Nigeria needs to remove opportunities for corruption, says Abah

A former director-general of the Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR), Joe Abah, has said there is a need to remove opportunities for corruption in the country.

Speaking yesterday in Abuja at the 2024 behavioural change conference of the Akin Fadeyi Foundation supported by the MacArthur Foundation, Abah said:

“Corruption has been described by many as a binding constraint. In economics, binding constraints are those that, unless they are removed, would not allow growth and progress.

“Corruption distorts economic growth, undermines public institutions, exacerbates social inequalities, scares away foreign investors, and underdevelops human capacity.

“However, it would not be prudent to wait until the constraint of corruption is totally removed before striving for development. Countries like China, India, Brazil, and Indonesia are rapidly growing despite significant levels of corruption.

“I am of the view that key issue around corruption is the presence of opportunity. I am convinced that if the opportunity is there, many people will perpetuate corrup- tion regardless of need, greed, culture, or ethics.”

“Where efforts are not made to constrain corruption, perhaps the only constraint could be values, where someone chooses not to be corrupt because they have a reputation or family name that they wish to protect.