BERLIN, (AFP) – Nigeria has been ranked 144th most corrupt country as Afghanistan, North Korea and Somalia are seen as the world’s most corrupt countries while Denmark and New Zealand are nearly squeaky-clean, graft watchdog Transparency International said in a survey Tuesday.
Worldwide, almost 70 percent of nations are thought to have a “serious problem” with public servants on the take, and none of the 177 countries surveyed this year got a perfect score, said the Berlin-based non-profit group.
Transparency International’s annual list is the most widely used indicator of sleaze in political parties, police, justice systems and civil services, a scourge which undermines development and the fight against poverty.”Corruption hurts the poor most,” lead researcher Finn Heinrich told AFP.
“That’s what you see when you look at the countries at the bottom. Within those countries, it’s also poor people who get hurt the most. These countries will never get out of the poverty trap if they don’t tackle corruption.”
Among countries that have slipped the most on the group’s 2013 Corruption Perceptions Index are war-torn Syria as well as Libya and Mali, which have also faced major military conflict in recent years.
“Corruption is very much linked to countries that fall apart, as you see in Libya, Syria, two of the countries that deteriorated the most,” said Heinrich.
“If you look at the bottom of the list, we also have Somalia there. These are not countries where the government is functioning effectively, and people have to take all means in order to get by, to get services, to get food, to survive.”
Heinrich said Afghanistan, where most NATO-led Western forces are pulling out next year after a more than decade long deployment, is “a sobering story. We have not seen tangible improvements”.
“The West has not only invested in security but also in trying to establish the rule of law. But there have been surveys in the last couple of years showing the share of people paying bribes is still one of the highest in the world.”
Also at the bottom of the list is North Korea, “an absolutely closed totalitarian society”, said Heinrich, where defectors report that famine is worsening corruption “because you have to know someone in the party who is corrupt in order to even survive”.
Among the “most improved” countries, although from a low base, was Myanmar, where a former military junta has opened the door to the democratic process and, facing an investment boom, has formally committed to transparency and accountability rules.
“That’s the only way countries can avoid the ‘resource curse’, where the resources are only available to a very small elite,” said Heinrich. “Nigeria and other oil-rich countries are obviously very good examples.”
Huguette Labelle, chair of Transparency, said “all countries still face the threat of corruption at all levels of government, from the issuing of local permits to the enforcement of laws and regulations”.
The group says that because corruption is illegal and secretive, it cannot be meaningfully measured.
Instead Transparency collates expert views on the problem from bodies such as the World Bank, African Development Bank, Economist Intelligence Unit, Bertelsmann Foundation, Freedom House and other groups.
It then ranks countries on a scale of 0-100, where 0 means a country’s public sector is considered highly corrupt and 100 means its is regarded as very clean.
The latest survey “paints a worrying picture”, said Transparency. “While a handful perform well, not one single country gets a perfect score. More than two-thirds score less than 50.”
The bottom-ranked countries, scoring 10 to 19, included Iraq, Syria, Libya, Sudan and South Sudan, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Yemen.
At the top, between 80 and 89, aside from Denmark and New Zealand, were Luxembourg, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Singapore, Norway, Sweden and Finland.
“The top performers clearly reveal how transparency supports accountability and can stop corruption,” said Labelle.
“Still, the better performers face issues like state capture, campaign finance and the oversight of big public contracts which remain major corruption risks.”
The following is a list of the top- and bottom-ranked 10 nations on graft watchdog Transparency International’s annual Corruption Perceptions Index, released on Tuesday.
The index score relates to perceptions of the degree of corruption as seen by country analysts and business people and ranges between zero, which is highly corrupt, and 100, which is very clean.
(The equals symbol means nations share the same rank)
TOP TEN
=1. Denmark 91
=1. New Zealand 91
=3. Finland 89
=3. Sweden 89
=5. Norway 86
=5. Singapore 86
7. Switzerland 85
8. Netherlands 83
=9. Australia 81
=9. Canada 81
BOTTOM TEN
=168. Syria 17
=168. Turkmenistan 17
=168. Uzbekistan 17
171. Iraq 16
172. Libya 15
173. South Sudan 14
174. Sudan 11
=175. Afghanistan 8
=175. North Korea 8
=175. Somalia 8


http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/12/afghanistan-n-korea-somalia-top-world-graft-index/

Nigeria is no longer among the top ten most corrupt country in the world and this news is not on the front page of our daily newspapers if the reverse was the case it would have made the front page.

