NIGERIA’S corruption perception index ranking has worsened, dropping from 149th to 154th place among 180 countries.
This was revealed by Transparency International’s (TI) Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI 2021) report released on Tuesday.
Transparency International, the leading civil society organisation working to end corruption worldwide, released its CPI, showing 25 countries improved their ranking while 23 worsened, of which Nigeria is among the countries where corruption got worse.
Nigeria scored 24 out of 100 points in the 2021 index. The country had earlier scored 25 points to maintain the 149th position in the 2020 ranking.
Since President Muhammadu Buhari came on board in 2015, Nigeria has not fared better.
In 2015, Nigeria ranked 136th, 136th in 2016, 148th in 2017, 144th in 2018, 146th in 2019, and 149th in 2020.
The CPI ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption on a scale of zero (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).
Transparency International says the index offers an annual snapshot of the relative degree of corruption by ranking countries and territories from all over the globe.
“Since its inception in 1995, the Corruption Perceptions Index, Transparency International’s flagship research product, has become the leading global indicator of public sector corruption.”
The top countries on the index are Denmark (88), Finland (88) and New Zealand (88), while Somalia (13), Syria (13) and South Sudan (11) remain at the bottom of the CPI.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian government is yet to react to this year’s ranking. The government had in the previous year described the rating as unfair and unacceptable.
The newly-released Auditor General of Nigeria’s report revealed how government ministries, departments and agencies appropriated money without approvals and authorisations.
The audit indicated several government agencies of outright corruption. The malfeasance is taking place under Buhari, who came to power in 2015 with a promise to rid Nigeria of corruption.
This story was first published by The ICIR
