Nigeria has dropped nine places from 121st to 130th out of 180 countries ranked by Transparency International (TI) on the 2009 Global Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). Nigeria has a Corruption Perception Index score of 2.5 and confidence range of between 2.2 and 2.7 compared to last year's Corruption Perception Index score of 2.7 and confidence range of between 2.3 and 3.0.
Transparency International says the CPI measures the perceived levels of public-sector corruption in a given country and is a composite index, drawing on different expert and business surveys.
Nigeria was also ranked 27th out of 47 nations surveyed in sub-Saharan Africa, and 33rd out of the 53 countries in Africa. Botswana was ranked first in sub-Saharan Africa and Africa with a global ranking of 37 and a score of 5.6. Ghana was ranked second in sub-Saharan Africa, with a score of 3.9, a global ranking of 69th, and ranked seventh in Africa.
The Transparency International report said; “The vast majority of the 180 countries included in the 2009 index scored below five on a scale from 0, perceived to be highly corrupt, to 10 perceived to have low levels of corruption. The CPI measures the perceived levels of public sector corruption in a given country and is a composite index, drawing on 13 different expert and business surveys. The 2009 edition scores 180 countries, the same number as the 2008 CPI”.
Huguette Labelle, the Transparency International Chair said, "At a time when massive stimulus packages, fast-track disbursements of public funds and attempts to secure peace are being implemented around the world, it is essential to identify where corruption blocks good governance and accountability, in order to break its corrosive cycle,"
"Stemming corruption requires strong oversight by parliaments, a well performing judiciary, independent and properly resourced audit and anti-corruption agencies, vigorous law enforcement, transparency in public budgets, revenue and aid flows, as well as space for independent media and a vibrant civil society. The international community must find efficient ways to help war-torn countries to develop and sustain their own institutions."
“Overall results in the 2009 index are of great concern because corruption continues to lurk where opacity rules, where institutions still need strengthening and where governments have not implemented anti-corruption legal frameworks,”
“Even industrialised countries cannot be complacent; the supply of bribery and the facilitation of corruption often involve businesses based in their countries. Financial secrecy jurisdictions, linked to many countries that top the CPI, severely undermine efforts to tackle corruption and recover stolen assets.
“Corrupt money must not find safe haven. It is time to put an end to excuses,”
Transparency's director of policy and research, Robin Hodess, said "for a country to improve on the corruption perceptions index, it is imperative that citizens believe that they have a government that works for them. Governments have to show that there is the political will to respond to the needs of the people.
The most corrupt nations are; Somalia (1.1), Afghanistan (1.3), Myanmar (1.4), Sudan (1.5), Iraq (1.5), Chad (1.6), Uzbekistan (1.7), Turkmenistan (1.8), Iran (1.8), Haiti (1.8), Guinea (1.8) and Equatorial Guinea (1.8).
The least corrupt countries are New Zealand (9.4), Denmark (9.3); Singapore (9.2); Sweden (9.2); Switzerland (9.0); Finland (8.9); Netherlands (8.9); Australia (8.7); Canada (8.7) and Iceland (8.7). These scores reflect political stability, long-established conflict of interest regulations and solid, functioning public institutions.
