A report by the National Bureau of Statistics has ranked officers of the Nigerian police force, civil servants, Federal Road Safety Corps, doctors, nurses and midwives as the most corrupt officials in Nigeria in 2023.
The report titled: “Corruption in Nigeria: Patterns and Trends” estimated that N721bn ($1.26bn) was paid in cash as bribes to public officials in Nigeria in 2023, corresponding to 0.35 per cent of the entire Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Nigeria.
It stated that on average, N8,284 was paid by Nigerians during the period while the nominal average cash bribe size increased since 2019 (from N5,754).
“70 per cent of Nigerians who were asked to pay a bribe in 2023, refused to do so on at least one occasion. The bribery refusal rate was found to be highest in the North-West (at 76 per cent), although all zones recorded refusal rates above 60 per cent.”
It added that bribery is becoming less accepted in Nigeria with the share of citizens who believe that bribery requests are acceptable in order to speed up administrative procedures decreased from 29 per cent in 2019 to 23 percent in 2023.
The report added that fewer citizens report suffering negative consequences after refusing bribe requests in 2023 (38 per cent) compared with 2019 (49 per cent).
“This suggests that Nigerians feel increasingly empowered to confront corrupt officials without fear of repercussions.
“In 2023, a sizable share of all bribe-refusers (21 per cent) indicated that their main reason for refusing a bribe request was because they had other options of getting what they wanted. The data also showed that normative concerns (42 percent) as well as cost of living pressures (23 per cent) play an important role in explaining why Nigerians refuse to pay bribes.”
The report noted Nigerians viewed corruption as the fourth problem affecting the country in 2023, after the cost of living, insecurity and unemployment.
“This suggests relatively stable and high levels of concerns about corruption over time and compared to other concerns such as education or housing.”
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