An even better performance than when OBJ was in power. Shame to all the antiGEJ e-touts. U obviously cannot see clearly when ur mind is biased. GEJ all the way to 2019. Or is TI not transparent #APCtouts? You can drown yourselfs in the lagoon. Am waiting for what liar Mohammed will say. I dey laff!

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha, who wrote this nonsense? which other country of this world has all their politicians as billionaires? which other country of this world is in darkness till date? liars.

.

Its only those that have eye can testify that GEJ is working.

The bum-hole licking griots and praise singers above are celebrating that we are not sharing positions with war ravaging countries like Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq and others. Our West African brother, Ghana is ranked 63rd in the world while Nigeria with all the tens of billions of Naira pumped into our anti-corruption agencies yearly and promulgation of anti-corruption laws, we are ranked 144th. The tragedy is that corruption is getting worse and no area of public sector is spared and it is indicated in this report.

In 2012: we scored 27 points out of a possible 100 points, and we ranked 139 out of 176 countries.

In 2013: we scored 25 points out of a possible 100 points, and we are ranked 144 out of 177 countries.

2012- http://premiumtimesng.com/news/109853-nigeria-is-35th-most-corrupt-in-the-world-says-transparency-international-2012-report.html

2013- http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2013/12/03/at-144th-in-the-world-nigeria-sinks-deeper-in-corruption-index/


This is regression and not improvement(from 139 to 144), This is failure and there is absolutely nothing to rejoice over! It means Nigerians have the perception that the corruption bazaar has increased, Nigerians believe that we have loosened the rope on embezzlers. Are we a people of little or no expectations that we now find solace in the fact that we are not ranked together with war-torn countries or in the last 10 OR is it just one of the nasty display of sycophancy from a bunch of worthless, brainless toadies?

God bless GEJ. GEJ for president till Buhari demise! Corruption is gradually becoming a thing of the past.

we still have a long way to go... it doesn't make any difference to mr sha

We are coming up

No. 1 isn't even good enough. Adon bilivit.

How can we be no. 144?

Why?

On what basis is this ranking?

It is a typo error.

Adon bilivit.

1025: hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha, who wrote this nonsense? which other country of this world has all their politicians as billionaires? which other country of this world is in darkness till date? liars.

the same people that wrote it when nigeria was among the 10 most corrurpt countries in the world

Were going up but more needs to be done.

karl max: Nigeria is no longer among the top ten most corrupt country in the world and this news is not on the front page of our daily newspapers if the reverse was the case it would have made the front page.

@Karl Max...What else do you expect from those whose minds breed hatred? To them fighting corruption is when Ribadu take a battalion of Mobile policemen to force a democratic institution to collapse as in the case of Alamaseigha and the show of Nollywood commando style arrest. They fail to realized that the total privatization process in the power sector has automatically destroy the endemic corruption in that sector.By the time the refineries are privatized next year...Corruption in the oil sector should have been reduced. People have eyes and can see,but hatred for the Man GEJ will make them stay blind.They would even prefer their father,mother,brothers,sisters and cousin die if the solution to them staying alive is in GEJ hands. May God help us all!!!

The fight for corruption is really increasing.

Gone are the days when politics is being played out on performances just because a few greedy politicians don't make anything as to what they make during the past administrations.

This administration turned the table round and all enemies of progress are busy trying hard to see the country don't move forward.

I pity the followers and supporters of those people instead....they are being deceived with "Vote personality and not Party" when it's obvious that the party controls its candidate and more so, when election comes, you don't thumbprint Buhari or Jonathan instead you thumbprint APC or PDP.

