National Bureau of Statistics NBS has estimated that 82.3 million bribes amounting to N400 billion were paid to government functionaries as bribe a survey on corruption in Nigeria has revealed. The survey report said “Taking into account the fact that nine out of every ten bribes paid to public officials in Nigeria are paid in cash and the size of the payments made, it is estimated that the total amount of bribes paid to public officials in Nigeria in the 12 months prior to the survey was around N400 billion the equivalent of $4.6 billion in purchasing power parity (PPP). This sum is equivalent to 39 per cent of the combined federal and state education budgets in 2016”.
According to the NBS “The average sum paid as a cash bribe in Nigeria is approximately N5,300, which is equivalent to roughly $61 – PPP. This means that every time a Nigerian pays a cash bribe, he or she spends an average of about 28.2 per cent of the average monthly salary of approximately N18,900. Since bribe-payers in Nigeria pay an average of 5.8 bribes over the course of one year, 92 per cent of which are paid in cash, they spend an average of N28,200 annually on cash bribes ― equivalent to 12.5 per cent of the annual average salary.
“The vast majority of bribery episodes in Nigeria are initiated either directly or indirectly by public officials, 85.3 per cent, and almost 70 per cent of bribes are paid before a service is rendered. With such a large portion of public officials initiating bribes, which are paid up front, it seems that many public officials show little hesitation in asking for a kickback to carry out their duty and that bribery is an established part of the administrative procedure in Nigeria.
“While money is by far the most important form of bribe payment in Nigeria, the survey shows that other forms of bribe payment, such as the provision of food and drink, the handing over of valuables or the exchange of another service or favour, also exist. Qualitative research shows that such exchanges may sometimes include sexual services, although the actual extent of that particular form of bribe payment is unknown.
“By combining the total number of people who paid a bribe to a public official with the frequency of those payments, it is estimated that a total of roughly 82.3 million bribes were paid in Nigeria in the 12 months prior to the survey. This results in an average of 0.93 bribes paid per adult, or almost one bribe paid by every adult Nigerian per year.
The survey shows that a large proportion of bribes in Nigeria, 42 per cent, are paid to speed up or finalise an administrative procedure that may otherwise be delayed for long periods or even indefinitely, thus making bribery the most effective option for facilitating that service. The second largest proportion of bribes, 18 per cent, is paid to avoid the payment of a fine, a frequent request in citizens’ encounters with the police, while 13 per cent of all bribes are paid to avoid the cancellation of public utility services, an indication that the provision of the most basic amenities, including water and sanitation, can be subject to abuse of power by public officials in Nigeria.
According to the survey “Police officers are the type of public official to whom bribes are most commonly paid in Nigeria. Of all adult Nigerians who had direct contact with a police officer in the 12 months prior to the survey, almost half, 46.4 per cent, paid that officer at least one bribe, and in many cases more than one since police officers are also among the three types of public official to whom bribes are paid most frequently, 5.3 bribes per bribe-payer over the course of 12 months, in Nigeria. At the same time, the average bribe paid to police officers is somewhat below the average bribe size.
“Although fewer people come into contact with judiciary officials than with police officers over the course of the year, when they do, the risk of bribery is considerable: at 33 per cent, the prevalence of bribery in relation to prosecutors is the second highest, closely followed by judges and magistrates, at 31.5 per cent. The experience of corruption in encounters with public officials whose duty it is to uphold the rule of law can lead to the erosion of trust in public authority.
“Other public officials with a high risk of bribery include car registration/driving licence officers (28.5 per cent), tax and custom officers (27.3 per cent), road traffic management officials (25.5 per cent), public utilities officers (22.4 per cent) and land registry officers (20.9 per cent). This shows that corruption takes place across a number of different sectors of the public administration and that certain public officials have a disproportionate impact on the daily lives of Nigerians.
“In addition to the propensity of public officials to request/take bribes from citizens, the survey points to the influence of bribery in the process that enables public officials to secure their jobs in the first place. The survey indicates that among those households with a member who applied for a post and was actually recruited into the public administration, more than 15 per cent admitted to the payment of a bribe to facilitate their recruitment. This type of behaviour is likely to have implications on the exercise of their duties throughout their civil service career.
“In terms of the demographic profile of the people most vulnerable to bribery, a remarkable disparity in the prevalence of bribery exists between men and women in Nigeria: 37.1 per cent of men who had contact with at least one public official paid a bribe in the preceding 12 months, whereas the proportion among women was 26.6 per cent.
“Young adults in Nigeria are more vulnerable to bribery than other age groups, especially those in the 25 to 34-year-old age group (36.4 per cent), after which the prevalence of bribery decreases, particularly after the age of 50. In fact, the highest age-specific prevalence rate of bribery ― among 25-34 year olds ― is almost twice that of people aged 65 years and older.
“It is also noteworthy that the residents of urban areas in Nigeria are slightly more affected by bribery than people living in rural areas, and that the prevalence and frequency of bribery vary across the different zones of Nigeria. While older age groups are associated with lower levels of bribery, the prevalence of bribery increases with the educational attainment of Nigerian adults, although the result varies greatly according to the type of public official receiving the bribe.
“This pattern is paralleled in the distribution of the prevalence of bribery by income level as persons with a higher income have a higher prevalence of bribery than those who are less well remunerated. The disparity in the prevalence of bribery between individuals in the lowest income households and those in the highest income households reaches 15 percentage points (29.4per cent versus 40.0 per cent). In other words, when they come into contact with public officials, households in the highest income group in Nigeria are 58 per cent more likely to pay bribes than households in the lowest income group.
“Nigerian citizens confronted with a bribe request do not always pay it. For example, 5.3 per cent of those who had contact with a public official in the 12 months prior to the survey turned down the bribery request made by a public official on at least one occasion. On the other hand, 27 per cent always paid a bribe when requested to do so. Put differently, out of every 100 people who paid a bribe every time it was requested, 20 refused to do so on at least one occasion
“It should be taken into account, however, that of those 5.3 per cent, only 1.3 per cent never paid a bribe, while the remaining 4.0 per cent refused to pay a bribe at least once but paid a bribe on other occasions. Perhaps these figures are so low because more than half (56 per cent) of those who refused to pay a bribe after a request by a public official suffered negative consequences as a result of that refusal. “
