Political corruption and poverty in Nigeria: A literature perspective

Abstract

It is a common knowledge that corruption is one of the problems daunting socio-political and economic development of both developed and developing nations. Corruption Perception Index demonstrates that poor countries experience high levels of corruption than rich countries. Literature abound reveals that corruption are more evident during the political era and consequently justify reason for high level of poverty. On this premise, this paper utilized secondary data to examine the relationship between political corruption and poverty in Nigeria. The paper reveals that poverty intervention schemes have not achieved desired results due to endemic political corruption. To alleviate poverty, the paper recommend that the leadership should justly commit to combating corruption from the top to down; strengthening corruption control mechanisms , severely apprehend and punish the culprits. In the same vein, the citizens should be mobilized to demand for stewardship from their representatives in government to enhance transparency and accountability. Above all, immunities of politicians should be detached, law courts should be strengthened to adjudicate without fear or favour and public annual declaration of assets of political office holders should be made obligatory.