Consequences of corruption in Nigeria
Have you ever wondered what the consequences of corruption are for Nigeria and its people? If so, you will find this article very useful, as we will be talking about corruption in Nigeria and how it affects the common man, the society as a whole and the country’s economy.
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When we talk about countries with the highest levels of corruption, Nigeria is among the top 50 most corrupt countries in the world. Of course, this fact has had its effect on Nigerians, and we are here to tell you about it in more detail.
There are at least 15 negative effects of corruption on a country’s life, which we have divided into effects on people, society and economy. So let’s find out what it does to a nation.
Corruption disadvantages for the people
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Obviously, individuals always suffer the most from corruption, and here are seven most common effects of it:
- Lack of quality in services. When there is corruption present in a country, quality services are often hidden behind an additional payment.
- Lack of proper justice. Similarly to the situation with services, the judiciary system also seems to work on ‘extra donations’. Unless you pay those who decide the faith of people, there is little chance that your case will be solved. On the other hand, if you bribe someone, you can get out of even the most solid accusations scot-free.
- Poor quality of education. When you can get out of an exam with a simple bribe, your degree will mean nothing in the end, as you would not have learned enough about your craft to practice it. It is terrifying to think that some of the people who have the power to change your life for the better or worse have paid for their exams.
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- Poor hygiene and health. This is a common effect of corruption, as countries that suffer from it tend to have issues with infrastructure and sanitation. The money that could have gone to improve the situation with fresh drinking water, quality food supply, proper roads and many other important things usually go into someone’s pocket, and the common man is the one that feels the brunt of it.
- Pollution. When there is corruption, it is easy to slip some things by the officials that might actually be very harmful to the environment. For instance, if you bribe inspectors that check if your car/factory/farm emits pollutants within the accepted levels, they will turn a blind eye even if it is incredibly harmful to people and environment.
- Accidents. We all know that some of the people we see on the roads driving have not gotten their driver’s licences the right way. Instead, they bought them in order to save themselves the hassle. However, instead of that, they have only put others at risk, as there is no guarantee if a person with a ‘purchased’ licence even knows how to drive.
- Lack of genuine research. If there were no corruption, we probably would have had the cure for cancer by now. But because corruption still exists, money dedicated to research often goes past researchers and straight into the pockets of others. Thus, we are stuck in the same spot because researchers lack proper funding to continue their work.
Effects of corruption on society
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Now that we have talked about how corruption affects the common man, let’s mention a few things about its effect on the society as a whole:
- Disregard for police. A lot of people have adopted the ACAB mentality because of corruption that thrives in police. While this kind of behaviour is not without reason, it builds a distrust towards the police. People stop trusting it when it comes to protecting them, and they stop following the rules, thus pushing the country into disarray.
- No respect for rulers. There has probably not been a single president who has not had accusations of corruption hurled at him. Thus, we believe that the person responsible for ruling our country is corrupt and bad. This does nothing good for the country, as many people choose not to vote in the elections, ruining the chance of electing someone better.
- No trust and faith for the government. Over the years, we have seen so many government officials who are corrupt that we often apply the ‘guilty until proven innocent’ mentality to all people who want to get into the government. Politicians have lost their trust, which is never a good thing for the country. People should be able to trust their government in order for the country to develop.
- Aversion for working in jobs linked to corruption. Honest people tend to avoid going into jobs that are considered corrupt, thus paving the way for those who are dying to fill their pockets. That means that corruption becomes a never-ending circle, where corrupt individuals are replaced with even more corrupt ones.
Corruption effects on economy
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It is no secret that one of the areas that suffers most from corruption is economy. Here are some of the effects you should know about:
- Decrease in foreign investments. When other countries know that a certain country is corrupt, they tend not to invest into it, knowing that their money will most likely be misappropriated.
- Delay in growth. Because of corruption, sometimes the work that could be done in mere months is not done after several years because some palms were not greased enough, or the funds were misappropriated. That is why we can see so many projects abandoned half way just because the money went in the wrong direction.
- Lack of development. Once again, due to the fact that money tends to go the wrong way when corruption is involved, the whole country suffers from poor infrastructure and development. Regions that are underdeveloped stay that way, as new industries go to the more developed areas.
- Difference in trade ratio. As corruption often means higher cost of production and often lower quality, local products are replaced with imported ones, as they are much cheaper. However, cheap does not mean good, and corruption can also mean that those who are supposed to control the quality of imported goods pay no attention to it, thus letting subpar products into the country that flood the shelves and push out local products.
As you can see, there are many ways in which corruption can affect a country, and unless Nigeria gets out of the top 50, it might be looking at stagnation and disarray. So let’s hope that Nigeria of the future is corruption-free.
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Source: Legit.ng
