By Jemimah Wellington, JKNewsMedia Report
NIGERIA HAS made a slight improvement in its global corruption ranking, moving up five places on the 2024 Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perceptions Index.
The country now ranks 140th out of 180 nations, with a score of 26 out of 100.
Despite this progress from last year’s 145th position and a score of 25, corruption remains a deeply rooted issue.
The index, released on Tuesday, assesses public sector corruption worldwide on a scale of 0 to 100, where lower scores indicate higher corruption levels.
Bribery, embezzlement of public funds, and abuse of power for personal gain continue to plague governance.
Transparency International cites nepotistic civil service appointments, weak financial disclosures by officials, and inadequate whistleblower protections as significant factors undermining accountability.
Although Nigeria has edged forward, its improvement is slow.
In 2022, the country ranked 150th with a score of 24, and in 2021, it placed 154th—the lowest under former President Muhammadu Buhari.
Nigeria’s best performance in the last decade came in 2015 and 2016, when it ranked 136th.
President Bola Tinubu has repeatedly pledged to combat corruption and urged other African leaders to join the fight.
However, last year, the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) controversially listed Tinubu as a finalist for its ‘Corrupt Person of the Year’ award, sparking debate over the credibility of Nigeria’s anti-corruption efforts.
