By Victor Agi, PR Lead, CeFTPI
Background and Context
The Nigeria Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS), approved by the Federal Executive Council on July 5, 2017, for the initial period between 2017–2021 and extended to 2022–2026, is one of many reforms and efforts in Nigeria’s anti-corruption efforts. Coordinated by the Federal Ministry of Justice (FMoJ) and the Technical Unit on Governance and Anti-Corruption Reforms (TUGAR), it is structured around five pillars: prevention of corruption, public engagement, ethical reorientation, enforcement and sanctions, and recovery of proceeds of crime. These pillars aim to address corruption holistically, from preventive measures to punitive actions and asset recovery.
The Center for Fiscal Transparency and Public Integrity (CeFTPI) has been a partner and observer in this initiative, leveraging our expertise in transparency and public sector integrity to support NACS development and monitoring. Despite the strategy’s robust framework, our assessments indicate that its implementation has not fully translated into systemic changes within MDAs, particularly at state and local government levels, where corruption remains pervasive.
It is important to note that the NACS aligns with Nigeria’s international obligations under the ECOWAS Protocol on the Fight Against Corruption (2001), the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption (AUCPCC, 2003), and the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC, 2003). These commitments demonstrate Nigeria’s intent to meet global anti-corruption standards, yet the gap between policy and practice remains a concern for civil society.
The NACS Framework and Objectives
The NACS was designed to address the root causes of corruption by strengthening legal and institutional frameworks, mainstream anti-corruption principles into governance, enhance public engagement, and improve enforcement and asset recovery mechanisms. Its objectives are critical to transforming Nigeria’s public sector into one characterized by transparency and accountability.
The 2022–2026 phase, validated on July 26, 2024, introduces sector-specific strategies to address corruption in areas like health, education, and procurement. It also includes an Anti-Corruption Funding Framework (AFF) to ensure resources are available for implementation across federal, state, and local levels. While this is a welcome development, it’s unclear what measure are put in place to ensure transparent allocation and utilization of funds to maximize impact.
NACS Progress Report
Nigeria’s commitment to global anti-corruption standards is evident in its adherence to the UNCAC, a global treaty aimed at preventing and combating corruption. From the 2014 and 2019 UNCAC reviews, Nigeria has successfully implemented 43 out of 65 recommendations, achieving an overall implementation rate of 59.0%. This progress is particularly pronounced in the area of asset recovery, where Nigeria has attained an 80.0% implementation rate, demonstrating a proactive approach to reclaiming misappropriated funds and assets. This success reflects the government’s efforts to strengthen legal frameworks and collaborate with international partners to trace and recover illicit proceeds. However, the prevention pillar, with only 43.8% implementation, reveals significant gaps in addressing the root causes of corruption. Preventive measures, such as robust institutional reforms and public education, are essential for deterring corrupt practices before they occur. While the progress in asset recovery is commendable, it must be stated that there is the need for enhanced focus on prevention to build a sustainable anti-corruption framework that aligns with international best practices.
Domestically, technological innovations have significantly bolstered Nigeria’s anti-corruption initiatives, offering practical solutions to longstanding challenges. One of the reforms in this area is the implementation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA), a unified structure of government bank accounts designed to consolidate public funds and enhance transparency. Through the TSA, Nigeria has reportedly eliminated 23,000 ghost workers from its payroll, individuals who were fraudulently receiving salaries without rendering services. This initiative has saved billions of naira, reduced financial leakages and improve the efficiency of public fund management. Additionally, the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), tasked with combating money laundering and terrorist financing, has seen a dramatic increase in Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs), rising from just 16 in 2021 to 6,749 in 2023. This surge is largely attributed to the deployment of the goAML software, a sophisticated tool that enhances the unit’s ability to detect and report financial crimes. These technological interventions highlight the transformative potential of modern tech tools in strengthening anti-corruption measures, ensuring greater accountability, and safeguarding public resources against misuse.
Looking ahead, the inauguration of the NACS Ministerial Committee in February 2025 marks a significant step in sustaining and accelerating anti-corruption efforts. Chaired by the Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, the high-level committee comprises key ministers and legislative representatives, and reflects a renewed commitment from the government to drive the NACS’s objectives. The committee’s establishment is crucial for coordinating efforts across various ministries, addressing the challenges of fragmentation, and ensuring that anti-corruption measures are effectively implemented at all levels of government.
