## I. INTRODUCTION Corruption, a social menace that has eaten into the fabric of the nation, has become a common denominator in Nigeria. Its prevalence has become so pronounced that no day passes without a case of corruption against a highly placed Nigerian being reported (Uji, 2015). In other words, generally, the global perception about graft in Nigeria is that of a pervasive phenomenon. It has been acknowledged that corruption is endemic and systematic in both public and private sectors of the Nigerian economy and its debilitating effects on the country are enormous. It affects the routine processes of governance both in public and private sectors and pollutes the business environment generally. It also undermines the integrity of government and public institutions. Corruption in Nigeria has been responsible for the political instability of successive governments since the First Republic. Former Nigeria's president Obasanjo (2006) identified corruption as the number one enemy of development and progress that has eaten deep into the fabric of our society at all levels, maintaining further that it has caused decay and dereliction of the infrastructure of government and the society in physical, social and human terms. The President also said with corruption there can be no sustainable development nor political stability. By breeding and feeding on inefficiency, corruption invariably strangles the systems of social organization. Corruption is the antithesis of development and progress. Every coup since then has been in the name of stamping out the disease called corruption. Unfortunately, the cure turned out to be worse than the disease and Nigeria has been worse for it. It has been asserted that Nigeria's external image has taken a serious bashing over time, as the country is a permanent feature on every corruption index, depicting the commonality of corruption in Nigeria which has permeated all the sectors of the economy, or aspects of the society. The family, the church and even the traditional institutions are not left out of this contagious disease. For instance, beyond the mere enjoyment of public funds, the amassing of wealth by illegal means does not seem to trouble Nigerians. Today, Nigerians applaud and celebrate ill-gotten wealth which in reality is money stolen from public coffers. This is a pointer to the fact that corruption is endemic in Nigeria, culminating in the non-completion of projects and programmes that would have helped in alleviating the sufferings of Nigerians. The return of democratic rule in Nigeria in 1999, more than ever before, aroused citizens' quest to combat corruption and instil accountability and transparency. According to this, the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) were established. These are in addition to existing institutions such as the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and its Tribunal, but despite the establishment of these impressive arrays of institutional mechanisms aimed at combating corruption, the Vice is still rife. The nation is indeed turned into a pariah state. In the comity of nations, Nigerians are treated with suspicion and embarrassment, and foreigners are wary of making Nigeria their investment destination (lorhemen 2008). Amujiri (2002) remarks that public accountability is never a priority in Nigeria. Despite the brave letters of the Constitution and the expansive noise of the anticorruption crusade, it has been observed that the more government devise complex and ambitious ways of combating corruption and plans for the socio-economic and political development of this country, the more their implementation is frustrated by the evolution of an ever more effective and sophisticated method of corruption so that in the end the only development we see is the development of corruption" (Smith 1976). Ogundiya (2009) observes that corruption is a huge challenge in public administration in Nigeria. It is at the core of the crisis of governance and legitimacy, the establishment of stable democratic order, rule of law, development and the welfare of citizens. Of all forms of corruption, political corruption has posed a major obstacle to national progress in Nigeria. Indeed, the current crisis of development in Nigeria can be attributed to a history of poor governance characterized by corruption, social injustice and political instability. Corruption also promotes economic decay and social and political instability, perverts the ability of a state to foster rule of law and eventually corrodes trust and undermines legitimacy (CDD, 2001). In Nigeria, the impacts of corruption on national development are bad governance, poor service delivery, inadequate infrastructural amenities, poor management of the public enterprise, brain drain of professional skilled manpower, lack of respect for rule of law, impunity, lack of critical infrastructure, ineffective leadership, moral decadence and general underdevelopment. It has also been observed that corruption naturally weakens or perpetuates the weakness of government bureaucracy. In this respect, it is incompatible with political and economic development. It is also believed to be counter-productive because corrupt practices by public office holders such as embezzlement of public funds, the offer of bribes for legitimate activities, falsification of documents, nepotism perversion of justice, shielding of certain people from paying taxes and prosecution from a criminal misdemeanor, inflation of government contract, tend to slow down progress, attainment of the goals of government in terms of social service delivery and act as a cog in the wheel of economic development of the country (Adam, 2001). It also inhibits the operation of strict market factors in the economic sphere, causes bureaucratic opportunities to slow down and pervert planning objectives, introduces irrational elements into development programmes, leads to honest officials shirking of responsibilities, and wastes resources by distorting government policies against the interest of the majority and away from its proper goals. It directs energies and efforts of public officials and citizens towards easy money instead of productive activities, hampers the growth of competitiveness, frustrates effort to alleviate poverty, general apathy and cynicism, makes structures and individuals less rigid and threatens system capacity to function effectively. Generally, corruption diverts financial resources from building roads, hospitals, schools and investing in infrastructures that would serve business, attract foreign investment and create jobs. It serves to promote criminal and extremist activity by creating barriers to legitimate economic endeavours. Corruption often involves government officials ignoring their responsibility or acting in violation of them for personal and material gains, bribe-taking whereby government officials and others (including those in the private sector) are bribed to encourage or facilitate their action to arrive at a speedier or more favourable outcome to the agent or individual offering the bribe. For instance, an increase in militant attacks and stalling of the passage of a bill that will change the way the oil industry is regulated led to a $45\%$ slump in FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) to N393 billion in the $1^{\text{st}}$ half of 2012 compared with 2011 (Adam, 2011). Much of money stolen through bribery, massive capital fight arising from the sharp practices of multinational corporations and their local collaborators, paddling of annual budgets which are long in figures but short in actual delivery, immunity