The Transparency International (TI), on Tuesday, disclosed that Nigeria ranked 150 out of 180 countries on the 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) it released.
The Representative of TI in Nigeria and Executive Director of Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Mr Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, stated this at a press briefing in Abuja.
Mr Rafsanjani noted that there has been no change in the country’s scoring between 2021 and 2022.
“Today Transparency International (TI) released the 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI).
“Published 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 2022 CPL, compered to 24 points in the 2021 CPL.
“There has been no change in country scoring between 2021 and 2022.
“In the country comparison for the 2022 CPL, Nigeria ranks 150 out of 180 countries compared to 154 on the 2021 CPI results.
“The CPI for Nigeria aggregates data from 8 (eight) different sources that provide perceptions by country experts and businesspeople on the level of corruption in the public sector,” he said.
According to him, while the index does not show specific incidences of corruption in the country, it indicates the perception of corruption in Nigeria.
He said the index is impartial, objective and globally acknowledged as the most widely used cross-country parameter for measuring corruption.
“It is important to stress that this is not an assessment of Nigeria’s anti-graft agencies who are making commendable efforts in the fight against corruption in Nigeria, despite the political interference they face.
“Rather, the CPI goes beyond the anti-graft agencies. The CPI is usually released at the beginning of the year with the previous two CPI released on the 25th of January, 2022 and the 28th of January, 2021 respectively,” he said.
Rafsanjani, who said that the present CPI result comes less than a month to Nigeria’s general elections which are crucial not just to Nigeria, but Africa, said while Nigerians had high expectations that this regime could address corruption, the CPI index for the country has remained consistently low in the last 10 years.
He said the data used for the CPI is not collected by CISLAC/TI-Nigeria but by independent and reputable organisations with sound research methodologies.
He noted that while Nigeria moved 4 places up on the country ranking, Nigeria maintained its previous score of 24 which is its lowest score on the CPI since 2012.
“This suggests a slowdown in the steady decline observed in the previous 3 CPT’s,” he said.
He attributed the development to government’s inability to tackle the menace head-on.
