Public Sector Corruption Research Articles

Transparency and Accountability Concerns in the Nigerian Public Sector

For many years, accountability and transparency have been of significant concern due to financial statement misstatements, fraud, and corruption in the public sector. Despite government policies and legislative acts aimed at addressing these issues, according to (Ezeajughu, 2021) such as the establishment of the Nigerian Constitution in 1999 and subsequent amendments, including the Budget Monitoring and Price Intelligence Unit (BMPIU), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Act 2002, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences (ICPC) Act (2000), the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act (1995), and the Financial Malpractices in Banks Act (1994), headlines still highlight ongoing corruption in the public service, thereby raising concerns on the twin issues of accountability and transparency in the Nigerian public service. It is in this regard that this paper examined the concerns of the Nigerian public regarding accountability and transparency. Using secondary data from Transparency International (TI), this paper argued that the level of transparency and accountability in the Nigerian public sector continues to wane, accentuating the rising level of corruption and corruptive tendencies in the Nigerian public sector. To reverse this trend, it is recommended, amongst other things, that the judicial system, framework, and architecture be rejigged and radially reformed through the creation of specialized courts that will speedily dispense justice.

Fighting corruption in West Africa: a comparative assessment of learners and laggards

Corruption is a widespread issue that plagues societies across the globe. It is imperative to address this problem to safeguard human rights and promote sustainable development. By encouraging transparent and responsible governance, we can strengthen democracy and foster a culture of integrity among public officials and civil servants. Since its establishment in 1994, the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) has garnered international attention for its commitment to peace efforts and anti-corruption initiatives. Over the past decade, it has become a hub of public and private sector corruption scandals, mainly due to its declining performance on the Corruption Perception Index. This paper aims to evaluate the progress of some West African nations, specifically Ghana, Nigeria, Togo, Cote d'Ivoire, and Burkina Faso, in their battle against corruption. The study will compare their performance and anti-corruption policies implemented in recent years to determine which countries are progressing and which are lagging. This study employed a mixed methods approach, incorporating both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. The primary objective was to evaluate various countries' capacity to combat corruption. Data was sourced from the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index and the World Governance Indicator to accomplish this. The gathered information was then classified and assessed using a comparative research design and strategy. By conducting time series analysis, the study aimed to identify commonalities and variations between the countries and draw insightful conclusions. The data will be presented graphically to exhibit trends, which this report will explore further. The paper compares the efforts of different West African countries in fighting corruption. It highlights the countries making significant strides in combating corruption and the laggards falling behind in their efforts. This assessment promotes transparency, accountability, and good governance in West Africa.

Public Sector Corruption in Nepal: Causes and Consequences

The research paper discusses corruption in Nepal's public sector, a significant challenge in the development agenda. The main objective of this study is to find the causes and consequences of corruption in the public sector. This study used primary and secondary data to determine the causes and consequences of corruption in Nepal. The results found that the political, court, and administration sectors are the most corruption-prone zones, losing the government's credibility. The leading causes of corruption are non-compliance with existing rules and regulations, lack of political commitment, transparency, accountability, consistency, and institutional weaknesses. Corruption reduces competitiveness and increases the cost of living, becoming a significant obstacle to economic growth, social development, and political stability. The government has taken various measures to combat corruption, including establishing anti-corruption bodies and laws. However, these measures have yet to be effective in curbing corruption, and there is a need for more significant reforms. The political leader, bureaucrats, civil society, and media should take responsibility for controlling corruption in the public sector of Nepal.

Democratic Continuity or Regression?

Abstract This article deals with the level of democracy in Croatia after EU accession. The first part presents key events, processes, and actors which have shaped the trajectory of democratic development. The second part discusses the Croatian case in the context of current research on democratic backsliding. The third part tests the idea about democratic backsliding in Croatia by running regression models with democracy indices derived from the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) dataset. The findings challenge the idea of democratic backsliding in Croatia. The models do not show a clear association of decreased democracy scores after EU accession but point to a stronger role of the pre-accession period in increasing levels of democracy in Croatia. The models also highlight the explanatory role of executive and public sector corruption regarding democracy levels in Croatia. Instead of speaking of democratic backsliding, the Croatian case can be better described as one experiencing democratic stagnation.