clause which shields the president, Vice President, Governors and Deputy from prosecution as well as the nebulous security vote provide the cover to fleece public resources and foster the process of under-development, over-invoicing, dealing below the table, the pervasion of institutional processes and other variants of corruption. The implication is that the money that ought to be used to build schools, hospitals homes, roads, water schemes and to provide adequate transportation systems, propel industrialization and ensure a good life for the people has been systematically stolen by the elites. Unlike the South Korean elite who stole funds and reinvested the same in the country thereby enhancing its massive industrialization programme, the Nigerian elite is said to be scornful of their country and prefer to invest the looted funds abroad, leaving the country in double jeopardy. The fact that these corrupt officials found willing accomplices in the private sector and corporate organizations to transfer scourge and the complex linkages between the public and private sectors in the matter of corruption and decadence of national values. The ultimate negative import of corruption is that it provides public and private workers with the opportunity to reuse their emoluments or benefits above what the law prescribes, promote monopoly of the economy, politicians who serve as wealth brokers obtain the resources with which they purchase security and influence legislative processes, allows inefficient producers to remain in business, encourages the government to pursue perverse economic policies, provides opportunities to enrich people through extorting money from those seeking favour, distorts economic incentives, discourages entrepreneurship and slow down economic growth (lyare, 2008) Given the narrative above, what is corruption? Does corruption affect national development? How effective are institutional and legal frameworks put in place by governments to check the incidence of corruption; what are the ways forward; This study which seeks to critically assess the effects of corruption on socio-economic development in Nigeria, will provide invaluable input for policy-making and research and contribute to the body of literature on the fight against corruption. The work adopts the theory of prebendalism as postulated by Richard Joseph (1996). According to the theory, state offices are regarded as prebends that can be appropriated by an officeholder who use them to generate material benefit for themselves and relations to the detriment of the general society. In Nigeria, prebendal politics by political office holders are the order of the day as they perpetrate corruption with impunity, with the society at the receiving end. Inevitably, the prebendal nature of the Nigerian system allows corruption to thrive, which undermines and stagnates development. The theory argues that people engage in crime to amass wealth. In other words, people's consciousness determine their well-being; i.e the way that the society organizes its production, distribution and exchange of goods and services determine their material condition. Although clientelism and prebendalism might be mutually reinforcing, these concepts have separate meanings. Clientelism defines the nature of individual and group relationships within the broader social and political space, but prebendalism essentially is a function of the competition for, and appropriation of the offices of the state (Seteolu 2005). Clientelism assists to understand the mechanism of how a few privileged individuals' control and legitimize the lopsided distribution of resources in the society. Consequently, Nigerian political culture is hinged on clientelism and prebendal politics. The pursuit of politics is intended to appropriate the political space and resources among fractions of the political elite (Seteolu 2005) Corruption also manifests in patrimonial and neo-patrimonial character which makes the distinction between the public and the private domains blurred and power, which is a major source of wealth, has become personalized. Within this framework of analysis, the behaviour of the political elite in Africa is linked to a traditional value system. The African society is patriarchal where political power is personalized, and leadership is permanent in the context of self-recruited oligarchy. According to Seteolu, these socially imbibed values are replicated in the political terrain and expand fellowship in the context of power politics. The fierce struggle in the public space is linked to conflicts that characterized leadership succession in traditional political systems and the attraction of political control where party politics guarantees access to wealth and economic power. Therefore, the political elite uses social identities such as ethnicity for particularistic purposes. The ethnic identity becomes a mobilizing mechanism to access political power and consolidate dominance and economic control (Dudley 1973; Osaghae 1995). Consequently, power can be used for personal or group aggrandizements. In patrimonial societies, corruption seems to be intrinsically part and parcel of the political culture. Neopatrimonialism, a related term to prebendalism is used to describe and explain state failures in Africa. It is used to describe patrons using state resources to secure the loyalty of clients in the general population and is indicative of informal patron-client relationships that can reach from the very high up in state structures down to individuals in the lower levels. As a result of that kind of patron-client or identity politics, Nigeria has regularly been one of the lowest-ranked nations for political transparency by Transparency International (TI) in its corruption perception index. With the politicization of primordial rivalries, the political class and opportunistic bureaucrats found a safe sanctuary to embezzle and squander state resources. The problem of corruption, therefore, is inextricably tied to the problem of identity and citizenship. It is rooted in the psycho-political perception of Nigeria by an average Nigerian, and history. ## II. CONCEPTUAL CLARIFICATIONS Corruption: As real and pervasive as corruption is, it defies precise definition and Scholars and Practitioners have therefore advanced different definitions of the concept based on their orientation. Transparency International (TI) (1999:1, 2002:6), the world most reputable non-governmental anti-corruption watchdog, defines corruption "as the abuse of public office for private gain". Amujiri (2002:69) defines corruption as a term commonly applied to self-benefiting conduct by public officials and others who are expected to be dedicated to public service. Werner (1983:27) categorized the definition of corruption into three groups; the public office-centred definition, which involves deviation from legal and public duty norms for the sake of private benefits, be it for pecuniary or state gains or influence. The second group, according to this scholar, is the marked-centred definition, which views corruption as maximizing pecuniary gain according to supply and demand and exists in the marketplace of their official domains. The third group in the opinion of this scholar is the public-centred definition, which emphasizes the betrayal of public interest by the preference of particular or private interest. Corruption, therefore, is a social phenomenon that manifests in various human actions, such as dishonesty, wickedness, selfishness, embezzlement, moral degeneration, bribery, insatiability, covetousness, and so on. Hence Momoh (1991) stated