The Civil/Public Service, Corruption and Nigeria Underdevelopment (original) (raw)

The issue of corruption in Nigeria has been topical and recurring, forming a central theme in national discusses; being an endemic malaise defying every effort at fighting it by various administrations, be it military or civilian. Both scholars and Nigerian governments have not been able to proffer any realistic practicable solution or recipe to tackle this canker worm eating deep into the fabrics of our national life. The problems of corruption in Nigeria have become very worrisome, more-so, given the huge and enormous resources of the country, which have brought much money to the coffers of government. This country has remained poor and low in terms of infrastructural, economic and social development. This situation among other factors has its roots in corruption, through which the country's wealth is misappropriated and stolen by corrupt public office holders, both in government and private sectors, making corruption the order of the day. The paper tried to examine the nature and expanse of corruption in Nigeria, through the prism of Nigeria's civil/public service, down to the various sectors and sections of the society. Furthermore, the paper interrogates the causes and stimulants of corruption in Nigeria, which appears to be fashionable among the Nigerian populace. This effort proffers a novel thesis that locates and traces the core reason for official corruption in Nigeria to fiscal centralism of the Nigerian state that claims to practice federalism. This aberration gives the majority tribes the leverage to control the resources of the minority states, especially the Niger delta region, where the oil resources are located; 'infecting government officials with 'Other People's Money (OPM) Syndrome' engendering massive and enduring corruption, looting, and mismanagement. The paper drew resource mostly from both secondary sources and primary experiential records of the author. Through its finding and analysis, the paper concludes that the issue of corruption is indeed endemic and hydra-headed, and has permeated deep into the fabric of our society's economic, political and even cultural life. The solution lies in a radical restructuring of Nigerian polity to adopt the right first formulas. The paper recommends among other things, the adoption and practice of fiscal federalism to stimulate the harnessing and exploitation of the untapped rich resources of the various states and ethnic nationalities, than depending on one resource that has elicited the malaise of OPM syndrome.