Nigeria Is 33rd Most Corrupt Country In The World

Notwithstanding the claims made by the federal government that it is winning the war against corruption, Nigeria is still regarded as one of the most corrupt countries in the world on the global corruption index, having been ranked the 33rd most corrupt country in the world according to Transparency International (TI). According to reports, Nigeria ranked 144th out of 177th countries in the world, scoring 25 points out of a possible 100 points. Southern African nation, Botswana is rated the cleanest in Africa with 63 points and it is the 30th in the world. Ghana with 46 points is ranked 63rd in the world.

South Sudan leapfrogged its position of most corrupt nation last year to 173rd position rising five places on the index table this year, while Nigeria equally dropped five places from 139th in 2012 to 144th in the latest ranking. Nigeria shares its current position with five other nations including neighbour Cameroon, Central African Republic, Iran, Papua New Guinea and Ukraine. Nigeria is trailing other 35 African countries behind. They include, in order of ranking, Botswana (30th), Cape Verde (41st), Mauritius (52nd), Lesotho (55th), Namibia (57th), Ghana (63rd), Sao Tome and Principe (72nd), South Africa (72nd), Senegal (77th), Tunisia (77th), among several others.


Denmark and New Zealand are completely the least corrupt nations in the world as Denmark maintains its lead by improving on the perception index compared to 2012. New Zealand upstaged Finland to further share the first position with Denmark this year as it was in 2012 while Finland is relegated to take 3rd position in the current ranking as against sharing first slot with the duo of Denmark and New Zealand last year.

Other good performing countries among the best 10 Sweden (3rd), Norway (5th), Singapore (5th), Switzerland (7th), Holland (8th), Australia (9th), Canada (9th), among others. War-torn Syria ranked 168th led other 9 countries in the last 10 nations regarded as the most corrupt. Others are Turkmenistan (168th), Uzbekistan  (168), Iraq (171st), Libya (172nd), South Sudan (173rd), Sudan (174th), Afghanistan (175th), North Korea (175th) and Somalia (175th). Nigeria's corruption performance was worse this year than that of last year when it scored 27 points.

"It is time to stop those who get away with acts of corruption. The legal loopholes and lack of political will in government facilitate both domestic and cross-border corruption, and call for our intensified efforts to combat the impunity of the corruption" - Chairman, Transparency International