that a corrupt act can be characterized by immoral but non-violent action on the stronger party (the person in a position of authority) to accept or on the part of the weaker party (the person in want of favour) to give extra-official gratification in cash or in-kind to induce wrong or right action. The scholar explains that there are low grades, medium grade and high-grade levels. These three levels of corruption correspond to the three classes in society, the low class, the middle class and the high class. However, these classifications of corruption are also reflected in the way and manner in which people carry out their official duties. Corruption, according to Nye (1967), is a behaviour that deviates from the normal duties of a public role because of private pecuniary or status gains; or it violates rules against the exercise of certain types of private influence. This includes such behaviour as bribery (use of reward to pervert the judgment of a person in the position of trust); nepotism (bestow of patronage because of inscriptive relationship rather than merit); and misappropriation (illegal appropriation of public resources for private use). In Johnston's (1991) view; it "is a behaviour that abuses societal legal or social standards as well as public interest or recourse for private benefit". Corruption exists where there is a diversion of government revenues and national income flow to augment the currently entitled government officials private wealth when the latter is not legally entitled to do so. It involves giving undue favour to other people with whom government officials have a clientele relationship. In a related definition, Idris (2008) defines corruption as an act that deviates from the rules of conduct governing the action of someone in a position of public authority because of private motives such as wealth. The African Development Bank Group (ADB 2006) defines corruption as the misappropriation of public assets or public office/trust for private gain. Goyegfa (2000) identifies two variant definitions of corruption, traditional and political. The traditional connotations of corruption involve the giving and taking of bribes or illegal acquisition of wealth using the resource of a public office including the exercise of discretion. The political definition is any decision, act or conduct that can subvert the integrity of people in authority or institution charged with promoting, defending or sustaining the democratization process thereby undermining its effectiveness in performing its assigned role. Economic Development: Development means different things to many countries. In many nations, it means attainment of self-governance, to others, it signifies the provision of essential infrastructure that create a healthy atmosphere, provision of quality education, communication and the ability to evolve an amicable business environment for the citizenry while some see it as an achievement of technological advancement. (Akanji and Akosile, 2001). Gboyega (2003) captures development as an idea that embodies all attempts to improve the conditions of human existence in all ramifications. Naomi (1995) explains that development involves not only economic growth but also some notion of equitable distribution, provision of health care, education, housing and other essential services, all intending to improve the quality of life of individuals and collectivities. Charisma (1984) believes that development is a process of societal advancement where improvement in the wellbeing of people is generated through a strong partnership between all sectors, corporate bodies and other groups in the society. It is, therefore, true that development seeks to achieve improvement in the material well-being of all citizens, provide a sustainable way to ensure that today's consumption does not imperil the future, demand that poverty and inequality of access to good things of life be removed or drastically reduced and seeks to improve personal, physical, security and livelihood as well as life expectancy (Lawal and Abe, 2011). Inferring from the above definitions, national development means concrete improvement in socioeconomic, political, technological levels of a society and its citizens and these are best achieved through strategies mapped out by the government as contained in the nation's development plans. For instance in Nigeria, since independence in 1960, successive governments have made frantic efforts towards concrete development by putting in place a series of economic development plans. The first National Development Plan Policy was designed to cover 1962-1968 and the focus was on health, education and employment. The second National Development Plan Policy was to cover 1970-1974 and its priority was on agriculture, industry, transport, manpower, defence, electricity, water supply, communication and provision of social services. The third National Development Plan Policy was to cover 1975-1980 and emphasis was on Agricultural and rural development. The fourth National Development Plan Policy was to cover 1981-1985; it focused on employment improving the standard of living, even distribution of income among individuals and socioeconomic groups (Ogwumike, 1995). Aside from these national development plan policies, there had been other strategies such as Green Revolution, Operation Feed the Nation (OFN), Economic Stabilization Acts popularly known as Austerity Measures, Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP), National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS), Vision 2010 and Seven Point Agenda with Vision 2020, deriving their names from what they were designed to achieve. Despite these series of development strategies earmarked by successive governments with good intentions to generate and create meaningful development, the current state of development in the country is far from being realised. This is because of the high level of corruption and indiscipline exhibited by the leadership of the country. There is no leadership commitment to stirring plan from formulation to full implementation coupled with the monolithic economy which makes the government depend on a single product (crude oil) for survival to the detriment of agriculture and solid mineral development. Mimiko (1998) avers that a very good development plan supervised by a thoroughly corrupt state can hardly do a good job. However, the fact remains that development is contingent upon leadership i.e leadership plays a significant role in national development. The concept of development is the efforts aimed at improving the socio-economic and ecological status, exploiting and processing the environmental or natural resources to improve the quality of human life in such a way that the needs of future generations are not jeopardized. Mohammed (2002) looks at development as; i. Increasing the availability and widening the distribution of basic life sustenance, such as food, shelter and protection; ii. Raising the level of living in addition to higher income, provision of jobs, better education and greater attention to cultural and humanitarian values, all of which serve to enhance material wellbeing, but also to generate greater individual and national self-esteem, and iii. Expanding the range of economic and social choice to individuals and nations by freeing them from servitude and dependence. According to the scholar, development means an improved standard of living in terms of availability of decent accommodation, improved nutritional standards, qualitative health care and educational services to the majority, life expectancy which is mainly influenced