APPRAISING THE LEGAL REGIME FOR COMBATING CORRUPTION IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Nigeria has successively occupied unenviable position in series of world corruption surveys irrespective of the efforts and fund exerted towards the fight against corruption since year 2000. Following the switch over from military to civilian government in 1999, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) was established in September 2000 to combat public sector graft such as bribery and abuse of office by public officials. The ICPC was intended to build on the Code of Conduct Bureau and its sister institution - the Code of Conduct Tribunal established in 1990 to enforce a code of conduct for public officials. The researcher therefore employed doctrinal research methodology to examine the legal regime for combating corruption in Nigeria. The paper was built, inter alia on the objectives of exploring the dimensions of corruption in Nigeria and the legal and institutional frameworks for curtailing corruption in Nigeria; determine the effects of corruption on sustainable growth in Nigeria; and whether Nigeria has waged sustainable war on corruption as well as measures that could stamped out corruption in Nigeria. It was found that corruption has drenched Nigeria as a nation, though; Nigeria boasts of sound legal and institutional regime for combating the menace and that corruption manifest in various dimensions and needs collective change of attitude to be stamped out. We recommended, inter alia, strengthening of the anti-graft agencies by making them independent of the executive, curtailing level of executive interference, attitudinal change as measure that could stamp out corruption in Nigeria.