Corruption is the bane of Nigerian socio-economic development, which threatens the
existence of Nigeria as a political entity. It is therefore imperative that all and sundry should
engage in anti-corruption struggle. This paper examines the state of the country‟s media from
the perspective of media practitioners. The survey method was employed for the study.
Regardless of the efforts being made by various stakeholders in the media industry, it was
discovered that the media was largely corrupt. Even though over 64 % of those sampled
believed that acceptance of any form of gratifications was unethical, over 75 % of the
journalists engage in corrupt practices with impunity. More than half of the 18 media outfits
covered by the study are indifferent to certain indentified corrupt practices in their
organizations. To curb corruption, journalism organizations should engage in sensitization
programmes while conditions of service for journalists need to be considerably improved.
Keywords: Corrupt practices, anti-corruption, journalistic ethics, Nigerian media
practitioners, brown envelope, bribery


Corruption is a worldwide phenomenon and there is hardly any society without one
form of corruption or the other. Corrupt practices did not begin today; history is as old as the
human race. The menace called corruption is a big problem in Nigeria. M.Watts (2008:47)
affirms that “effects of corruption in the Nigerian society can not be overemphasized”.
Corruption is indeed a cankerworm that has eaten deep into the fabric of Nigerian society. It
is a monster that all and sundry blame for the economic woes facing the country. This is
because corruption is seen as one of the major impediments to the economic development of
the nation. It is perhaps, the only reason why nothing seems to be working. In fact, corruption.


is threatening the existence of Nigeria as an entity. Nearly every sphere of human endeavour
is affected by corruption. And no profession is spared either.
Interestingly, successive governments pursued policies against corruption and it was
the main reason why the military made incursions into politics. Despite various policies
adopted by governments, corruption is ever increasing in the country. Nigeria is said to have
generated huger revenue during this current political dispensation than at other times of her
history. This is so because of the rising price of crude oil in the international market since
1999.
Akpeninor (2007:116) confirms that state governments‟ revenue has been increasing
geometrically from June 1999. Unfortunately, huge receipts from crude oil have neither
positively impacted on the lives of Nigerians nor provided the much needed infrastructural
development. Paradoxically, huge revenue in the case of Nigeria does not translate to better
development. Akpeninor (2007:116) cited a survey carried out by the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) which shows that “impoverishment of Nigeria has vastly
increased proportionately as revenue collected by the governors also immensely increased.
Nigeria today is a nation at crossroads, struggling against all forms of vices. The
country‟s media practitioners had at one time struggled for the political emancipation of the
country, at another time, the media fought for the unity of the nation during a devastating 30-
month civil war. One of the major issues that should engage the attention of the media today
is the anti-corruption war. There is therefore no gain saying the fact that all hands need to be
on deck so that the anti-corruption war could be won.
How much Nigeria would succeed in the current battle depends largely on how
effective the media would be. The media profession is expected to be above board so that
journalists could confidently champion the anti-corruption campaign. Though some media
outfits realized this demand and some efforts have been channeled towards this in recent
times, it is pertinent to know how the corruption issue is being handled in most media
organizations in Nigeria. The focus of this paper is therefore the perception of practicing
journalists on how media organizations view this unwholesome behaviour that could
negatively impact on the pen profession.

Corruption is a major issue in the world and the problem is crucial in most developing
countries such as Nigeria. However, most observers in Nigeria are getting worried because
corruption is fast becoming a way of life. A retrospective look at Nigeria‟s political history
from 1966 to date, according to Dike (1999), points to corruption as a reason put forward by
the military for dabbling into Nigerian politics. For instance, the researcher further states, the
Yakubu Gowon‟s regime and the Shehu Shagari‟s administration were overthrown by the
\military in 1975 and 1983 respectively, based on claims that these governments were corrupt
(Dike, 1999). At presently, according to the Transparency International Corruption Index
(CPI), 2012, Nigeria is rated 35th most corrupt country in the world. In the international
community, Nigerians are perceived to be fraudulent and dangerous.
Many scholars have argued that Nigeria has a long history of corruption which could
be traced to independence. According to Dike, as far back as the 1970s, Nigerian officials
were already stealing oil, loading same unto tankers with no bills of lading, selling the cargo
abroad and pocketing the entire proceeds. He further adds that in the 1990s, petroleum export
proceed account showed that 1.5 billion dollars had disappeared. In the same year, about 5
billion dollars in oil revenue recorded by the Central Bank of Nigeria did not go into the
Federation Account as required by the revenue distribution mechanics.
The level of romance Nigerians have with corruption is so high that it is regarded as
an indispensable factor of the Nigerian psyche. Today, the word „Nigerian factor‟ has been
registered in the vocabulary of Nigerians to connote corrupt practices. James et al (1999:453)
cited the Economist and put the seriousness of corruption in Nigeria thus “the parasite… has
almost eaten the host”.


The Nigerian Media and Corruption


In Nigeria just like in other society, the mass media transmit ideas and new
information to a target audience. This implies that they are responsible for most of the
adjustments in the behavioral pattern of people in the society. The influence of the mass
media extends to almost every segment of the society that is exposed to their programmes. In
other words, the press serves as an agent of change, and as the watchdog of the society is
expected to play a part in ensuring transparency and accountability in government as well as
contribute to the efforts of crime –fighting institutions to curb corruption in the country
(Nwuneli, 1990; Nwosu, 1990). However, a corrupt press can not fight corrupt individuals.
Corruption in the media circle in Nigeria is prevalent because of the brown envelope
syndrome in media practice. Generally, the brown envelope is a monetary bribe handed out to a person to put pressure on him or her to do what the bribe giver wants (Okoye,2001). It is
any form of gratification which a journalist may receive to cover an event or influence the
judgment of a journalist. The event may be a press conference, an interview of any sort, a
workshop, an impromptu or organized briefing. Basically, the coinage “brown envelope”
evokes the idea of criminality in the mind of right thinking persons. This nomenclature is so
regarded because it is derived from the underworld business of wrapping of wares in business
envelopes.
From the above - stated definition, one fundamental ethical concept could be derived
that is, bribery. A bribe according to Hornby (1974:104) is “something given, offered or
promised to somebody in order to influence or persuade him (often to do something wrong)
in favor of the giver.” A bribe therefore, is to induce a course of action, especially a wrong
course by the gift, or offer of something valued. It is note worthy that journalist may give or
accept bribes. He may be tempted to give bribe in order to obtain sought-after information or
even facilitate access to scoop. He may also be tempted to receive bribe, the giver intending
to influence his objective reportage or to “kill” the information out right.
It is believed in many quarters that media practitioners are guilty of allegations of
bribery and corruption and that acceptance of monetary gratification affects in no small
measure objective coverage of news events. Journalists are usually accused of biased
reporting and prejudice by members of the public because of their ignoring one of the most
important attributes of good journalism that is, objectivity.
There is also the need to focus the anti corruption searchlight on every sector of
Nigerian society most especially now that it has been established that corruption is a serious
problem in the nation. The media are at the vanguard of the struggle and for the struggle to be
meaningful, impactful and effective the state of health of journalists as well as the media
organizations they work for as regard their standing on anti corruption crusade should be
determined.