The Nigerian corruption study released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), indicates that bribes in cash amounting to approximately N721 billion were paid to public officials in 2023.
The NBS, along with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), conducted a poll titled “Corruption in Nigeria: Patterns and Trends” on Thursday.
The survey was funded by the MacArthur Foundation and the Kingdom of Denmark. The nominal average cash bribe amount has increased since 2019 (from N5,754), yet the average cash bribe paid was N8,284, according to the 2023 poll. According to a report available to BrandSpur’s national news stories platform, this does not account for inflation.
Continuing, it clarified that, when considering what could be purchased with the money, the inflation-adjusted average cash bribe in 2023 was really 29% less than in 2019.
According to the report: “Overall, it is estimated that a total of roughly N721 billion ($1.26 billion) was paid in cash bribes to public officials in Nigeria in 2023, corresponding to 0.35 percent of the entire Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Nigeria.”
As per the poll conducted in 2023, approximately 35 and 36 percent of all bribes were paid at public officials’ offices, and in the street, respectively. According to the report, 7% of bribes were made in public spaces including stations, malls, and restaurants, and 11% were made in the respondents’ homes.
The report shows that in Nigeria, in the twelve months preceding the survey, each bribe payer paid, on average, 5.1 bribes in 2023. In comparison to 2019, when each bribe payer paid an average of 5.4 bribes, this, it stated, reflects a little and statistically insignificant drop in the frequency of bribery.
It stated: “It is estimated that some 87 million bribes were paid in 2023 (compared with 117 million estimated in 2019), the equivalent of an average of 0.8 bribes per adult.”
It further stated that generally speaking, bribery occurs more frequently in rural than in metropolitan regions.
It holds that: “In 2023, bribe-payers living in urban areas paid on average 4.5 bribes, while those living in rural areas paid on average 5.8 bribes.”
According to the poll, 27% of all Nigerian individuals who interacted with a public official at least once in the 12 months before the 2023 survey did so in exchange for a bribe.
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According to comparable historical figures, this indicates that since 2019, when it was reported to be 29%, there has been a little but statistically significant decline in the prevalence of bribe payments in Nigeria.
The report holds that 34% of all encounters between residents and public officials in 2023 entailed bribery, even when requests for bribes were made but citizens declined. The NBS shows seventy percent of Nigerians who were solicited to pay a bribe in 2023 at least once declined to do so.
While refusal rates exceeding 60% were recorded in every zone, the North-West had the highest rate of bribery rejection (76%) overall.
According to the report, bribery is losing its acceptance in Nigeria. It reveals: “The share of citizens who think that bribery requests are acceptable to speed up administrative procedures decreased from 29 percent in 2019 to 23 percent in 2023.”
Refusing bribe requests has been associated with fewer bad outcomes, according to residents in 2023 (38%) than in 2019 (49%). According to it, this shows that Nigerians are becoming more confident in confronting dishonest officials without worrying about the consequences.
According to it: “In 2023, a sizable share of all bribe-refusers (21 percent) indicated that their main reason for refusing a bribe request was because they had other options of getting what they wanted.
“The data also show that normative concerns (42 percent) as well as cost of living pressures (23 percent) play an important role in explaining why Nigerians refuse to pay bribes,” it added.
Who takes bribes?
According to the survey, there are significant differences in the prevalence of bribery between public officials. It shows certain public officials who deal with the public regularly—like teachers, doctors, and nurses—have relatively low rates of bribery-related interactions, whereas other officials who deal with the public less frequently—like prosecutors or land registry officers—have relatively high rates.
NBS holds that the results of the 2023 corruption survey suggest that the government must focus its efforts on preventing and enforcing corruption in the institutions and public officials that have the greatest influence and presence in the lives of regular people.
It stated: “In essence, the majority of Nigerians interact only with five types of public officials, namely doctors, nurses, and midwives (30 percent), public utility officers (24 percent), police officers (20 percent), teachers and lecturers (17 percent), and other health workers (15 percent).
“It is therefore advisable that the government focuses where it matters most and is likely to have the greatest relative impact for the common man,” it added.