Analysis of the impact of insecurity on youth unemployment in Nigeria (1990-2020)

Youth unemployment is a very important socioeconomic problem in Nigeria, which has gone bad in recent years. Therefore, using the ordinary least square estimation technique (OLS), this research examines the impact of insecurity on youth unemployment in Nigeria from 1990 to 2020. The study focuses on the relationship between the dependent variable, unemployment (Unemp), and two independent variables, the National Terrorism Index (Ntix) and Crime Rate (Crat). The results reveal that Ntix has a positive and statistically significant effect on Unemp. Specifically, a unit increase in Ntix leads to a 0.000827 rise in unemployment. Additionally, Nigerian Crat demonstrates a significant and positive influence on Unemp, with an increase in Crat resulting in a 0.005653 increase in unemployment. Given that heightened insecurity directly contributes to unemployment, the study proposes several policy recommendations. Firstly, the government should consider reducing interest rates in commercial banks to enhance the availability of loans for small business owners, enabling them to hire more employees. Furthermore, addressing corruption in both public and private sectors, combating kidnappings, and establishing additional skill acquisition centers are crucial measures to tackle the issue of insecurity and promote employment opportunities.

Digitalising Public Administration for Sustainable Development

Since their independence from colonial rules in the late 1950s and early 1960s, most countries in African continent have been sleepwalking in developmental realm due to a myriad of human security threats including internal conflicts, military dictatorships, public sector corruption and generational poverty among others. Consequently, the continent, in sharp contrast to others, failed to achieve some of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set by the comity of nations at the turn of the 21st century. As all the African states pledged unwavering commitment to achieving other sets of global goals—the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set in 2015, —concerns over their actual capacity to achieve them by the target year (2030) are being raised. This is because they not only epitomise most of the challenges being confronted but also lag far behind in the global race for digitalisation, precipitated by 21st century digital revolution and widely regarded as an essential driver in governments efforts towards achieving national objectives. Using desk review of secondary data, this paper examines the instrumentality of digital technologies to the achievement of sustainable development in Africa, with specific reference to Nigeria. The SDGs serve as the basis for the analysis while system theory, emancipatory realism and Digital Era Governance model among other scholarly and expert perspectives provide reasoned lines of explanation. The paper concludes that digital technology is an indispensable mechanism to the achievement of sustainable development. It recommends that while curbing corruption and insecurity are considered Nigeria’s developmental priority, digital technologies should be used to accelerate their achievement and other lofty ideals.

Corporate Liability within the IACC Framework

The current proposal for an International Anti-Corruption Court (IACC) provides a much-needed opportunity to assess the current state of global anti-corruption efforts and explore opportunities to enhance the legal mechanisms to combat grand corruption and the harms that it generates. An important element of the corruption equation is the role of corporations as suppliers of bribes to corrupt officials and kleptocrats. These corporations profit from continued public sector corruption and need to be held accountable for their role in contributing to corruption on a grand and global scale. This article argues that the proposal for an IACC should include liability for legal persons (corporations), to strengthen the existing anti-corruption framework and support the emerging norm of corporate responsibility for contributing to crimes with global scope and impact. The article begins with a brief reviewing the proposal by Wolf, Goldstone and Rotberg for the development of an IACC. It then goes on to emphasis the role played by corporations in contributing to grand corruption, making the argument that ignoring their role weakens the potential for the proposed court to achieve its ambitious goals. Following this, the article surveys the existing approaches to corporate liability for bribery, under international and domestic legal frameworks. It then presents possible avenues for inclusion of corporate liability within IACC, noting some of the key challenges including establishing a model for attributing corporate fault and ensuring the operation of the complementarity principle. The goal of the article is to provide a jumping off point for the exploration of corporate liability under international law, arguing that corruption and the development of an IACC provides the perfect opportunity to expand the scope of corporate liability and harden the mechanisms of corporate accountability at the international level.

The Moderating Role of Education in The Corruption- Ease of Doing Business Nexus: Evidence from CEE Countries

This paper aims to investigate the impact of education factors on the relationship between corruption and the Ease of doing business in Central and Eastern Europe. We employed a regression analysis using panel data from 20 CEE countries between 2010 and 2017. Our findings argue that the impact of the perceived levels of public sector corruption on the Ease of doing business score is accentuated when a society is characterized by a higher level of quality of education systems and management schools, a better collaboration university-industry in the field of research, and a higher quality of scientific research institutions.

