By Obinna Uballa
United Kingdom based policy institute, Chatham House, has countered President Bola Tinubu’s recent claim that his administration has eradicated corruption in Nigeria, asserting that the vice remains deeply entrenched and continues to undermine the country’s economic growth and governance structures.
In a new report authored by Dr. Leena Hoffmann, Associate Fellow of Chatham House’s Africa Program, and Comment Editor Tommy Hilton, the organisation noted that despite 25 years of reforms and anti-graft campaigns, corruption remains pervasive across government and the society.
The report was released days after Tinubu, during an official engagement in Brazil, stated that his economic reforms had not only stabilised the economy but also wiped out corruption.
“The reforms I’ve embarked upon since I took over in Nigeria have been very impactful… We have more money for the economy… no more corruption,” Tinubu claimed.
But Chatham House said evidence suggests otherwise. “Corruption continues to be a defining feature of Nigeria’s governance, public administration and political life, hindering its full potential and global standing, ” the report declared.
It warned that corrupt practices have eroded the foundations of economic prosperity, weakened the rule of law, and fostered widespread distrust in critical institutions.
The report highlighted Nigeria’s poor rankings on global governance indices. “The country remains among the world’s 40 most corrupt nations on the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) and ranks 35th from the bottom on the World Bank’s control of corruption index. Within Africa, Nigeria sits 33rd out of 54 countries on the Mo Ibrahim Index of African Governance,” the report added.
While Nigeria boasts of the fourth-largest economy in Africa by GDP, after falling off the number one position, Chatham House noted that its GDP per capita is among the lowest on the continent, a sign that corruption has stifled shared prosperity. “At its core, corruption diverts public resources away from vital sectors such as education, healthcare and infrastructure, fuelling poverty and inequality. Today, more than half of Nigerians – approximately 54 per cent – live in poverty,” the report said.
Beyond economic damage, the think tank stressed that corruption has eroded the rule of law, compromised courts, and created a culture of impunity.
“This sense of corruption being intractable has fuelled frustrations among marginalised groups and driven emigration, protests, political violence, and even extremist insurgencies,” the authors noted.
Chatham House also warned that corruption threatens social cohesion and national unity, fostering a culture where elites and ordinary citizens alike prioritise self-interest over the collective good. “This has perpetuated a vicious cycle of corruption, systemic inefficiencies and underdevelopment,” the report added.
Findings from Chatham House’s Social Norms and Accountable Governance (SNAG) project, funded by the MacArthur Foundation, show that while most Nigerians disapprove of corruption, many tolerate or engage in it for survival in a dysfunctional system.
“A significant factor contributing to tolerance of corruption is the perception that it is the price for getting things done, and there is little or no consequence for wrongdoing,” the report observed.
The culture of clientelism and patronage, it said, “has normalised corrupt practices, with social connections, family ties and political allegiances often determining access to resources. Inadequate public services, unreliable basic infrastructure and bureaucratic hurdles also push citizens toward bribery to secure essential needs.”
Chatham House linked the persistence of corruption to decades of military rule, which it said stunted democratic development, and weakened enforcement by anti-graft agencies, and crippled by political interference and underfunding.
“Lower trust in governance institutions, federal, state and local governments, reflects concerns over the efficiency and transparency of government spending. The crisis of trust in Nigeria’s justice system is a stark indictment of compromised courts, widely perceived as politically captured,” the report concluded.
