Nigeria was ranked 140th of the 180 countries in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) published on Tuesday.

The index, annually compiled by Transparency International, a global coalition against corruption, shows that Nigeria scored 26 points in the corruption score, 17 points below the global average.

The report also showed that Nigeria has improved only by one point since 2023.

The CPI “measures how corrupt each country’s public sector is perceived to be” relying on information from experts and business people.

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The index ranks countries on a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 signifies highly corrupt and 100 represents an uncorrupted public sector.

“More than two-thirds of countries score below 50 on this year’s CPI, with an average score of just 43,” the index states.

“While 32 countries have significantly reduced their corruption levels since 2012, there’s still a huge amount of work to be done as 148 countries have stayed stagnant or got worse during the same period.”

Nigeria’s ranking is based on data assessing bribery, diversion of public funds, abuse of office for personal gain without consequences and the government’s effectiveness in curbing corruption. It also considers nepotistic appointments in the civil service, state capture by vested interests and access to public information.

Historical data from the CPI shows Nigeria ranked 146th with a score of 26 in 2019, 149th (25) in 2020, 154th (24) in 2021, 150th (24) in 2022 and 145th (25) in 2023.

This index showed that Nigeria has consistently failed to keep a clean corruption sheet in the last five years.

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Meanwhile, African countries like Rwanda, Ghana, Burkina Faso, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and The Gambia rank ahead of Nigeria in the Corruption Perceptions Index.

Nigeria is only ranked ahead of Uganda, Mozambique, the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia and South Sudan in Africa.

Time and again, Nigeria prosecutes public officials accused of diverting funds, but with little to no success.
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