Impact of Corruption on Poverty Spurred by Poor Accountability, Transparency and Nation Building in Nigeria

Abstract

Corruption which has eaten deep into the fabric of the nation‟s economy arising from poor accountability and transparency is alarm in Nigeria. The attendant consequences are enormous and as a result poverty has taken toll on the populace. The study therefore examined the effect of poor accountability and transparency as it relate to corrupt practices which spurred poverty index in Nigeria. Two research questions guided the study. A sample of 100 respondents was purposively selected from Federal and State ministries, parastatals/agencies, private organization and non -governmental organization in Benin City. The study adopted quantitative research method: exploratory and descriptive. The study made the use of both primary and secondary data imperative. The primary data elicited information from respondents through the use of questionnaire and oral interview. The primary data were analyzed and presented using SPSS 22.0 statistical techniques .The secondary data made of corruption ranking and poverty in Nigeria were obtained from transparency international and World Bank respectively for ten years which was used to ascertain if corruption is associated with poverty level in Nigeria. Regression analysis was used to confirm the extent to which corruption can be used to predict poverty level in Nigeria at 5% level of significant. The non- parametric test of association revealed that there is a significant relationship between corruption and poverty. The study also revealed that the level of accountability, transparency and nation building has significant impact on corruption and poverty. It was recommended amongst others that there should be greater accountability, transparency by government or its agencies in Nigeria, active participation of civil society, media and citizens in activities of government which can be stimulated through investment in education to facilitate citizen participation in governance.