Effects of Corruption on Nigeria Economy and the Way Forward

Effects of Corruption on Nigeria Economy and the way forward are simple but difficult to carry out because of ethnic and religious bias to this issue by the political elites.

Corruption is a deep rooted problem which has taken its toll on the government, people, infrastructure, business and life of the average Nigerian.

This article will define corruption, find out the causes, show the effects and then list how to stop the nuisance in the country to restore economic growth, and change the minds of the people to this vice.

Let us start by defining corruption.

What is Corruption?

Corruption is giving or taking bribe, committing fraud by deceiving someone to get money or lying for personal gain, favoring relatives and friends with jobs they are not qualified to do.

Another definition of corruption is that it is misuse of funds for a project, altering facts and figures on purpose and inducing others to commit a wrong act.

Causes of Corruption in Nigeria

There are many causes of corruption. They include greed, poverty, and lack of moral values, economic insecurity, un-patriotism, and strange wish to acquire material wealth.

Types of Corruption in NIgeria

Political, economic, bureaucratic, judicial, moral and electoral are types of corruption existing.

Effects of Corruption on Nigeria Economy

To expose the effects of corruption on Nigeria economy and the way forward, think of numerous problems you face daily in the country, and they will be clear to you.

The effects of corruption, include failure to provide and maintain infrastructures, weak control in tax collection, wasteful government spending, high crime and prostitution rate due to unemployment, and lack of moral value in the society, poor image of the country, dishonesty, low foreign direct investment, and poverty leading to inability to get good education and health care by many people, to mention but a few.

The Way Forward from Corruption in Nigeria

After listing the effects of corruption on Nigeria economy and the way forward, to deal with, it do the opposite of the results you get from corruption. Let us take the effects of corruption one by one to clarify this position.

1) Failure to Provide and Maintain Infrastructures

Government should provide and maintain infrastructure in the country so that economic activities can go on at fair costs, and people will have higher standard of living.

Bad roads increase cost of production of goods and services and even cause death of many on our roads.

To boost and expand production factors in the economy infrastructure such as roads, rail transport, constant electricity, communication, etc must work.

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2) Weak Control in Collection of Taxes

There is a big drain of taxes into private pockets. Citizens refuse to pay because they claim government officials will steal it and infrastructures remain in bad repair.

Well organized tax collection process will encourage the private sector to pay tax easily, produce more goods and services to employ more people.

Government earns major revenue by taxation. If the tax policy is fair, receiving and payment process simple, corporate organizations will pay tax without paying bribe to tax officials.

3) Wasteful Government Spending

Effects of corruption on Nigeria economy and the way forward for wasteful government expenditure, is to stop it at once.

Control of government expenditure is key to making sure that the revenue is used to better the lives of the citizens and not end in up in private pockets.

For instance, the award of contracts to associates of top government officials is a drain pipe.

4) High Crime and Prostitution Rate Due to Unemployment

Mismanagement of the economy by the government causes high rate of unemployment. Unemployment itself leads to all kinds of vices, which includes crime and prostitution.

5) Lack of Moral Value in the Society

Corruption debases the moral value of the people. Consequently, they are willing to cut corners to reach their goals.

For example, a contractor who won a contract by bribing civil servants would not execute it and when they do, it will be shoddy. These corrupt contractors are not afraid of punishment because of their partners in crime.

Therefore, they leave these uncompleted projects all over the country. Government would rearward these abandoned projects in the next budget year. This is a big drain on scarce economic resources.

6) Low Foreign Direct Investment

Effects of corruption on Nigeria economy and the way forward for low foreign direct investment, is to create the right environment that build trust and safety of investments.

Foreign investors fear to put their money into long term businesses such as manufacturing or large scale mechanized farming, because fiscal and monetary policies are not coordinated.

An example is multiple foreign exchange rates which do not give comfort to foreign entrepreneurs and investors.

7) Poverty

Mismanagement of the economy by the Government results in high unemployment, low production, recession and inability to repair roads, schools, hospitals, maternities and health centers in the rural areas.

Above conditions, cause poverty in the country. Due to above state of affairs, many citizens are unable to pay for basic education of their children, or go to good hospitals when they are sick and resort to self medication with the inherent risks.

8) Poor Image of the Country

Effects of corruption on Nigeria economy and the way forward from poor image of the country, is to show the International Community that corruption is steadily reducing yearly.

The country suffer poor image abroad because it continually ranks on top of the list of corrupt countries in reports given by Transparency International and other International Agencies every year.

This ranking continues to cost the country billions of naira in foreign direct investment and foreign currency inflow.

9) Dishonesty

Effects of corruption on Nigeria economy and the way forward for the issue of dishonesty, is to change citizens and make sure they start dealing honestly among themselves and foreigners.

Dishonesty of some citizens cause poor image of Nigeria in the International Community. For example, the involvement of a few youths obtaining money under false pretense spoiled the image of the country.

Red flags rise up in foreigners when you tell them you are a Nigerian due to Advance fee fraud which was very high among a few Nigerian youths in the 80’s and late 90’s.

Now, this menace reduced when EFCC started operations to arrest dishonest citizens receiving money fraudulently from foreigners who wish to do business in the country.

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The loss to the economy in social economic and financial terms is unquantifiable.

Conclusion

The effects of corruption on Nigeria economy and the way forward are clear.

Government must tighten its grip on fiscal policy, monitor monetary policy, cut wasteful spending, restore public institutions to their past glories, repair and build new infrastructures, strengthen law enforcement and anti corruption agencies, and ensure accountability in its tax management.

Now that you have seen the way forward, let all Nigerians work with government to defeat corruption and restore growth in the economy.