Corruption and Deficiency of Good Governance; An Exploratory Study of Causes and Consequences in Nigeria

Abstract

Nigeria as a country and Nigerians are going through a very difficult political and economic dispensation of democratic rules. Yet, Nigeria remains a society rich in natural resources, cultural, linguistic, religious, ethnic and political diversity but today an average Nigerian struggles hard to make ends meet; sees themselves as being poorer and finding it hard to be hopeful that things will get better soon due to corruption and deficiencies in governance despite the huge resources put into the implementation of policies geared towards combating corruption and enforcement of good governance. The purpose of the study was to examine the causes and consequences of corruption on governance on the notion of causality and their nexus with the deficiencies in the country. With the use of the primary source of data collection, the concepts of Good Governance were analyzed. These are; the legitimacy of the government, the accountability of the public officials, and the capacity and competence of government to formulate policies and deliver services to the citizens, as well as respect for human rights and the rule of law. The findings indicated that lack of transparency, rule of law and accountability foster bad economic performance, decaying infrastructures, the rising cost of living and poverty at both the private and public sectors of the country were affected by various forms of corruption which impeded Good Governances and if a check is not put in place, Nigeria will be left behind in the development agenda of world bodies as the fight against corruption is that of the survival of the nation itself. The study explored the barriers confronting the 3-arms of government and alongside the Nigerian Police with a view to x-rayed the devastating causes and consequences of corruption leading to deficiency of Good Governance through articulated descriptive method for employing a case study method of inquiry through qualitative research analysis. The study discovered that the choice before Nigerians is very clear: ‘If Corruption do not kill Nigeria then Nigeria should kill corruption’ to ameliorate the problems. Its proposes practical solutions that can be re-energize to win the battle against the endemic corruption, renew economic growth and improve Good Governance for a higher development path.