An empirical analysis of economic growth in countries exposed to coastal risks: Implications for their ecosystems

Using a novel database on countries exposed to coastal risks (CR), this paper estimates an augmented neoclassical growth model that encompasses eight other new growth models. To account for uncertainty related to the number of models and choice of growth determinant proxies, we use a Bayesian averaging of classical estimates (BACE) approach. A preliminary examination of the data reveals that a country that faces coastal risks is likely to be a former British colony characterized by a common law legal framework, a parliamentary political system, a high degree of international trade openness, little language and ethnic fractionalization, a low level of public sector corruption, and a high rate of fertility. The BACE-based model selection procedure shows that, in CR countries, the growth determinant proxies typically used in the neoclassical, macroeconomic policy, natural resources, and institutions theories are significantly correlated with growth. These results suggest two implications related to these countries’ coastal ecosystems. First, because they are heavily dependent on natural resources and have high fertility rates, these countries might seek short-term economic gains at the expense of deterioration in their ecosystems. Second, these countries’ good institutions and low levels of ethnic division might be conducive to sustainable management of these ecosystems.

Strategies for Minimising Failure of Public-Private Partnership Infrastructure Projects in North Central Nigeria

The global adoption of the public-private partnership (PPP) concept has been driven by the growing demand for public infrastructure. However, many PPP projects have faced challenges and yielded unfavourable outcomes such as failures, delays, and concession revocations. This research paper aims to investigate the key factors influencing private investments in PPP markets in developing countries like Nigeria. The study employed an empirical questionnaire survey, collecting data from PPP experts involved in six PPP construction projects in northern Nigeria. Based on previous research, a set of 19 success factors and 21 failure factors were identified and used as the basis for quantitative data obtained. The data were analysed using the Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) methodology. The findings of the study revealed that three critical failure factors (CFFs) played a role in the varying degrees of failure in the studied PPP projects. These factors include public sector corruption, lack of competition and transparency in procurement processes, and political interference during project implementation. On the other hand, six critical success factors (CSFs) contributed to the success of the PPP projects to different extents. These factors encompassed the availability of suitable financial markets, a favourable investment environment, appropriate risk allocation, competition in the procurement process, a comprehensive and realistic assessment of costs and benefits, and trust among stakeholders. The results of this study can serve as a valuable reference for PPP stakeholders seeking to minimize failure in the implementation of PPP infrastructure projects.

Analysis of the Effect of Human Capital, Institutionality and Globalization on Economic Complexity: Comparison between Latin America and Countries with Greater Economic Diversification

The Latin American export in the manufacturing sector is 18% lower than the world average. Although between the 1980s and 1990s, the sophistication of exportable products increased by 13%, it is evident to see the low progress of the Latin American region to consolidate the change in its productivity and its dependence on oil extraction activities, minerals, and other raw materials. This article evaluates and quantifies the impact of human capital, globalization, and the role of the efficiency of institutions in the sophistication of production in Latin America compared to economies with greater complexity. This is conducted using panel data methodology with cointegration techniques, using data from 17 countries that belong to the continental part of Latin America and 10 countries with the greatest economic complexity according to the Atlas of Economic Complexity Index. These countries are classified by their income level, data compiled by the United Nations Development Program Indicators, the Harvard Growth Lab Atlas of Economic Complexity, the Swiss Economic Institute database, and the Heritage Foundation. The results indicate that there is a significant relationship between the explanatory variables and economic complexity. However, the nature of the relationships differs between the different income levels, finding the same trend in the cointegration analyses. It requires the adoption of public policies in the curricular and evaluative field of knowledge and skills as well as the fight against corruption in public and private sectors, motivating the improvement of bilateral relations with other countries in an economic, political, and social way.

Building resilience in the face of natural disasters: ICT, fossil fuel use, and sustainable development in an emerging economy

As an emerging and rapidly growing economy, Bangladesh is among the top vulnerable countries in the world in terms of natural disasters. These disasters, in turn, have significant implications for sustainable development of this country. In this research, following theoretical and empirical background, we evaluate the role of natural disaster, information and communication technology or ICT, non-renewable energy use, international cooperation in the form of globalization and public sector corruption on sustainable development of Bangladesh. We use the data from 1985 to 2021 and employ robust econometric techniques such as dynamic ARDL simulation. The result from the dynamic ARDL simulation suggests that natural disaster has positive and significant effect on sustainable development of Bangladesh in the short and long run. The use of ICT as well as non-renewable energy has positive and significant impact only in the long run. Furthermore, international cooperation significantly and positively affects sustainable development both in the long run and short run while corruption has no impact in any period. The study finally provides policy recommendations based on the above findings.

