Governors, UNODC move against sub-national graft

Following the alarming corruption index recently released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) are meeting today to check the menace at the sub-national level.

In a statement, NGF’s Head of Media and Public Affairs, Abdulrazaque Bello-Barkindo, said the Statistician-General, Dr Yemi Kale, had been invited for the group’s 12th teleconference meeting holding 2:00 pm today in Abuja to shed more light on the subject.

Also to be part of the gathering is UNODC Country Representative, Oliver Stolpe.

The NBS, had in its second survey on bribery and other forms of corruption, titled “Corruption in Nigeria: Patterns and Trend”, noted that a 2019 survey revealed that 117 million bribes exchanged hands in Nigeria, amounting to N675 billion, a 0.52 per cent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The sum averaged N5,754 per receiver.

The study, which was conducted between May and June in collaboration with the UNODC and UK Aid, covered more than 33,000 households across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).