Okay.

I guess illegal oil bunkering isn't considered as corruption.

Goodluck for 2015

take dat: Folks above are celebrating that we are not sharing positions with war ravaging countries like Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq and others. Our West African brother, Ghana is ranked 63rd in the world while Nigeria with all the billions of Naira pumped into our anti-corruption agencies yearly, we are ranked 144th.



Last year we scored 27 points out of a possible 100 points, this year our score is 25 points out of 100. This 144th position isn't an improvement, rather there is the perception that the corruption
bazaar has increased.



http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2013/12/03/at-144th-in-the-world-nigeria-sinks-deeper-in-corruption-index/

but do u agree that at one time we were among those countries mentioned in your post? When nigeria was among the 10 most corrupt countriesin the world. If u agree then u would agree that their has been improvement and more needs to be done unless ur an hypocrite. The fg is doing alot to curb corruption in their ministries by following the due process law to the letter and passing the foi bill. If the state governors can do same i guess our rating would improve. Lagos state for instance has refused adhere to the FOI laws claiming it only apply to the federal government but instead administer oath of secrecy to member of the goverment and heads of state ministries now tell me how our rating would improve when our state governors hide their activities in secrecy. What are they hidding if not corruption and corrupt deals

karl max: but do u agree that at one time we were among those countries mentioned in your post? When nigeria was among the 10 most corrupt countriesin the world. If u agree then u would agree that their has been improvement and more needs to be done unless ur an hypocrite. The fg is doing alot to curb corruption in their ministries by following the due process law to the letter and passing the foi bill. If the state governors can do same i guess our rating would improve. Lagos state for instance has refused adhere to the FOI laws claiming it only apply to the federal government but instead administer oath of secrecy to member of the goverment and heads of state ministries now tell me how our rating would improve when our state governors hide their activities in secrecy. What are they hidding if not corruption and corrupt deals

All this one na story. You tried to paint a picture that Nigeria has fared better in this year's corruption perception index which isn't true.



How can you claim we have improved in our fight against corruption according to this newly released corruption perception index, when last year we ranked 139th and this year we are ranked 144th? Is that an improvement or regression? You believe not sharing the last ten positions with war torn countries is an improvement?


Corruption is still ever-present in our public sector, it is the bread and butter of business activity in the civil service. How many public officials have we successfully prosecuted, how many have been sentenced to jail on charges of corrupt practices in the last one year? Almost every corrupt official caught red-handed will claim he or she followed due process, so what is due process? Even with the passage of FOI into law at the federal level, many still get frustrated when trying to invoke it and I can cite examples so it isn't uhuru yet!


We are not doing ourselves any favor by basking in a false euphoria pretending that we are winning the war against corruption with our half-hearted anti-corruption policy of hits and misses. We need to stop celebrating mediocrity, corruption is the bane of Nigeria's development.

This has exposed the lie of Goodluck Jonathan who said on 1/10/2012 that Nigeria was ranked second after the United States by the Transperency International in the fight against corruption.

karl max: Were going up but more needs to be done.

from 139th position to 144th, you are moving up indeed! Nigeria is adrift on a dark ocean with no clue on how to get to a safe harbor, and you are here consoling yourself with falsehood!

Orlando Owoh: This has exposed the lie of Goodluck Jonathan who said on 1/10/2012 that Nigeria was ranked second after the United States by the Transperency International in the fight against corruption.

Fight against corruption is different from corruption index.

Whereas one ranks you according to the dedication you have in fighting corruption, the other ranks you according to the present level of corruption in the system ranging from politicians to public servants and all citizens.

Slizbeat:

Fight against corruption is different from corruption index.

Whereas one ranks you according to the dedication you have in fighting corruption, the other ranks you according to the present level of corruption in the system ranging from politicians to public servants and all citizens.

