Petro-Economy and Corruption in Nigeria: Issues, Challenges and Lessons for the Future

Abstract

The cases of corruption in Nigeria have increased considerably since the oil boom in 1973. The World Bank, for example, reported in 2007 that, ‘corruption is endemic in Nigeria and the bane of the country’s socio-economic development’. The Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) also ranked Nigeria in 2010 as 134 out of 178 most corrupt countries in the world. The consensus is that corruption remains one of the most urgent and persistent challenges to Nigeria’s socio-political stability with grave consequences on the sustainable development of minorities in Nigeria. The federal government rose to this challenge and established the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and related offences Commission (ICPC) to fight and conquer it, but these has not significantly addressed the situation. This paper therefore, sets out to examine the nature, determinants, manifestations and beneficiaries (collaborators / perpetrators) of petro-economy corruption, as well as measure its impacts on the national economy, governance and society. This is expected to produce new knowledge for multiple constituencies for sustainable development in Nigeria to formulate pro-active public policies. Against this background, the paper adopts the Marxist political economy theory on ‘primitive accumulation of wealth’ to explain why Nigerians indulge in petro-economy and related corrupt practices to the detriment of minority rights and applies secondary method of data collection. The study finds that there is a strong linkage between economic factors and corruption. Hence, the paper recommends measure, particularly the establishment of special courts to stamp out petro-economy corruption in NigeriaKeywords: corruption, criminal-prosecution, “Dutch disease”, excess-crude-oil” mismanagement, oil-bunkering.