by the standard of living, literacy level and income of people. Seers (2006) defines economic development in terms of what has been happening to poverty, unemployment, inequality and concluded that it is only when there is a decline in poverty, unemployment, inequality, that development can take place. This implies that economic development has to be redefined in terms of the reduction or elimination of poverty, inequality and unemployment within the context of a growing economy (Brinkiman, 1996, Goulet, 1971 and Amargya, 1999). Components or core values serve as a conceptual basis and practical guidelines for understanding the inner meaning of development. These core values, sustenance; self-esteem and freedom, represent common goals sought by all individuals and societies. Sustenance – the ability to meet basic Needs: All people have certain needs without which life would be impossible. These life-sustaining basic human needs include food, shelter, health and protection (Ghosh, 2009). When any of these is absent or is critically in short supply, a condition of absolute underdevelopment exists. A basic function of all economic activity, therefore, is to provide as many people as possible with the means of overcoming the helplessness and misery arising from lack of food, shelter, health and protection. Without sustained and continuous economic progress at the individual as well as the societal level, the realization of human potential would not be possible; one has to have enough to be more effective (Goulet, 1971). Rising per capita income, the elimination of absolute poverty, greater employment opportunities, and lessening income inequalities, therefore, constitute the necessary but not sufficient indicators for development (United Nations 1994). Self-Esteem (To be a person): A second universal component of the good life is self-esteem, a sense of worth and self-respect, of not being used as a tool by others for their ends. All people and societies seek some basic form of self-esteem, although they may call it authenticity, identity, dignity, respect, honour, or recognition. The nature and form of this self-esteem may vary from society to society and from culture to culture. Esteem is conferred only on countries that possess economic wealth and technological power. This is because development is an indispensable way of gaining esteem. Freedom From Servitude (To be able to Choose): A third and final universal value that analysts suggest should constitute the meaning of development is the concept of human freedom. Freedom here is to be understood in the sense of emancipation from the alienation of material conditions of life and from social servitude to nature, other people, misery, oppression, institutions and dogmatic beliefs especially that poverty is predestination. ## III. TYPES OF CORRUPTION Five major types of corruption society have been identified and these include political, economic, bureaucratic, judicial and moral corruption (Otite, 1986): The two areas in which political corruption is manifest are the activities connected with election and succession, the manipulation of people and institutions to retain power and office. Political positions are scarce and the prices of offices are high. Hence the competition for such a resourceful position involves every possible and extra-legal means - through corruption- to overcome obstacles and opposition. Ugwu (2002) has pointed out that the principal attraction in politics is to have access to power. For Ngwuoke (2001) in Nigeria, emphasis is self-centeredness, egoistic tendencies, corruption and bribery. This lends credence to Achebe's (1983) assertion that "the trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely the problems of endemic corruption and failure of leadership, the unwillingness of our leadership and personal example". Generally, economic indiscipline and social drift have always been the reason for the takeover of government by the military in Nigeria. This was the reason advanced by General Babangida and General Sani Abacha at the in-house coup of November 18, 1993, which took over from Chief Ernest Shonekan that they came to "redeem the image of Nigeria" and "Savage" her from economic mismanagement. In the banking sector, bank officials have been known to use their position to manipulate customers' accounts, suppress cheques and steal foreign currency. They also defraud customers in cash lodgment, forge transfer, grant unauthorized credit and dry post friction credits using the computer. The bank credit reports that 723 cases of fraud and forgeries were identified (Essien 2000). Generally, corruption manifests in the forms of forgery of some trade names to make the product look similar to the original products, for example, Borunvita or Bonita in the place of Bournvita. The unsuspecting buyer hardly looks at the difference. Bureaucratic corruption involves buying favour from bureaucrats who formulate and administer government economic and political policies. Politically in the area of acquisition of foreign exchange, tax evasion (Otite 1986) and payment of bribes to officials thus tempting them away from the path of probity". In some cases, officials expect to be bribed for almost everything, they use delaying tactics to force people to bribe them. Salaries are deliberately delayed and at times denied, night allowances, hospital bills, mileage claims, approved salary scale, leave allowances are withheld. Sometimes they are fixed in banks for it to yield interest to individuals. Also commonplace in the civil service is victimization such as punitive transfers "sitting on one's file, sex scandal, favouritism such as employment of a brother or village member, peer group, classmate, society or church members, in-laws, etc. Allegations of corruption are rife against enforcement agencies and the courts. According to Amujiri (2002:76), corruption is equally rampant in the judiciary. Money is used to secure police attention and bails and even to pervert the administration of justice. A shameful revelation showed that there have been the incident of judges refusing to give ex parte order or interlocutory orders in a matter of grave urgency unless gratified" (Ezeme, 2002). Existing orders have been wantonly vacated under highly questionable judicial authorities; some judges are more pro-executive than dispensing impartial justice. Every step in filing, processing and assessing an application or in getting a court order executed or obtaining a copy of a ruling involves money that is always paid for. (Amujiri, 2002) There is also long-scale corruption among the electoral tribunals adjudicating over a series of electoral disputes and this has dented the image of the Nigerian judiciary. Many have often doubted the objectivity and neutrality of most Nigerian Judges who are perceived as corrupt and often subvert justice (Alabi and Fashagba 2010). By this, court rulings are occasionally believed to go the way of the highest bidder. Religious organizations are also involved. Acknowledging the existence of corruption within the religious organization, the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) in a communiqué issued at the end of their assembly in 2000, remarks that; corruption has passed for official policy in both the public and private sector of our national life. The socio-economic and political system itself appears to be built on corruption and thrives in it. Even the church and other religious organizations are themselves not completely free from corruption (Ezeme 2002: 266). Corruption in contemporary societies, particularly in urban and cosmopolitan