Home Project-material CORRUPTION AND SOCIO-POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA: A CASE STUDY OF GOODLUCK EBELE JONATHAN’S ADMINISTRATION

CORRUPTION AND SOCIO-POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA: A CASE STUDY OF GOODLUCK EBELE JONATHAN’S ADMINISTRATION

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Abstract

The study investigates on the impact of corruption on socio-political and economic development of Nigeria. However, this study aims to enable us know the causes of corruption which has eaten deep into the fabrics of the Nigeria state. It also tends to examine the effect of corruption on Nigeria’s various economic and political developments and explore on the damages which this disease has caused to the image of the nation with reference to the administration of Goodluck Jonathan. Most importantly, some fundamental measures need to be taken in thinking and actions of leadership of the country. ex-post facto research was adopted and secondary source of data was used. The elite theory was used to explain the negative impact of the elite on socio-political and economic development in Nigeria. The study recommends that there should be a constitutional requirement that only men and women with proven ability and integrity should be appointed to the governing boards of public

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

 

1.1           

Background of the Study

Corruption is an unethical behaviour which runs counter to the accepted social norms and moral values. It is a behavioural pattern, which seriously hurts public morality and leaves the society worse for it. Corruption is an act involving dishonesty, illegality and non-conformity with accepted standard of behaviour. And such an act or behaviour has its main aim the return for financial or material benefit of any other person. Candidly speaking, the unethical behaviour, corruption is the bane to socio-political development in Nigeria. However, it has truly become people’s choice of priority of work or carry out their duties for personal gains to the detriment of our dearly growing economy. Bad management and misappropriation of public funds as part of corruption has long contributed largely to this menace of decadence, thereby ensuring the peoples need are not met. As a result people are now dying of hunger. Not only that there is no good road network of which people cannot have access to the few food crops made available by the peasant farmers in the rural areas. And poor health facilities as can be witnessed in the public hospitals whereby people die in numbers daily out of ordinary ailments. Unemployment is in increasing rate even as the country continues yearly to produce chunk of graduates without deeming it necessary for job creation to meet up with the graduates. In short, infrastructure development in the country is at zero level. And all these things mentioned and more are still the consequence of corruption to a society, Nigeria.

          Corruption in the real sense of it has enormous ripple effect on the socio-political development of Nigeria. Researchers have previously shown that corrupt practices are hazardous to our dearly economy. To that effect according to THIS DAY (12 December 2003, pp. 1-2), “Nigeria lost over five million US Dollars in the last few years to corrupt practices”. And it was a disclosure from Antonio Maria Costa, the Executive Director of the United Nations on Drugs and Crime, at the conference of the UN Anti-corrupt convention held in Mexio on 11th December, 2003.

          In Nigeria, corruption is a pervasive phenomenon corrupt practices have become synonymous with governance and consequently have become the bane of the Nigerian society. Thus, it is a general malaise pervading both the public and private sector in Nigeria (Diamond, 1991; Achebe 1980; Agedah 1993). The Nigerian state is not free from the evils of political and other types of corruption as Hemize by Otite, (1986) they include political, economic, bureaucratic, judicial and moral. Political corruption of the abuse of public office by highly placed officials, no doubt is the greatest obstacle to unity, development and good governance in Nigeria (Yagbouaju, 2004). The social malaise has contributed more than any other factor to the backwardness of Nigerian state and impoverishment of its people. The social “cankerworm” which is best likened to fostering cinereous disease has become bolder and more ravenous with successive government in the country. In fact, it has remained the focal point for every government in the country (Ojo, 2000).

          Corruption in Nigeria has resulted in the leakage of resources needed for national and socio-political development and this has led to waste and stagnant growth and development of Nigerian state. Widespread corruption in governance makes it impossible for the leadership to command repeat for its plans and judgement and to enlist the support of the people for development programmes, or to ask the people to commit themselves to efforts and sacrifices necessary for development (Alex, 1999). The malaise debases public morality and engenders public distrust of leaders and cynics towards public institutions.

          Ruzindana (1999) captures the very ugly cost of corruption in Africa. To him corruption has several undermined national, social and economic development in the continent. It has led to bad road network and decaying infrastructures, inadequate medical services, poor schools and falling education standard, and disappearance of foreign aids and loans and of entire tends to stunt growth and development, creates political instability, destroys social economic life of a nation, undermines the legitimacy of the state, makes fiscal planning almost impossible, places the wealth of the nation in the wrong hinds and leads to uneven distribution of social amenities. Corruption distorts the economy through the waste and misallocation of resources, citizen fundamental needs, food, shelter, health and education is neglected. However this paper is set out to reflect on how far Jonathan’s regime went on combating the scourge of corruption was there a reduction in Nigerians corrupt tendency what are the devastating effect of corruption on socio-political development in Nigeria.                     ÂÂÂ