₦airaland Forum

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A new report has found that over half of Africans think corruption is increasing.

"Poverty and exclusion"

"Corruption creates and increases poverty and exclusion. While corrupt individuals with political power enjoy a lavish life, millions of Africans are deprived of their basic needs like food, health, education, housing, access to clean water and sanitation," said José Ugaz, chair of Transparency International, in a statement.

The NGO estimates that around 75 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa have paid a bribe in the past year. The poor fare the worst -- they are twice as likely as the richest in the region to have had to make payoffs according to the report.

"This might be because poor people feel powerless to stand up against a corrupt official, or because rich people use their connections to avoid paying such bribes," says Coralie Pring, corruption surveys research coordinator at Transparency International.

The police and courts -- institutions which exist to safeguard citizen's rights -- are seen as the most corrupt, with over a quarter of those who had dealings with them saying that they had paid a bribe.

"When coming into contact with the police, more than a quarter of people told us that they needed to bribe either to get assistance from the officer, or to avoid a problem like passing a checkpoint or avoid a fine or arrest, which is further evidence that graft is undermining the rule of law and allows people to get away unpunished for their crimes," says Pring.

One in five

Nearly one in five Africans paid bribes to obtain official documents, and access to medical care is sometimes negotiated through an unofficial fee, gift or favor.

The survey, which polled over 43,000 people in 28 Sub-Saharan countries, also found that half or more of those who paid bribes did so multiple times a year.

"Corruption is the single biggest threat to Africa's growth"

"Corruption is the single biggest threat to Africa's growth," says Ali Mufuruki, CEO of Tanzania's Infotech Investment Group and member of the International Monetary Fund's Group on sub-Saharan Africa.

"The solution lies in good, ethical leadership, strong and enforceable laws against corruption, severe sanctions for corruption crimes underpinned by a national culture of promoting ethics from family to national level, "he adds.

Most governments are seen as not doing enough to combat the problem, but citizens of the continent's biggest economies expressed the most pessimistic outlook. In South Africa more than four-in-five people said they have seen corruption rise recently and in Nigeria the figure stands at 75%. However the two countries have diverse bribery levels -- South Africa stands at just 7% while Nigeria is at 43% according to Transparency International.

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/12/24/africa/africa-corruption-transparency-international/index.html

Hmm

This is the exact reason why PMB's anti-corruption crusade is the TOP priority of this administration.

PDP bots might point to the Economy and other sectors as more critical but the truth is that they are not really interested in those sectors, they just want to distract PMB from his anti-corruption drive.

Bevista:
This is the exact reason why PMB's anti-corruption crusade is the TOP priority of this administration.

PDP bots might point to the Economy and other sectors as more critical but the truth is that they are not really interested in those sectors, they just want to distract PMB from his anti-corruption drive.

Are they not the same set of people like OBJ, AMAECHI, SARAKI, ATIKU, AKALA etc who institutionalize the corruption from PDP all flush to APC like feaces why others remain in that party. Our judiciary sector has already be compromise with politics unless this is sort out by hand-picking the corrupt lawyers n judges out, politicians with stolen money will surely be set free. My opinion thou

Bevista:
This is the exact reason why PMB's anti-corruption crusade is the TOP priority of this administration.

PDP bots might point to the Economy and other sectors as more critical but the truth is that they are not really interested in those sectors, they just want to distract PMB from his anti-corruption drive.

PMB's so-called anti-corruption crusade is only targeted at the big-money corruption. Unfortunately, the amount of corruption, in terms of the total volume of money involved, is actually more with the small-money corruption. Greater percentage of the population is more affected by the small-money corruption. All it takes to deal with small-money corruption is an experience of life in another country with low level of corruption and an intelligent analysis of the corruption mechanism in Nigeria. In fact, application of intelligence (IQ) is what is lacking in this country.

I lived in the kingdom of Swaziland and I owned a car there. Living in Swaziland gave me opportunity to spend some time in South Africa and some other southern African countries. The only thing the Police cares about is that your vehicle license is visibly pasted on the windscreen and that you possess a valid riving license. The police is also interested in ensuring that front seat belts are put on. Having insurance cover is purely your business. You don't carry the blue book of the vehicle around; you only need it if you want to sell the vehicle.

Here in Nigeria, in the early 2000s, the FRSC was only concerned about seat belt, fire extinguisher, worn out tyres and drivers license. Road users soon complied with all those demands and opportunities for FRSC officials to extort money from the public waned. Then they came up with new frivolous rules. I don't know who approves such obnoxious rules for them and make the crazy rules laws. The fire extinguisher must be of certain size and of certain age. The vehicle must hold torch light. The tyres must not expire (in a country with no known tyre manufacturing company). The windscreen and rear view mirrors must have no cracks. All these rules in a very poor African country! Yet when real road emergency arises, you may not see the FRSC around.

The same thing with the Police. It is their duty to force vehicle owners to patronize the Insurance companies, yet when accidents occur, the Insurance companies are never involved. You must possess road worthiness paper, even though FRSC and VIO officials are always harassing drivers about the condition of their vehicles. You must have a copy of Proof of Ownership paper, even if you are not the owner of the vehicle. Etc. I hear that all these ridiculous papers that Police people look for generate money for the government. So, in the name of revenue generation, the government provides opportunities for government agents to daily extort money from the citizens. Life in Nigeria is horrible for the common people. No wonder some opposition group calls the country a zoo.

Both the governments and government officials in Nigeria are only interested in revenue generation, both for government coffers and private pockets of the government officials. Can you imagine the former FRSC controller (or whatever the position is called), Chidoka from my own state, getting former President Jonathan to approve for him to change vehicle number plates and suddenly change the drivers' license and jack up the cost of a new drivers' license, all with the excuse of generating money for the Federal government? The Nigerian public didn't see any need to revolt against such moves, because they are a down-trodden people. The Police swiftly followed by asking all vehicle owners to register their vehicles online, with a cost of 3,500 naira; the Federal Legislature saved us from the Police harassment. The government of this country and the government officials have really made this country an animal farm--a zoo. The reason why the people of this country tolerate all these abuses of the government on its people is because most people have never lived outside the country.

If PMB is really interested in anti-corruption crusade, the government must find other ways of generating revenue, such a increasing the cost of the annual vehicle license,and expunge all the obnoxious rules and laws that enable the Police, FRSC and other government officials to extort money from the public.