centres, has worsened, or in some cases created, conditions that favour moral depravity. The desire for employment, the wish to show wealth through the acquisition of women, the flamboyant demonstration of individual materialistic possession amid social poverty, and the exploitation of man by man – the powerless poor by the powerful rich, are all indices of corruption. Lust, incest, avarice, covetousness are now rampant in churches. ## IV. CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF CORRUPTION ON NIGERIA'S DEVELOPMENT Many reasons have been adduced as probable causes of the prevalence of corruption in Nigeria. This range from non-conformity to religious tenets, impaired values and ideas alien to our culture, ethnicity which encourages favouritism and nepotism, a weak legal system which is honoured in the breach than the observance. The quest for excessive materialism inherent like the present-day society which emphasizes personal wealth without regard to the sources of such wealth collective interest and welfare of the larger society, poverty, illiteracy, get-rich syndrome, statism, wrong attitude to public property, absence of welfare scheme to cushion effects of unemployment, retirement, large families, the struggle for power, double standards and low level of patriotism. It does appear that poverty is not the only factor that promotes the widespread of giving and taking bribes i.e illegal financial inducement in the country. This is attested to by the fact that in Nigeria rich people are more corrupt than poor persons. According to Maduegbuna (2005), the benefits of corruption are greater than the consequences of being caught and disciplined. However, generally, a high incidence of poverty which, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (2005), is put at $54.1\%$ contributed in no small measure to the desperate to acquisition or wealth through any means. In Nigeria, the unemployed are mostly the youths who engaged in antisocial activities such as cyber-crime, drug peddling, prostitution, political thuggery, paid assassins, oil bunkering, kidnapping, militancy among others, all to eke a living. Jimo (2001) attributes corruption within Africa's public administration to over-centralization of power, lack of media freedom to expose scandals, the impunity of well-connected officials and absence of transparency in public management, clienteleles and low salaries. Danago (2008) observes that the poor salary levels of most public servants have not kept pace with inflation, which has eroded their purchasing power. It is also clear that the process of gaining power in Nigeria is either through force or the influence of money. Chobal and Daloz (1999) reason that in Africa, such factors as the obligations of mutual support, the imperatives of reciprocity, the importance of gift exchange, the payment of tribute, the need to redistribute cattle rustling or, more generally, plundering others, all have a negative bearing on the continent today. Some believe that modern bribery may not be seen as cognate with traditional gift-giving since it takes place outside the context of a patron-client relationship. Ethnically, the poor man's bribe to the faceless power broker he will never meet again is completely distinct from his traditional gift to a patron. Corruption promotes economic decay, social and political instability, perverts the ability of the state to foster rule of law and eventually corrodes trust and undermines legitimacy. In Nigeria, the major impacts of corruption on national development are bad governance, poor service delivery, inadequate infrastructural amenities, poor management of the public enterprise, brain drain of professional/skilled manpower, lack of respect for lawful orders and rule of law, impunity moral decadence and general underdevelopment, unemployment. These impacts are further elucidated below a. Bad Governance: The World Bank (1992) contends that bad governance has many features, among which are failure to make a clear separation between what is public and what is private, hence a tendency to divert public resources for private gain; failure to establish a predictable framework for law and governance, enthrone behaviour that is not conducive to development or arbitrary rules, regulations, licensing requirements and these impede the functioning of markets and encouragement of rent-seeking; priorities that are inconsistent with development, thus, resulting in a misallocation of resources and excessively narrow base for, or non-transparency, decision making. Obadan (1988) maintains that when these features occur together they create an environment that is hostile to development. And also bad governance orchestrated endemic corruption, lack of accountability and transparency provides opportunities for the well-connected elite and interest groups in the society to corner for themselves a sizeable proportion of the society's resources at the expense of the masses. b. Unemployment: Unemployment is a social menace in which the available labour force in a state outstrips the jobs that exist. This usually sets in when there is a persistent trend of policy summersault, abandonment of agriculture, much emphasis on paper qualifications to the detriment of technical and vocational training, natural disaster/climate change. The consequences of unemployment in any nation is better imagined than described. Unemployment has led to various forms of criminality (kidnapping, militancy, banditry, armed robbery, piracy, paid assassination), instigations of ethnic and religious crisis, frustration, rural-urban drift, election malfeasance masterminded by politicians who manipulate youth to commit such crimes as killing and maiming of the political opponents, snatching of ballot boxes and election materials and falsification of election results. c. Poor service delivery: According to Adebayo (1985) poor service delivery manifest when staff use official stationery, envelopes, papers, government drug, hospital equipment, government labour and time for private work. A lot of government functionaries use government documents, equipment, vehicles, for private purposes and divert government labour and time for their gain. This attitude precipitates poor service delivery in government and serves as an obstacle to national development. Taking bribes or extortion from applicants and demanding sex from female applicants for the job is not only common in the public service but also security agencies. The most disheartening one is the purchase of an offer of appointment with a certain amount of money. It was reported that most of the youths who joined the security services such as the military, the police, immigration and customs services give bribes to the recruitment officers or use the philanthropic connection to be employed in the system, thereby engaging the services of unskilled and incompetent manpower to run the public and security services which would, in turn, lead to poor service delivery in the government. Many of the projects financed by loans were either uncompleted or partly completed, and where they had been completed, they were abandoned. Some of the affected projects include the Iron and Steel complex at Ajaokuta, the machine tools factory at Osagbom Paper Mill Factory at Oku Iboku, Katsina Steel Mill, Jos Steel Mill, Delta Steel Mill, Iwopin Paper Mill. These projects have not invariably contributed to the repayment of the principal and interest on loans, and neither have the expected benefits materialized. There is gross mismanagement of public corporations and enterprises in Nigeria, due to inefficiency and poor