Modeling Public Sector Corruption and the Institutional Environment in Emerging Economies: An Institutional Theory View

This paper models and empirically explores the institutional environment in emerging economies concerning public sector corruption. Employing perspectives from institutional theory, the paper develops strategies for reducing the perceived level of corruption by assessing the interaction between regulatory, cognitive, and normative institutional elements. We find that the regulatory, institutional elements, the legal system, and business, and professional associations have a positive linear relationship with reduced perceived level of corruption. In contrast, the freedom of the media does not have a linear relationship with the perceived level of corruption and serves as a moderator. Finally, the interaction effect between the legal system and the media is stronger than the interaction effect between the media and business and professional associations.

Metaphoric construction of corruption in Nigerian media discourse

Abstract Conceptual metaphor theory (CMT) and cultural linguistics (CL), which form the chief theoretical anchor for this study, express the role of language, culture and cognition in the construal and expression of human experiences. The approaches posit that the metaphorical use of language by an individual or group is shaped by their ideological orientation, knowledge of their natural and social world, and their cultural worldview. This study investigates the metaphorical use of language by the Nigerian print media in their attempts to express ideation on corruption in the Nigerian public sector. There has not been any deliberate and rigorous attempt to study the metaphorical representation of corruption in the Nigerian media discourse, hence this study aims at addressing the lacuna. Thus, this study uses insights from CMT and CL to identify, classify and analyse some of these metaphors in six Nigerian newspapers, namely; The Guardian, Punch, Daily Trust, The Nation, Vanguard and The Sun. The study shows that print media reports of corruption in Nigeria involving powerful social actors such as politicians, government appointees, career civil servants, academics, the military, the media and others have often used metaphorical frames that emanate from the domains of disease, war and conflict, enmity, impediment to movement, violent natural forces, monstrosity, among others, to describe the incidence, scope, effects and consequences of public sector corruption in Nigeria.

Should Asia Pacific economic cooperation countries put all their eggs in one energy basket? Examining the linkage between energy diversification and sustainable development

Energy diversification is critically important from an economic, political and environmental point of view. In this research, we try to investigate the role of energy diversification for sustainable development in Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation or APEC member countries. We utilize data from different sources which range from 1990 to 2020. Apart from energy diversification, other independent variables such as public sector corruption, ICT, economic globalization and social globalization are utilized according to the theory and empirical literatures which utilize these parameters in order to see how growth or environment of an economy is affected. The study implements second generation econometric methodologies in order to tackle the cross sectional dependence issue among the countries. The result reveals that energy diversification positively and significantly affect sustainable development in APEC nations. ICT and economic globalization were also found to be positively affecting the sustainable development. However, social globalization negatively affected the sustainable development while the effect of public sector corruption was not significant. Bidirectional causality was revealed between sustainable development and energy diversification. The study recommends diversifying energy sources for achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs) agenda for these economies.

Using the Product Social Impact Life Cycle Assessment (PSILCA) database for product comparison: Confetti case study.

Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) is a methodology that can help companies administer their supply chain and promote both social responsibility and sustainability through the assessment of both positive and negative social and socio-economic aspects of products during their entire life cycle. Here, a case study was performed to test an S-LCA database as a comparative assessment tool of two products, i.e. the traditional almond sugared confetti and Tenerelli sugared almonds, made by the same company. The S-LCA case study was carried out by using the Product Social Impact Life Cycle Assessment (PSILCA) database, for the two products on openLCA software. The risk assessment helped to identify the most affected impact categories and which product influences the most on them as well as the categories on which the foreground processes have the greatest impact. For both the analysed products, the category "Contribution of the sector to economic development" is marginally affected. Overall, the production of Confetti entails higher medium risk hours regarding some categories (e.g. "Public sector corruption", "Promoting social responsibility", "Migration flows"), whilst for others, it is the Tenerelli that affect the most (e.g. "Biomass consumption", "Trade unionism"), depending on the different inputs used. Finally, the results are not very influenced by foreground processes, and the social risks are therefore related to upstream processes for both products. The comparison can become more useful for products of the same or similar functions and the same audience but of different inputs and therefore different supply chains. Indeed, it could be useful for decision-making with the aim of selecting between various possible options the one that entails lower social risks.

