Olusegun Pelumi Olukoga
Corruption remains shockingly entrenched across Nigeria’s public sector. In 2024 Nigeria scored just 26/100 on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index – ranking 140th out of 180 countries. Centuries of leaked public funds have starved schools, hospitals and roads. As Carlos Taylhardat grimly notes, “every ransom paid is a scholarship not funded, a clinic not built, a road not repaired” – a line that could just as well describe every naira unaccounted for in the budget. Citizens have seen too many shiny probes end in silence. Yet recent events show some progress: in mid-2025 the House of Representatives’ Public Accounts Committee announced it had recovered ₦86.5 billion (about $208 million) in unpaid oil-sector debts. Still, Nigerians remain skeptical: each naira saved must actually turn into concrete clinics and classrooms, not vanish again.
The scale of the problem is difficult to ignore. Various analyses, including those referenced by the Central Bank, point to deep-seated corruption that diverts public resources away from productive use. Estimates suggesting that around ₦7 trillion is lost annually to graft are particularly troubling. To put this in perspective, that amount could almost double what states currently receive for education or healthcare. Corruption weakens investment and growth by distorting incentives and diverting funds from productive spending, and it reduces the quality and effectiveness of public expenditure by biasing decisions towards projects that are easier to “rent-seek” from. Persistent, institutionalised corruption is not just a governance failure; it directly limits the government’s ability to tackle hunger, improve hospitals, or keep schools functioning. Every naira lost to padding or opaque projects represents a real opportunity cost for ordinary Nigerians, and that trade-off is increasingly visible in daily life.
For me, transparency is central to any credible solution. Some states, such as Lagos and Edo, have already shown that publishing procurement and spending data through public dashboards is possible. This approach should be scaled nationally. Revenues from major sources like NNPC and NLNG ought to be traceable, so citizens can see how public wealth moves from extraction to expenditure. Strengthening Freedom of Information frameworks would also empower journalists and civil society to scrutinise spending in real time rather than after the damage is done. Without openness, even genuine anti-corruption efforts risk being dismissed as cosmetic. People want more than strong rhetoric or high-profile arrests; they want visible, sustained accountability. If trust is to be rebuilt, public finances must be treated as public knowledge, not guarded secrets.
Accountability also requires verifiable budget implementation reporting before new budgets are sold to the public. Under Nigeria’s fiscal governance framework, budget implementation reporting is a core tool for tracking releases, performance and deviations. Yet civil-society monitors have repeatedly flagged gaps in timely, accessible implementation reporting, warning that weak disclosure makes it harder to hold the President and state governors to measurable delivery commitments. If the 2025 budget has not been transparently reported (at federal and state levels) through clear implementation reports, then presenting the 2026 budget to the National Assembly and Houses of Assembly without that accounting undermines credibility and weakens oversight. The basic standard should be simple: before new appropriations are debated, the executive (federal and state) should publish implementation performance—what was released, what was spent, what was delivered, what was not, and why—so legislatures and citizens can compare promises to outcomes
To turn the tide, the following are paramount:
- E-governance and transparency. Publish all federal and state budgets, procurement contracts and expenditures online in real time. Adopt digital platforms (like Lagos’s state e-budget portal or Edo’s procurement dashboard) so anyone can audit spending. Enforce FOI laws rigorously – for instance, make revenues and costs of major projects (oil pipelines, power plants, etc.) accessible to citizens and auditors. Data-tracing platforms should let Nigerians follow every naira of oil income and natural-gas revenue. This kind of accountability infrastructure would create “eyes on the prize” – deterring theft because everyone can see when money goes missing.
- Citizen monitoring (social audits). Empower communities and NGOs to track local projects from start to finish. Mobile apps and hotlines can let citizens report stalled roads, phantom schools or diverted funds. For example, platforms like Tracka Nigeria encourage residents to flag incomplete projects. Each state could also publish a public “scorecard” of capital projects versus budgeted spending, and host town hall meetings led by traditional or religious leaders. Transparency advocates stress that when funds should have built a clinic or teacher’s quarters but haven’t, local people can demand answers. BudgIT’s Thaddeaus Jolayemi warns that misallocation and off-budget diversions are rampant, and he urges NGOs and citizens to keep up the pressure. Regular social audits and community scorecards would make it much harder for funds to quietly vanish.
- Strong oversight and enforcement. Strengthen independent audits of officials and enforce asset declarations. Anti-graft bodies – the EFCC and ICPC – must operate with full autonomy, separate budgets and leadership that answers to no political master. Officials’ asset disclosures should be verified by the Auditor-General or courts, with false declarations swiftly prosecuted and illicit gains seized. The recent legislative praise for the EFCC’s recovery of over ₦364.6 billion and 4,111 convictions in 2024 shows the scale of crackdowns under the current leadership. Such “revolutionary” performance must continue. High-profile prosecutions – from former governors to senior bureaucrats – would signal that no one is above the law. Even private citizens are speaking up: business magnate Aliko Dangote publicly petitioned the ICPC to probe the Nigerian petroleum regulator’s CEO over unexplained luxury spending, showing impatience with impunity at the top. If whistleblowers and victims of graft can see swift consequences for thieves, public confidence will slowly rebuild.
Nigeria cannot afford to delay any longer. Each day that public funds pass through opaque systems is another day when children sit in overcrowded classrooms without learning materials and patients wait in underfunded hospitals. From my perspective, the growing frustration among citizens and civil society groups is understandable. People are no longer interested in declarations or symbolic gestures; they want to see practical change. Nigeria must move away from operating like a closed system where wrongdoing thrives in the shadows, and instead function as a transparent state where accountability is the norm.
This requires more than rhetoric. Public budgets should be openly accessible and traceable, major projects monitored at community level, and officials who abuse public trust held to account quickly and visibly. When spending is transparent, citizens can follow how money is allocated and demand explanations when priorities are ignored. President Bola Tinubu has stated that the fight against corruption is “winnable,” but that outcome depends on whether transparency and accountability are consistently applied across all arms of government. I agree with this position, but it must be matched by coordinated action rather than isolated enforcement.
The cost of inaction is significant. Without reform, waste deepens, public trust erodes, and cynicism becomes entrenched. What Nigerians are asking for now is evidence that things are genuinely changing. Strong and sustained anti-corruption measures are no longer optional; they are urgent. If properly implemented, they could free up resources large enough to transform education and healthcare at state level. In a country rich in both human and natural resources, ending the culture of impunity is ultimately about ensuring that public money improves real lives, not private fortunes.
‘Pelumi, a Broadcast Journalist, Student, and Researcher, wrote via:
olusegunolukoga@gmail.com