service delivery which affects most public enterprises since the inception of civilian administration in 1999. Nigerian telecommunication (NITEL) and Mobile Telecommunication (MTEL) were paralyzed and now dead, National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) changed its nomenclature to Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) under the notion of privatization. Notwithstanding the recent efforts at reviving rail services in the country, the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) is operating at a chameleon speed due to corrupt practices by those who are entrusted to handle them for effective service delivery. d. Uncoordinated Policies and Programmes: Nigeria has been, and is still an active player in the quest to ensure that its citizens approximate or compare with other nations of the world in terms of ensuring a better quality of life. This is attested to by the numerous, if not uncountable, development strategies or models already embarked on since 1960 when she politically became Independent from Britain (Omorogbe, 2011). In the strictest sense, it is difficult to identify Nigeria with what obtains in countries like China or Japan. These countries have established models of development that have become the envy of the entire globe because of the way such models or strategies were planned and meticulously implemented, with occasional revision when the input-output loop (feedback) indicates the need to do so. In the case of Nigeria, the practice has been a mixed grill. A development model has certain identifiable features. Firstly, it is rooted in a given ideology or a set of shared definitions that provide interpretation and solution as to the definition of a people, group or collectively. Secondly, such ideology derives from and reflects the historical context of the nation or society in question. Thirdly, there are usually clear parallels between development models. Often and most expectedly, new models emerge from the ruins of older ones. In other words, newer models are perceived as more efficient and effective strategies that can launch the nation or society to its desired destination. The last is that development models take cognizance of the overall stock of human and material resources needed to actualize goals and objectives. What probably approximated as models of development in Nigeria were programmes or packages many of which were bogus in scope, ill-conceived, uncoordinated and haphazard in nature entrusted to certain individuals, the majority of which were chosen based on ethnic and primordial sentiments. That is not to say that Nigeria lacked quality human resources, not at all, rather the point being made is that those who were given the responsibility of implementing government policies were chosen by those who had political power and therefore extended such privileges to the individual they favoured. It is necessary to point out at this juncture that packages or reforms designed for implementation did not reflect the will of the people/neither did they lead to a destination that is in any way close or near the collective aspiration of a nation struggling to be united as one indivisible entity, a people who on several occasions have been battered by the forces of imposed destiny. In concrete terms, one can concede the fact that Nigeria's efforts at accomplishing the desired level of socio-economic and welfare changes have been salutary. What probably have been lacking is accomplishing the desired changes. e. Decayed Infrastructures: Vision 20:2020 represents our aspiration to be among the top 20 economies in the world by the year 2020. The Blueprint was built upon the key principles and thrusts of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the National Economic Empowerment Development Strategy (NEEDS), thereby providing a common reference for efforts targeted at achieving Nigeria's development objectives over the next 10 years. The broad objectives of the National; Vision 20:2020 are articulated in four dimensions, institutional, economic, social and environmental dimensions. The institutional dimension seeks to promote responsible leadership, deepen transparency, accountability and rule of law and guarantee adequate security of lives and property of Nigerians. The economic dimension aims at enhancing productivity, diversification of the economy and a competitive business environment that will open new business opportunities for Nigerians. The social dimension, on the other hand, seeks to improve the nation's prospects for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and expand opportunities for sustainable employment generation and Environmental dimension is intended to halt environmental degradation, promote the use of renewable energy and enforce regulations on climate change mitigation and adaptation. Nigeria has critical development challenges. Overcoming these challenges are undaunted tasks. It is however hoped that the Vision 20:2020 will address death of critical infrastructures such as power and transportation network to support rapid economic development, outdated educational curriculum that does not equip Nigerians to be job creators, overdependence on oil as a major source of national income, which is a political threat to sustainable development, poor accountability in government which impacts the value Nigerians get for money spent by government agencies, uncoordinated approaches to addressing the development needs of the people, which accounts for the gap between planned and actual project outcomes, sub-optimal value creation in productive activities such as agriculture, oil and gas and manufacturing, relatively high cost of production for manufactured goods partly due to the absence of a robust import substitution programme to support local sourcing of manufacturing input, and weak research for development and innovation culture across public and private institutions. Most Nigerians have expressed reservations on the feasibility of vision 20:2020. According to Obadan, (2013), the vision cannot be achieved because of poverty, poor implementation of agriculture and manufacturing policies, and the circumstances of the blueprint which came amid a deep economic recession. According to him, poverty has increased from $54.4\%$ in 2012 meaning that 112,518,507 Nigerians now live in poverty and noted that Nigeria's Human Development Index was 0.471 in 2012, placing the country as a low human development nation with the rank of $153^{\text{rd}}$ out of 186 countries. The relatively strong growth has not translated into broad-based economic and social development needed to lift millions of people out of poverty and reduce inequality. Also, unemployment is high and the increasing inequality Index is high and worsening while human development is low. f. Maladministration: Nigeria has since independent been engulfed in gross mismanagement of the natural resources which gave rise to ethnic and religious rivalries, coup and counter-coup, policy inconsistencies (Nebo, 2012) Governance in Nigeria has always been leadership concerned mainly with the promotion of self-enrichment, marred by converting the commonwealth, manipulating ethnic diversity and institutions with little or no respect for due process, rule of law, accountability and transparency. The welfare and well-being of the citizens are of no essence. Good governance, according to Onyishi (2009) strives on respect for the rule of law, fundamental rights, transparency and accountability, quality and effective institutional performance, participation in the political and decision-making process by the