Don't confuse us here bro! Which one ranks you according to the dedication you have in fighting corruption? Transparency International does Corruption Perception Index, Global Corruption Reports, Global Corruption Barometer and Bribe-Payer Index. None of the listed is accepted globally and commonly effective than the CPI. The CPI is based on how corrupt the country's public sector is perceived to be. If the Nigerian Government is fighting corruption, won't the people perceive/know it? So, if Nigeria dropped from 136 to 144, it means we are not making any progress with all 'our Government dedication in fighting corruption', rather there is a perception that corruption have increased in the public sector.

The politically and ethnically motivated false alarm and mis-information from Punch et al all through the year is enough to make Nigeria drop to the bottom on the ladder of perception of corruption.

Sincere 9gerian: The politically and ethnically motivated false alarm and mis-information from Punch et al all through the year is enough to make Nigeria drop to the bottom on the ladder of perception of corruption.

As usual, you will always find someone or something to blame for the woes and incompetence of government. Has corruption reduced in public service? Will the corruption perception of our unemployed graduates who are fraudulently charged certain amount for recruitment into government agencies reduce or isn't that a corrupt practice? Or are Nigerians too blind to see the expensive lifestyle of government officials? Will the President's cavalier attitude towards corruption reduce the peoples' perception? Will all the half-hearted investigations that gets abandoned because of the President's hidden hand reduce the peoples perception? Or is it with all the allegations of cascading graft within his own rank? Will all these reduce the peoples corruption perception?

I see no difference between those who see this(144th out of 177 countries) as a sign of progress, and a pupil who in the previous term took 139th position in a class of 176 and the following term takes the position of 144 in a class of 177 and the pupil sees it as a remarkable improvement! That pupil would be described as a dunce, so same should apply to the totally ignorant adults on this thread.

take dat: We are indeed moving up, from 136th position to 144th! Nigeria is adrift on a dark ocean with no clue how to get to safe harbor, and you are consoling yourself with falsehood!

when we were 136th how many countries were sampled i remember people like you making noise on nairaland that the index was floored cause of number of countries sampled nobody cares what badbelles and never see nothing Good in nigeria think.the fact that we were once among the top ten most corrupt nation in the world not long ago and now were no longer their is an improvement.

karl max: when we were 136th how many countries were sampled i remember people like you making noise on nairaland that the index was floored cause of number of countries sampled nobody cares what badbelles and never see nothing Good in nigeria think.the fact that we were once among the top ten most corrupt nation in the world not long ago and now were no longer their is an improvement.

Brainless toady! 176 countries were sampled in 2012 and 177 in 2013. When was the last time we ranked in the last ten? We've not featured in the last 10 in post 2005, in 2006 we ranked 142 out of 163 nations. We have long moved out of the last 10 slots.

What is shameful here is that we moved downwards from 139th in 2012 to 144th in 2013. We should be making progress in our fight to consign corruption to the dustbin but this CPI says otherwise.

Who are the bad belles who see noting good in Nigeria? Those making excuses for corruption or those who believe we are not doing enough?

Sincere 9gerian: The politically and ethnically motivated false alarm and mis-information from Punch et al all through the year is enough to make Nigeria drop to the bottom on the ladder of perception of corruption.

When all else fails, inject politics and ethnicity

It would have been better if you didn't post on this thread. So Punch newspaper is responsible for the worsening corruption perception index?

The truth of the matter is that Nigeria is getting worse in terms of corruption index. I really don't know why this should come as a surprise because all of saw the granting of pardon to Alamieyeseigha, the handling of Oduah's case (into which people like you injected ethnicity), and the so many scandals flying around in the Oil Ministry. Are we really surprised?

Are you surprised to see Ghana, which sacked a Deputy Minister 'just' because of her corruption-friendly utterances, rated much higher than Nigeria?

Abi na Punch newspaper, which you have severally claimed is not a good or acceptable newspaper, cause that one too?

karl max: the fact that we were once among the top ten most corrupt nation in the world not long ago and now were no longer their is an improvement.

What year was this?