Nigeria ranks 154 on Corruption Perception Index – TI, CISLAC

The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, CISLAC, and Transparency International, TI, Tuesday, released the 2021 Corruption Perception Index, CPI, indicating that Nigeria ranked 154 out of 180 countries.

This was made known by the Executive Director, CISLAC, Auwal Ibrahim Rafsanjani, during a press conference in Abuja, on Tuesday.

According to Rafsanjani, the index revealed that Nigeria scored 24 out of 100 points in the 2021 CPI.

The seven parameters used for the ranking called weaknesses as highlighted in the report include Weakness 1: The “Non-Compliance/Internal Control Weaknesses Issues in Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs); Weakness 2: Security Sector Corruption;

Weakness 3: Failure to Investigate High Profile Corruption Cases and prevent Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs); Weakness 4: Absence of asset recovery, protection of whistle-blowers, and other key anti-corruption legal frameworks;

Weakness 5: Judicial Challenges; There is a need for the Nigerian judiciary to speed up its delivery of judgment; Weakness 6: Corruption in the COVID-19 Response; and Weakness 7: Twitter ban, shrinking civic space and intimidation of human rights defenders.

He said: “Released exclusively in Nigeria by the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), the National Chapter of TI, the index reveals that Nigeria scored 24 out of 100 points in the 2021 CPI, falling back one point compared to the 2020 CPI.

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In the country comparison for this year, Nigeria ranks 154 out of 180 countries – five places down compared to the 2020 CPI results.

“The CPI aggregates data from 8 (eight) different sources that provide perceptions by country experts and business people on the level of corruption in the public sector.

“While the index does not show specific incidences of corruption in the country, it indicates the perception of corruption in Nigeria. The index is completely impartial, objective and globally acknowledged as the most widely used cross-country parameter for measuring corruption.

“This CPI result comes at a point when the Nigeria as a country is battling with rising nation-wide insecurity, high unemployment rate and damning revelations around public finance management by the auditor general and investigative journalists, amongst others.”

However, according to the CISLAC boss, the data used for the CPI was not collected by CISLAC/TI-Nigeria or any of their partners, the data collection was done by independent and reputable organisations with sound methodologies.

“It is important to stress that this is not an assessment of Nigeria’s anti-graft agencies who are making commendable efforts in reducing (in the fight against) corruption in Nigeria despite the political interference they face. Rather, the CPI goes beyond the anti-graft agencies”, he pointed.

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He further stated that, “In October last year, we received the report of the committee set up by the government in March 2021 to review Nigeria’s rating on the 2020 CPI shortly after CISLAC/TI-2

“Nigeria released the 2020 CPI. CISLAC/TI-Nigeria sees this move as a good step and would like to call on the government to further examine the weaknesses listed below and consider actions which will tackle systemic corruption and salvage Nigeria’s deteriorating image when it comes to corruption.

“Accordingly, CISLAC/TI-Nigeria has listed key weaknesses to explain why Nigeria may not have improved in the fight against corruption. We feel that these areas require immediate improvement for the sake of the well-being of ordinary Nigerians and the economy.”