citizens and cooperative action as well as environmental sustainability. Maladministration results where these attributes are lacking and corrupt society is the antithesis of good governance, where public resources are stolen by public officials, justice is for the highest bidders, impunity reigns supreme, the public treasures are looted, life touching projects are abandoned and service delivery is only on pages of paper. g. Impunity: Due process is fundamental to quality service delivery and where this is lacking, impunity reigns supreme. Generally, in Nigeria, there is that culture of impunity where mainly politicians who are power-drunk and want to remain in office for life, treat state issues as personal issues and show little or no regret to due process. This explains the position of political competitions in which people seek political power by all means. Most officials of government and politicians leave in the habit of disobeying lawful courts orders and judgment. In the electoral process, wealthy individuals who do not hold public office control the political process by installing their protégés in office and have the power personally to determine who gets nominated to contest and win in all elections. (Ebohom & Obakhedo, 2010). There is always gross disrespect of rule of law, and extant regulations of the state, by politicians and executive lawlessness, the complacency of the legislature, incapacitation of judiciary and politicization of public service. h. Leadership Pathology: Ineffective leadership is the bane of Nigeria's economic development. Nigeria's problems had never been the paucity of funds and resources, but lack of political will to do the right thing. Despite being blessed with abundant natural and human resources, Nigeria has not got it right in leadership (Cole 2013). While other nations which may not be as economical blessed as Nigeria are progressing due to purposeful and committed leadership, Nigeria has stagnated in almost all facets of its national life due to leadership ineptitude, widespread corruption and other social vices that stall every attempt aimed at effective leadership and economic development. Recently, there had been a sudden rise in Nigeria's debt profile. For instance, in 1983, the debt stock of Nigeria stood at $17.755bn and by 2005, the total external debt of Nigeria rose to$ 34bn (Punch, 2005). Today Nigeria's debt is claimed. This is attributable to the crisis of political leadership, lack of accountability and transparency in the public sector, over-bloated bureaucracy, weak government revenue base, accumulated debt arrears, unstable exchange rate in the international market and fluctuations in raw material prices (Akpan, 1999) i. Inadequate Infrastructural Amenities: Social infrastructure in health, education and transportation sectors were in shambles, basic amenities such as potable water and electricity became scarce, rural-urban drift increased and with it came crime and insecurity. As rightly observed by Abdulraheem (2009), we should regard public officials and their private sector collaboration as mass murderers, killing millions of our people through inadequate public service delivery compromised by corruption. Monies meant for drugs, roads, hospitals, schools, public security are siphoned, making the people vulnerable to premature death. An eloquent example was the squandering of $16 billion invested on a national integrated power project just between 2006 and 2007. More so, the misappropriation of over N6 billion for rural electrification project in 2009 under Elemelu economic committee on the said project. j. Brain Drain: Brain drain or human capital flight is an emigration of trained and talented individuals (human capital) to other nations or jurisdictions, due to conflicts, lack of opportunity, health hazards where they were living or other reasons. These talented individuals or professionals include medical doctors, engineers, academics. These professionals complain of brain waste, poor conditions of service seeking better opportunities in Europe, North America and the Middle East. Political and bureaucratic corruption in Nigeria has eroded welfare service to professionals/technical workers in public service. Currently, some states are yet to implement the minimum wage, while, the retirement benefits are also diverted by a few undesirable elites for their self-enrichment. The scandals of almost N3 trillion over police pension scheme was a good example at a point in time. k. Moral Decadence: Corruption destroys morals values, removes the idea of meritocracy and enhances all sorts of atrocities such as prostitution, robbery, nepotism, tribalism, broken homes, juvenile delinquency, as well as breeds unproductive generation to man our organization which has a negative effect to our future sustainable human development. I. General Underdevelopment: Corruption breeds underdevelopment in all sectors. Indeed, most public policies are not made for the sake of the public but rather for the benefit of elites to the detriment of the populace. This issue has accelerated poverty, inequality and underdevelopment and prevented the country from attaining an impressive level of national development. ## V. THE FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION Before the advent of the present fourth republic in May 1999, preceding regimes had successively instituted instruments, measures and policies designed to prevent and combat corruption in the country, notably, Corrupt Practices Decree 1975 (which established the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau), President Shehu Shagari's Ethical Revolution, War Against Indiscipline of the Buhari/Idagbon Administration, Mass mobilization for social Justice, self-Reliance and Economic Recovery (MAMSER) of the Babangida Administration, Recovery of Public Property (Special Military Tribunal Act Cap 387 Law of the Federation of Nigeria 1990, Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Decree 1996. (Ahmed, 2007). These institutions could not do much, as they instead institutionalized corruption. The nation is indeed turned into a pariah state. In the comity of nations, Nigerians are treated with suspicion and embarrassment, and foreigners are wary of making Nigeria their investment destination (lorhemen 2008). Amujiri (2002:68) remarks that public accountability is never a priority in Nigeria. Despite the brave letters of the constitution and the expansive noise of the anticorruption crusade... It has been observed that the more government devise complex and ambitious ways of combating corruption and plans for the socioeconomic and political development of this country, the more their implementation is frustrated by the evolution of the ever more effective and sophisticated method of corruption so that in the end the only development we see is the development of corruption" (Smith 1976). Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in 2000 and 2003 respectively. While the ICPC appeared to be more deliberate in its approach to fighting corruption, the EFCC was more aggressive and proactive and thus gained as much popularity as notoriety (Adebanwi and Obadare 2011). The establishment of the EFCC in 2003 was a response to the perceived inefficiencies of the ICPC, although in many ways their responsibility appears to be the same. Over the years since then, for virtually the first time in Nigerian history, these anti-corruption agencies have successfully prosecuted corrupt powerful government officials. They have identified and recovered ill-gotten wealth from prominent Nigerian officials and have prosecuted and removed about five former ministers and former governors from office. The power of the EFCC is to: prevent, investigate, prosecute and penalize economic and financial crimes and it is charged with the responsibility of enforcing the provisions of other laws and regulations relating to economic and financial crimes. Consequently, the major laws that deal with corruption in Nigerian are: a. EFCC Establishments Act 2004 b. Independent Corrupt Practices & Other Related Offences Act 2000 c. Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act 2006 d. Money Laundering (Prohibition) (Amendment) Act 2012 e. Miscellaneous Offences Act f. Code of Conduct Act g. Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative Act h. Freedom of Information Act 2011 i. Fiscal Responsibilities Act 2015 j. Penal Code Laws of Federation of Nigeria 2004 k. Criminal Code Law of Federation of Nigeria 2004 I. Banks and Other Financial Institutions (Amendment) Act 1991 m. Failed Banks (Recovery of Debts) and Financial Malpractices in Banks (Amendment) Act 1994 ## VI. CONCLUSION In Nigeria, the source of a man's wealth is of no concern to his neighbour, the public, or the government. Wealthy people who are known to be corrupt are regularly courted and honoured by communities, religious bodies, social clubs and other private organizations. This implies that people who benefit from the largesse of these corrupt people rarely ask questions. Studies have also shown that traditional chieftaincy titles and membership of boards of directors of government-owned corporations are only for the "Influential" individual in the society who have "made it" economically or politically. Most of these people "made it" through enriching themselves fraudulently, but enjoy public respect and accolades. Honest and dedicated public servants, who have not accumulated dirty wealth, do not command much respect from society. These attitudes serve to encourage a new breed of public servants to engage in corrupt practices. Corruption in Nigeria is greatly influenced by a high degree of poverty, greed, unemployment, ostentatious lifestyle, weak government institutions, lack of morals, poor pay and lack of incentives. Corruption has inadvertently affected development efforts at both the state level and the national level as it is responsible for the lack of social infrastructure such as electricity, water, medical facilities, roads, housing etc. in a nutshell. It has affected the wellbeing of Nigerians. Even though successive governments have made the fight against the hydra-headed monster a priority, they have however failed in showing genuine commitment towards exterminating corruption in the country. The government through its anti-corruption agencies (EFCC, ICPC, CCB, NEITI), rather than being dogged and unyielding is biased as it is allegedly used by the executive to either witch-hunt or victimize political opponents and political allies. Corruption is now a universal disease that afflicts not only developing nations but also the developed world. European Union recently expressed great concern over the alarming rate of corruption in Europe, the EU countries. It was asserted that EU countries lose $120bn annually due to corruption. The EU commissioner Cecilia Maimstron has therefore advised EU countries to do everything humanly possible to tackle the monster corruption, saying it was undermining confidence, trust and democracy (BBC TV News 8.15 pm Monday, February 3, 2014). According to the commissioner, corruption in 28 EU countries was costing European taxpayers about $ 120bn (€ 100bn) a year, the equivalent of the union annual budget, that there is no corruption-free zones in Europe, that declared intentions to combat corruption in EU Countries had not produced concrete results and that the political will to eradicate it was lacking, that EU does not provide sanctions at all against corruption in the Region (Dare, 2014). That Europe, fond of questioning developing Countries and teaching them to religiously adhere to the principles of accountability, transparency and good governance, exhibits double standard in the face of such monumental corruption in EU countries. Corruption is also one of the scourges ravaging the developed world including the USA, the EU and even the eastern world (Dare, 2014). Recommendations: Given the research findings, the following recommendations are made as measures to enhance the fight against corruption. 1. There should be a massive orientation exercise for all Nigerians through various enlightenment programmes by the National Orientation Agency and other related institutions to intimate them on the need to shun all forms of corruption and to treat corrupt government officials as common thieves, rather than revere and bestow them with chieftaincy titles and awards. 2. The church and other institutions should be involved in the advocacy against corruption by querying and rejecting huge financial donations by corrupt public servants and politicians, instead of turning a blind eye to the source of their funds. 3. There should be an explicit compulsory public declaration of assets and liabilities of public office holders, including civil servants in the Code of Conduct of Bureau as a way of checkmating ill-gotten wealth while they are in office and after they leave. Consequently, this calls for a review of the law establishing the CCB and the 1999 Constitution as amended. 4. The government should ensure that financial leakages in ministries, departments and agencies are blocked by making sure that public office holders are more accountable and transparent in the discharge of their duties. 5. Anti-corruption agencies (e.g EFCC, ICPC, CCB, NEITI etc) need greater operational autonomy to be set loose from the undue control and interference of the executive. This will enable them to discharge their duties more effectively and also prevent them from being used as a tool to witch hunt political opponents. 6. Similarly, the provision that the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) makes rules and regulations in respect to the functions and duties of the agencies should be revisited. All corruption cases should be investigated and prosecuted by anti-corruption agencies without recourse to the AGF as an individual. 7. The government should set up specialized courts to try corruption cases, as there are usually unnecessary delays in the conventional courts due to a plethora of litigations. 8. Furthermore, the judiciary should be reformed to make it more effective and vibrant by ridding judges that have put its integrity into jeopardy, as it is no longer seen by Nigerians as the last hope of the common man, but the last hope of the highest bidder. 9. The public Procurement Act also needs to be amended to extend its cope to other levels of government (state and local governments). This will make the fight against corruption more encompassing. 10. There should be reforms of civil society organizations and the mass media. Timely - enforcement of the Freedom of Information Law is needed to make these organizations more effective as potent weapons of the anti-corruption war. 11. There should also be strong political leadership at all levels that are committed to fighting corruption. Strong legislature and judiciary are needed to enforce sanctions. Strict rules and funding of political parties and electoral campaigns should be put in place so that money cannot buy power any longer in Nigeria. 12. The fight against corruption should be sustained since the positive result can only be achieved with continuous effort.

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