third of Nigerians paid a bribe when in contact with government official.
- 82 million bribes were paid to public officials in the last 12 months.
- 62.4% of Nigerians paid a bribe between 1-3 bribes within the period covered by the survey
- 14% of Nigerians consider corruption to be the most pressing problem facing the country.
- 85.3% of the bribes were solicited directly or indirectly. 91.9% of bribes were paid in cash.
- Average size of cash bribes was N5317.6 The most common bribe paid was cash directly requested by an official to speed up a procedure.
Implications of the report
Nigeria has a major corruption problem. The estimated amount spent is almost a quarter of Nigeria’s 2017 budget. Had the bribes being spent on goods and services, it would have gone a long way in improving the economy. The present administration may have to redouble their efforts on anti corruption efforts as the amount is a mind boggling sum.
UNDOC was established in 1997 through a merger between the United Nations Drug Control Programme and the Centre for Internaational Crime Prevention. Core areas of the agency’s operation are Organized Crime and Trafficking, Corruption. Crime Prevention, and Terrorism prevention.
Here is a copy of the report.
