FG, UN present second survey on corruption in Nigeria abroad

The Federal Government, in partnership with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), has presented the Second Survey on Corruption in Nigeria to an international audience in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The report, which was first launched in Abuja earlier this month, was presented to the civil society at a special event on the margins of the Conference of Parties to the UN Convention against Corruption Nigeria.

Nigeria’s permanent representative to international organisations in Vienna, Amb. Vivian Okeke, stressed the need to assess the impact of government’s effort through evidence-based surveys.

“Data collection is one of the areas we need to improve upon in the fight against corruption in Nigeria,” she added.

Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, expressed gratitude to the UNODC for providing the necessary data to help review the impact of government efforts and to further improve performance towards the achievement of a corruption-free Nigeria.

His words, “Beyond allowing us to assess our past performance, the report identifies some crucial policy implications of the data which I am confident will help us to further sharpen our policies and interventions, to prioritise our efforts and resources in the fight against corruption and to achieve ultimately better anti-corruption results for all Nigerians.”

Acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, acknowledged the room for improvement in the fight against corruption.

Represented by the Head, Legal and Prosecution, Kabir Latona, the anti-graft tsar outlined some government’s efforts through the EFCC in combatting corruption to include policy initiatives like the open treasury portal, beneficial ownership register, and the successful investigation, prosecution and adjudication of several politically-exposed persons (PEPs).

UNODC Country Representative, Oliver Stolpe, observed that while the prevalence of bribery had decreased, there was need to put in more efforts to eradicate small-scale corruption typically committed by public officials

Statistician General of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Dr. Yemi Kale, stressed that out of all Nigerian citizens who had at least one contact with a public official 12 months prior to the survey, 30 per cent paid a bribe to, or were asked to pay a bribe by, a public official.