IAP RAISES'S CONCERNS ON NIGERIA RANKING
AS AFRICA'S MOST CORRUPT NATION

Press Statement

LAGOS 21 OCTOBER 2004: Against backdrop of another poor performance
by Nigeria in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions
Index, CPI, Independent Advocacy Project, IAP, the good governance
group has expressed serious concerns about the ineffectiveness of
government anti corruption programmes and how corruption continues to
impoverish Nigerians.

With a sorry score of 1.6 against a clean score of 10, according to
CPI 2004 released yesterday, Nigeria is ranked, in terms of perceived
corruption, as the most corrupt country in Africa, and globally, only
Bangladesh and Haiti performed worse than Nigeria. The index ranked
146 countries, including 36 in Africa.

In a statement released in Lagos yesterday, IAP said while government
apologists may criticize the index as merely measuring "perceived
corruption," it is a fair indication that the Olusegun Obasanjo
administration has failed to live up to the huge expectations of
Nigeria in fighting corruption.

"IAP is concerned that the governance situation in Nigeria seems to
have deteriorated considerably in the past few years. Today the
National Assembly and the States' Houses of Assembly are preoccupied
with 'money sharing,' not 'law making,' President Obasanjo recently
admitted that in a bid to increase the strength of the police
criminals were "mistakenly recruited" into the force, state governors
are more interested in carting public monies abroad instead of paying
the salaries of civil servants while social infrastructure are
decaying with the passing of each day."

While institutions such as the Independent Corruption Practices
Commission and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission are
making attempts, despite various institutional and other constraints
they face, to tackle grand corruption, it is becoming clear that the
situation is getting worse, not better.

IAP hereby calls on the federal government to urgently and earnestly
address the fundamental governance issues facing the country,
especially issues relating to the huge leakages in the system that
affords those in power opportunities to pilfer state resources while
majority of ordinary Nigerians are wallowing in want and poverty
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Independent Advocacy Project (IAP)
Second Floor, 17/19, Allen Avenue, Oshopey Plaza,
P.O.Box 10073, G.P.O. Ikeja, Lagos Nigeria
Tel: 234-1-4977101, 2341 7915198
e-mail: [email protected]
website: http://www.ind-advocacy-project.org