Corruption in Nigeria has worsened in the last one year, according to Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index 2017 released on Wednesday.
According to TI, Nigeria, with a score of 27 per cent, now ranks 148 out of 180 countries.
The organisation said Nigeria’s latest result was worse than that of 2016 wherein Nigeria was ranked 136 with a score of 28 per cent.
In the latest rankings, Nigeria shares the 148th spot with Comoros and Guinea.
President Muhammadu Buhari was recently named as the Africa Anti-Corruption Champion by the African Union.
The war against corruption is said to be the cornerstone of the Buhari administration, which has been in power for nearly three years.
However, Botswana, Cape Verde, Rwanda, Namibia, Mauritius, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, South Africa, Burkina Faso, Lesotho, Tunisia, Ghana, Morocco, Benin, Swaziland, Gambia, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Niger, Egypt, Gabon, Togo, Djibouti, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Kenya and Mauritania were all ranked better than Nigeria.
At the 34th position, Botswana was ranked the least corrupt nation in Africa with a score of 61 per cent.
TI noted that most countries were not doing enough to curb corruption as the rate of graft seemed to increase.
It said, “This year’s Corruption Perceptions Index highlights that the majority of countries are making little or no progress in ending corruption, while further analysis shows journalists and activists in corrupt countries risking their lives every day in an effort to speak out.
“The index, which ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption according to experts and businesspeople, uses a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.
“This year, the index found that more than two-thirds of countries score below 50, with an average score of 43. Unfortunately, compared to recent years, this poor performance is nothing new.”
In the latest rankings, New Zealand took the first position with a score of 89 per cent.
Other countries in the top 10 position are Denmark, Finland, Norway, Switzerland, Singapore, Sweden, Canada, Luxembourg, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
Conversely, Somalia comes last with a score of nine per cent.
Other countries in the bottom 10 are South Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan, Yemen, Sudan, Libya, North Korea, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea and Venezuela.
