…Police, FRSC, doctors top list of bribe takers
In spite of the sensitisation to discourage public officials from collecting bribes from helpless Nigerians, a new report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), produced in collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), has revealed that 27 per cent of Nigerians paid bribes in 2023 to public officials, a marginal decrease when compared to 29 per cent in 2019.
Notwithstanding the decrease in the proportion of those who paid bribes, the monetary value of bribes received rose to N721 billion in 2023 compared to N675 billion in 2019, a development attributed to the rise in the average bribe paid per individual which increased from N5,754 in 2019 to N8,284 in 2023.
The report, titled “Corruption in Nigeria: Patterns and Trends July 2024”, provides detailed nuances of corruption as experienced by the Nigerian masses. It states that the proportion of Nigerians who think that bribery requests are acceptable to speed up administrative procedures reduced from 29 per cent in 2019 to 23 per cent in 2023.
This is as Nigerians ranked corruption as the fourth most important problem facing Nigeria, after cost of living, insecurity, and unemployment.
In the report, 22.6 per cent of Nigerians said the cost of living is the most important problem facing the country, 19 per cent cited crime/insecurity, 13 per cent listed unemployment, while 10.9 per cent ranked corruption as the most important problem. The fifth challenge facing Nigeria is health care.
“The share of citizens who think that bribery requests are acceptable in order to speed up administrative procedures decreased from 29 per cent in 2019 to 23 per cent in 2023. Fewer citizens report suffering negative consequences after refusing bribe requests in 2023 (38 per cent) compared with 2019 (49 per cent),” the report states.
“This suggests that Nigerians feel increasingly empowered to confront corrupt officials without fear of repercussions.”
Elaborating on why they refused to pay bribes to public officials, 42 per cent of the respondents said not paying bribes to public officials was the moral thing to do. This is not unexpected due to the high religiosity of Nigerians. Another 23 per cent attributed their decisions not to pay bribes to cost of living pressures, indicating that they could not afford to pay the amount demanded by the bribe seekers.
Furthermore, 21 per cent of the respondents said they had other options to fulfil their obligations, and consequently ruled out paying bribes to anyone. Another 10 per cent of the respondents branded the act of paying bribes to anyone as illegal, and fearing legal repercussion, refused to pay bribes. Only 4 per cent attributed their reason for refusal to pay bribes to other factors.
Concerning who received the most bribes or who frequently demanded for bribes, the report indicates that police officers ranked the highest as 9 per cent of Nigerians who had contacts with them paid a bribe or were asked to pay a bribe. The next in rank are public utilities officers. Among this category of workers, 6 per cent Nigerians paid a bribe or were asked to pay a bribe. Officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) ranked third, with 4 per cent of Nigerians who had contacts with them paid a bribe or were asked to pay a bribe.
Health workers such as doctors, nurses or midwives are not left out. The report indicates that 4 per cent of the people that had contacts with them in public hospitals paid a bribe of were asked to pay a bribe. Teachers and lectures are next, as 3 per cent of those who had contact with them paid a bribe or were asked to pay a bribe.
The bribes could be asked in the form of direct requests, and these accounted for 52 per cent of the ways bribes were demanded by bribe takers. Indirect requests constituted 23 per cent. Those who demanded bribes to facilitate procedures constituted 9 per cent of the bribery requests made during the survey period.
Eight per cent of the bribes were asked as a sign of appreciation, while 5 per cent of the bribes were third party requests.
Cash is the most item used in paying bribes in the country, according to the NBS findings. The report states that 95 per cent of bribes paid were in the forms of cash. Some bribes were paid using food items, animals, and other valuables.
“In 2023, bribes paid in a public official’s office and in the street accounted for around 35 and 36 per cent of all paid briberies, respectively. 11 per cent of bribes were paid in the respondents’ own home, while 7 per cent were paid in public buildings such as restaurants, malls, or stations,” NBS stated.
The production of the report was supported by the MacArthur Foundation and the Kingdom of Denmark, providing a critical tool for evidence-based policymaking, enabling a comprehensive analysis of corruption trends and the effectiveness of anti-corruption strategies.