Overall, the progress made in implementing NACS reflects the potential of technology, international collaboration, and civil society engagement in combating corruption. However, these achievements are not sufficient to address the systemic nature of corruption, particularly in institutionalizing measures within MDAs.
Identified Challenges in the Implementation of NACS
Despite the ambitious goals of NACS, significant barriers impede its effective implementation, particularly in embedding anti-corruption measures within MDAs. One of the lingering challenges is the limited awareness of the NACS at state and local government levels, where corruption significantly disrupts service delivery. CeFTPI’s assessments reveal that many sub-national MDAs and local stakeholders are unfamiliar with the strategy’s objectives, which limits its reach and effectiveness. For instance, only three states have domesticated the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA, 2011), a critical tool for promoting transparency and public access to information. This gap restricts grassroots accountability, as citizens and local institutions lack the mechanisms to demand transparency from public officials. Without widespread awareness and engagement at these levels, the NACS struggles to address corruption where it most directly affects communities. This undermines its potential to enhance systemic change across Nigeria’s diverse regions.
Secondly, the autonomy of anti-corruption agencies, such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), is compromised by structural vulnerabilities, notably the President’s authority to remove agency heads under Section 3(2) of the EFCC Act. This provision creates a perception of executive influence, and erodes public trust in these institutions’ ability to operate impartially. CSO actors have continue to argue that this lack of independence weakens the agencies’ capacity to pursue high-profile cases without political interference, a critical barrier to effective enforcement. The absence of measures to protect agency autonomy impacts on the credibility of anti-corruption efforts. This also discourages whistleblowers and affects the agencies’ ability to act decisively against systemic corruption.
The NACS’s implementation is further hampered by fragmented institutional frameworks. For example, there is no specific legislation regulating the activities of former public officers who transition to the private sector, creating opportunities for conflicts of interest. Such gaps allow individuals to exploit their prior positions for personal gain. Additionally, the FOIA oversight body, currently under the Attorney General’s office, lacks the independence needed to ensure impartial enforcement of transparency laws. This arrangement poses potential conflicts of interest, as the regulatory body’s alignment with the executive may compromise its ability to hold government entities accountable. These structural weaknesses highlight the need for comprehensive legislative reforms to strengthen the institutional foundation of the NACS.
Additionally, a significant obstacle to the NACS’s success is the ineffectiveness of the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) frameworks to assess its impact. While an M & E secretariat existed during the implementation of the first phase, there are no comprehensive reports that measure the reduction in corruption levels or the effectiveness of anti-corruption mechanisms across MDAs. Without such data, it is challenging to identify successes, address gaps, or make evidence-based adjustments to the strategy. The lack of an effective M&E framework hinders accountability and limits the ability of stakeholders to track progress systematically.
Historically, poor funding and coordination among stakeholders, including MDAs, anti-corruption agencies, and CSOs, have significantly limited the NACS’s implementation. It has been observed that inconsistent funding allocations and weak inter-agency coordination have led to fragmented efforts, reducing the strategy’s overall impact. Addressing these resource and coordination gaps is essential to ensuring that the NACS is implemented effectively and sustainably across all levels of government.
Summarily, Nigeria’s persistent high corruption perception remains a stark indicator of the NACS’s limited impact to date. The 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) scored Nigeria at 26 out of 100, ranking it 140 out of 180 countries. Past CPI data shows little improvement, with scores fluctuating in the low 20s from 2017 to 2022, peaking at 28 in 2016. This stagnation suggests that, despite some progress, the NACS has not yet translated into tangible reductions in perceived corruption. Public distrust, fueled by high-profile corruption scandals and the lack of visible systemic change continues to challenge efforts in restoring confidence in governance.
Conclusion
The challenges hindering the effective implementation of the NACS are multifaceted, ranging from limited sub-national engagement to structural weaknesses in institutional frameworks. This assessment highlights the critical need for increased awareness, agency independence, robust monitoring systems, and adequate funding to overcome these barriers. The persistent high perception of corruption, as evidenced by Nigeria’s 2024 CPI score and MDAs general poor performances in the CeFTPI’s Transparency and Integrity Index (TII) points to the urgency of addressing these issues to achieve meaningful progress. This piece reiterates its call for greater collaboration and CSOs partnerships to ensure a transparent and accountable governance system for all citizens.