Effects of Political Corruption on the National Development of Nigeria
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Date
2023-12
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Lead City University, Ibadan
Abstract
This research examines and investigate the effects of political corruption on the national development of Nigeria. It further discusses the socio-cultural, political, and economic factors responsible for the endemic nature of corruption in Nigeria and how these factors have succeeded in stagnating the development of the most populous country in Africa. The study is based on the Social Contract theory. This study adopted the descriptive research design. The research relied solely on secondary sources of data. Thus, the data analysed were gathered from textbooks, journals, newspaper editorials, articles, reports and other scholarly works. The findings from this study shows the factors responsible for political corruption in Nigeria are weak law interpretation and enforcement; lack of accountability and transparency; and high cost of government administration. These factors were found to have undermine democracy and the legitimacy of the Nigerian state, reduced the potential for economic growth, and threatens the freedom and security of citizens, all together constitutes hindrances to national development. The study concludes that, the analysis of corrupt activities, the magnitude, and the number of resources involved reveals that Nigeria is an enormously rich resource country. The challenges include how to optimally utilise these resources through honest, competent, effective, and accountable leadership. The study then recommends that people of high moral standards with proven integrity and competency should be encouraged to participate in politics and to seek political offices to reduce the number of persons who seek political positions mainly for personal interest. Also, the high cost of financing political parties and elections as well as for obtaining nomination forms by aspirants should be eliminated and the influence of money in politics greatly reduced.
Keywords: Corruption, Politics, Political corruption, National Development
Word Count: 274
Description
Keywords
Corruption, Politics, Political corruption, National Development
Citation
Kate Turabia