Corruption and Administration in Nigeria : The Character of the State Thesis

The objective of this paper is to explore the linkage between corruption and administration by using Nigeria as a case study. This is because corruption has been around for a very long time and will be around in the future unless governments figure out effective ways to combat it. Though various anti-corruption strategies have been designed and implemented. Toward the end of the twentieth century economics turned their attention to corruption that beforehand was the subject of sociology, political science, history, public administration, and criminal law researches. Despite the vivid link between corruption and economic performance hot debates arose to determine the nature (negative or positive) of this correlation. Reviewing the results of these empirical studies we can conclude that corruption in few cases can boost economic growth but only in the short run, for in the long-run and in general, corruption destroys the economy and the culture and impedes welfare. All empirical results of different research programs support the proposition that corruption inhibits economic performance. The surveyed studies provide evidence that corruption may seriously inhibit long-term economic growth and increase the volatility of business cycles. Various leading international organizations (the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and Transparency international) national governments, scientists (despite their specialization) regard corruption as damaging factor for development and democracy. This paper adopts a qualitative methodology and uses the technique of content analysis and tables to document its findings. The paper suggests active policy against corruption should be elaborated and implemented in Nigeria.