Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to explore the lack of political willingness in Nigeria as a challenge to combating fraud among public employees. This study is a qualitative approach. The sources of data collection involve government reports, newspapers and interviews. In all, 12 participants were employed for the study. The study found that a lack of political willingness in Nigeria shows a persistent challenge to combat fraud. Our findings suggest that (1) political intervention, (2) party system or political party and (3) lack of commitment from the government make fraudulent practices in Nigerian public sector (NPS) perennial. Thus, it has hindered the effort to combat fraud in NPS. This study has practical implications for regulators (like CBN), and anti-corruption bodies such as EFCC, ICPC, AMCON, and CCB. The study could perhaps redirect their efforts and eases the way of mitigating fraudulent practices in Nigeria's public sector. The study also has an academic contribution to the body of knowledge and inFraudsight to the literature. This paper is original and unique in its form and has the value on fraud prevention, detection of corruption, combating the contemporary fraud cases in the Nigerian public sector, and useful to those who might cherish its standing.
Highlights
The rate of unethical behavior among Nigerian public officials has reached the level that fewer people enjoy the greater part of the national revenue and the remaining goes to a large number of people
This study suggests that combating fraudulent practices in the Nigerian public sector is a challenge because of the absence of a political will
There are several attempts to combat the menace in Nigeria, the phenomenon is persisting globally due to the absence of a strong political will or lack of it completely (Ugoani, 2015)
Summary
The rate of unethical behavior among Nigerian public officials has reached the level that fewer people enjoy the greater part of the national revenue and the remaining goes to a large number of people. Despite the huge revenue from oil and other sources, yet, over 80% of Nigerians live a poverty life and only very few live above the poverty line (Mansor, 2015a). Karwai (2002) reveals that fraud has Journal of Economic Info. 56-64 turned out to be a daily routine among the Nigerian public officials where everybody is trying to grab the opportunity of his/her official power. Nigeria was ranked 33rd out of 177 countries as part of the most corrupt nation as reported by Transparency International (2013)
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