The Rise of the Militarized State? African Developmental Militarism, Public Works Projects, and Praetorian Politics in Kenya

This article analyses the civil–military relations in Kenya in the context of civilian-activated politicization that is taking place the same way it happens in Latin America and the United States under the former Trump administration. In Kenya, this involves the use of the military in noncombat internal missions such as infrastructure development and management of public institutions especially where such institutions are perceived to be inefficient due to corruption both in public and private sectors. Judging from the outcomes of public works undertaken by the military, corruption and inefficiencies cannot be ruled out. This is demonstrated by the Kenya–Somalia Border Securitization Project where 34 million dollars was used to erect a 10-km fence in the war against terrorism. The outcomes of this study negate the logic of the proponents of developmental militarism in Africa who have been vocal in advocating the deployment of the soldiers to solve noncombat social challenges in the continent. Based on three case studies examined, deploying the military to engage in public works projects brings the military into a political minefield, is not productive, and proves to be an unreliable way to combat internal political corruption.

Risk management for second-hand clothing imports in least developed countries: Legislations and perception of public-sector corruption.

The second-hand clothing imports are very popular in the least developed countries (LDCs). The social health risk (SHR) associated with second-hand clothing products and the lack of relevant legislations in LDCs, however, bring substantial challenges. This article is therefore developed to explore the sterilization legislation design for second-hand clothing supply chains in LDCs. To address LDCs' different import requirements of fumigation, both the extended exporter responsibility (EER) legislation scheme and the extended importer responsibility (EIR) legislation scheme are considered. We also examine whether the perception of public-sector corruption in LDCs may affect the performance of sterilization legislation schemes. We compare the performance of sterilization legislation schemes under different public-sector corruption cases, different sterilization legislation structures, as well as market competition. Interestingly, our analyses show that the EER and EIR legislation schemes can achieve the same performance under a per unit SHR duty, no matter whether there is public-sector corruption or not. However, these two legislation schemes perform differently under the lump-sum SHR duty. Besides, with the presence of the public-sector corruption perception, the prospect of financial benefits from bribing the regulatory agency can induce the firm to choose a higher optimal sterilization level when the bribe is sufficiently small. These implications complement the extant knowledge on risk management of second-hand clothing in LDCs, and provide an important guidance regarding the design of sterilization legislations on second-hand clothing imports.

Do deep regional trade agreements strengthen anti‐corruption? A social network analysis

AbstractThis paper adds to research on the international drivers of corruption and anti‐corruption by focusing on the influence of regional trade agreements (RTAs). Using cross‐national data and employing a social network analysis, we provide descriptions of the evolution of deep integration of RTAs' network in anti‐corruption and transparency with a comprehensive view in which we utilise the network's Closeness, Harmonic, Betweenness, Eigenvector, and PageRank centralities to demonstrate the positions of member countries. We examine the relations of the positions of member countries in the deep RTAs' network and the performance of those countries in fighting corruption. Our empirical results suggest that the countries which hold dominant positions in the deep RTAs' network may be associated with better performance in fighting corruption. At the same time, countries which may have traditionally lagged in the enforcement of anti‐bribery and corruption laws will benefit through the transfer of best practices and technical expertise in rulemaking and enforcement by using their positions in the deep RTAs' network. Furthermore, our results indicate that the provisions related to anti‐corruption or transparency in RTAs will play more important roles in fighting public sector corruption for member countries. The findings are robust to alternate corruption and governance measures.

Quality Evaluation of E-Government Services – The Case of Albania

"Albania has passed a period of three decades in the shift from a centralized to a market economy. In this context, the public sector is confronted by structural changes at the institutional level and the extension and improvement of public services. Electronic services’ quality is a critical issue for the failure or success of e-government objectives. It promotes government efficiency and effectiveness, citizen engagement, and satisfaction. The trend to use electronic services in Albania is similarly driven by efforts to reduce public sector corruption, improve service performance, and reduce costs. The goal of this paper is to evaluate the citizen’s perception of the importance and the quality of e-services provision by the e-Albania gateway, as well as obstacles and challenges of the future. Based on the main types of services provided by the e-Albania platform, twelve indicators were considered. The survey took place in Albania (Tirana region), wherein 190 questionnaires are applied. The main reason for this selection is that Tirana is the largest region of the country, with about 50% of the population concentration and the highest number of users of the government electronic platform. The variables used are qualitative variables and were measured according to the Likert scale (1–5 estimation, from 1–strongly disagree to 5–strongly agree). Each of the main variables is explained and measured through the evaluation of three to five explanatory questions. Through the SPSS program, cluster analysis was used to evaluate the main variables. By analyzing the collected data, it turns out that there is an obvious increase in the number of public services offered, as well as the perception of citizens for the e-services provided by the government platform."