Various reports and researches have suggested that corruption, either directly or indirectly, is the bane of poverty in Nigeria, The Corruption Perceptions Index, released annually by Transparency International (TI), also gives credence to the pervasive corruption in the sub-Saharan country. Nigeria has always floated at the bottom of the list, among the most corrupt nations in the world.
It is not surprising that just as the country continues to rank very high on the index, there is a proportionate decline in the Human Development Index released every year by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). This goes without saying that as resources meant for human development are being feathered away, Nigerians sink into a deeper abyss of poverty.
A report by Brookings Institute crowned Nigeria ‘the poverty capital of the world’, taking over India, a country with seven times the population of Nigeria. Their findings were partly based on data drawn from The World Poverty Clock.
So, how does a government combat poverty in a high-risk corruption country like Nigeria?
The strategy suggested at the 2018 International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC), held in Denmark in October last year, was “understanding the drivers of corruption and developing tools to manage corruption risks in a systematic way.” These include assessing implementing parties’ capacity to manage and control risks, and strengthening these when needed through the use of innovative tools.
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